Way ahead of its time.

david-1233

I saw this film when it was first released in 1951. As a 13-year-old kid, it was a scary experience, convincing me that nuclear war was inevitable and we'd all be blown to hell. The gradual introduction of characters, survivors of a full-blown holocaust, eventually gather to try and make sense of their of circumstances and begin anew. If I recall, the baby, born of the pregnant survivor, named her girl Virginia Dare, after the first child born in the New World. Nice touch. The film is better than expected and little did we know that the threat of "weapons of mass destruction" was not science fiction. Although several films in this same vein have been made since 1951, this original macabre thriller ranks right up there with the best.

score 8/10

david-1233 3 September 2005

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1164369/