An Australian pediatrician gives a speech on the consequences of a nuclear war.An Australian pediatrician gives a speech on the consequences of a nuclear war.An Australian pediatrician gives a speech on the consequences of a nuclear war.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 1 win total
Photos
Helen Caldicott
- Self
- (as Dr. Helen Caldicott)
Vannevar Bush
- Self - In front of map of Japan
- (archive footage)
Winston Churchill
- Self
- (archive footage)
Leslie Groves
- Self - In front of map of Japan
- (archive footage)
Ronald Reagan
- Self
- (archive footage)
Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Self
- (archive footage)
Richard Tolman
- Self - In front of map of Japan
- (archive footage)
Harry S. Truman
- Self
- (archive footage)
Clement Attlee
- Self - at Potsdam
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Ernest Bevin
- Self - at Potsdam
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
James Byrnes
- Self - at Potsdam
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Ed Herlihy
- Universal Newsreel Narrator
- (archive footage)
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Ernest O. Lawrence
- Self - with Cyclotron Controls
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
William D. Leahy
- Self - at Potsdam
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Vyacheslav Molotov
- Self - at Potsdam
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Joseph Stalin
- Self - at Potsdam
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis film was labeled "foreign political propaganda" by the United States' Justice Department in an attempt to limit its distribution. All distributors who sold a copy were required to give the purchaser's name to the Justice Department. This may have had the opposite effect from the suppression desired by the Reagan administration, as the negative label caused a rallying of support around the film from anti-censorship activists. During her Oscar acceptance speech director Terre Nash thanked the US Justice Department for their effective "advertisement" of her film.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Unfinished Business (1984)
Featured review
If You Love This Planet
Made amidst the first term of Ronald Reagan's US Presidency, this short documentary uses some clips of his wartime propaganda feature "Jap Zero" (1943) along with some devastatingly effective archive to illustrate a lecture from Dr. Helen Caldicott. She's an Australian paediatrician who is using her time at the podium to warn of the dangers of nuclear proliferation by pointing out some of the medical issues any use of these weapons might cause. The death toll in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is proof of the sheer destructive capability of these devices that can wipe out huge swathes of living things whilst leaving any survivors severely burned and unlikely to receive adequate medical attention from an equally decimated profession now devoid of staff and facilities. The imagery is potent but her accompanying diatribe is much less so. She really does lecture her, admittedly captivated, audience. Not that this is exactly a laughing matter, but she does rather pontificate at us rather than carry us along with her. She frequently cites her reference sources and recent surveys selected, it seemed, to support her position rather than promote any discussion of the political and military realities that prevailed at the height of the Cold War. It's the imagery on screen that we see that pulls no punches. Her tones are at times rather patronising and her school-mistress style of handing-down the gospel according to Dr. Caldicott did start to grate as she continued for just a bit too long. Yes it's a serious issue, none more so, but to engage an audience you have to make them feel invested in your ideals, your language, and your personality - a bit of charisma never goes amiss. I just didn't feel she did that here and there are way more striking demonstrations of the horror of atomic warfare to be found in cinema than this.
helpful•00
- CinemaSerf
- Apr 4, 2024
Details
- Runtime26 minutes
- Color
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