Just stay away from New York City and you won't need to is what I get from this film.

This D & C stuff actually had a pretty short shelf life. By the mid 1950's fallout was the really big worry.

But today, DC's folks are making megabucks investing in MIC corporations and begging for a nuclear war with Russia or China - or both. I'd stay far away from the East coast. It ain't the USSR anymore, but it's still "The Bear" and poking the bear ain't smaht!

These drills in fact did continue in Ga. into the mid 60s.
Many school districts continued even after the fed lost interest.
We even saw many civil defense public service messages at that time .
I remember one in cartoon form that showed an eagle stooping on a man which represented a nuclear attack on us.
If any of you think "duck and cover" is a silly idea I invite you to spend one minute at the recieving end of mortar fire.
Yoy wont have to be coaxed after that.

The people who say they remember these films in the 60’s are delusional. I was born in 1950. I remember the atom bomb drill in 1955 and 1956.
When I went to grade school in 1956-57 they were a thing of the past.
Then it was: Bend Over and Kiss Your Ass Sayonara!
I did learn to Duck and Cover in Vietnam in 1968-69.

me gustan las escenas donde se ve como la gente se agacha automáticamente o sabe que hacer en esas situaciones

I remember seeing this in elementary school in the late 1960s. Scared the crap outta me. I would always look up in fear when a large airplane flew over, waiting for the bomb bay doors to open.

Vintage pieces like this are enjoyable tow atch because they are like a window that lets you peek back in time and get a little taste of what life was like in those days. Thanks for sharing.

I laugh about this now. But growing up in the 50's, there were constant reminders of the "threat". It wasn't as funny back then.

I think you got some points ich ecxactly show what Benek means when speeking of propagandists' objective.
1. About ww2, the diplomacy in this time was, it´s okay as long as you don´t attack us, and when people started to worry it was to late. It was all a mess becaus of the former economical crisis.
2. Nukes on Cuba. Yeah, but you were not told, that there were nukes in turkey first. Your nukes aimed at UDSSR. Thats how propaganda works and if you still don´t get it in times when information is accessable for all, it will lead to point 3.
3. About your middle east experience. Who told you to go there and why did you belive them? What would you do if thomeone came to your country to force you to live his way? Try staying home.
Stop terrorism by stopping to give people reasons strong enough to blow themselves and others to hell.
Sorry for possible misspellings, I´m not a native speaker.

 
I've seen this film at times over the years and the obvious question is why does society have to be continually scared of something.

Back then it was the atomic bomb, earlier still it was war with Germany and Japan, still later it was the domino theory and the Vietnam war now it's terrorism in all its various guises. Today, you can't travel anywhere, especially overseas or across borders without ordinary citizens encountering security infrastructure that's befitting of a prison. Then there is the Web/Internet, it's monitored and continually under surveillance. Surveillance is becoming all-pervasive and it's getting worse.

Surely, these are not the actions of a free society at ease with itself.

This 60-year film old shows us that the fundamental underlying issue is not new, and today there is still no sign of it abating. What is it that we are continually doing wrong in that we've always enemies or some perceived threat against us?

What does society have to do to rid itself of these big bogeymen once and for all?

Maybe--just perhaps--it's never possible.
 

I remember seeing this film at school in the 1960's. We had Drop Drills where the teacher would suddenly shout "Drop!" and we were all to jump under our desks. I had studied a little about the atomic bomb and refused to drop. My teacher pointed at me and said, "You're dead." I replied, "If this were an atomic bomb attack, we're all dead!" After-school detention followed. Having said that, I kind of like the film when I look at it now, even though it is so wrong. Question authority!

In first: English is not my mother tongue.
In second: I'm French.
In third: the following will certainly hurt
some American inmates. My goal is certainly not
to do that: I only want to point out what
seems to be "a bit strange" to /a/ foreigner,
regarding your point of view on "foreign enemy".


So, I just red the whole reviews. Most of focuses
on the effectiveness of "duck and cover". I will
respond on that the gesture is good enough to protect against alpha radiations and most of
projectiles (provided you are away enough from
"point zero").

What I think a more important point is that
American people needs scary. For eras. He needs
also enemy, and it's threat. And needs heroes too.

Look at the movie we speak on, try to focus on
these four points. Go back to this review.

Good...

In the fifties, the enemy was USSR, and, more,
communism. He was far from America (but also
/in/ America, and I cannot understand why
*a politic opinion*, especially regarding the US
Constitution, has been criminal). But the
atomic bomb threat: what a good occasion to
give nightmares to the people. Enemy is here,
just next door: sleep in fear, people... that's
why we fight against him, bringing your
young mens so far from home, bringing back them
with medals (back to heroes). Sometimes in bags.

The nightmare today is terrorism. It is a
nightmare all around the world, I have too
agree with that.

Is French people scary on? Maybe a
few of them, as so as few of them, second or
third generation of immigrants, disappointed by their "no future life", and manipulated by
little groups of Salafis extremists, ARE
terrorists, even they go to Iraq or Afghanistan
to export the fear abroad, and, more, kill
(American soldiers, French soldiers, and even
natives, if they don't agree with their
point of view). That's the sad truth.

So. Do French people worry about Islamic terrorists attacks? Certainly: there were a
set of around the end of the nineties in Paris,
notably in the subway.

We loosed also about 90 soldiers at once in the "Drakkar" attack, in Lebanon.

OK, true: nothing to do with 3,000 persons
killed in the NYC towers and Pentagon. I condole
to the kinfolks. But remember the four points
raised by the media, and later by government:
threat, scary, enemies, heroes.

On the other way, both France and America has
caused tens of thousands deaths by their abroad
politic. By paternalism (Africa) and economical
interest (North Africa; south east Asia...)
for the first, by ideology (south America; south east Asia, central Asia as a war against Russia
in the '80s) and economical interest (Iraq, ...),
too, for the second. We pay through the nose.

So:
["we" stands for "I, French"]
Do we worry day-to-day about an attack? No.
Do we think that Islam _fundamentalism_ has to
be dropped out from the face of the world?
Opinions are divided, but generally: yes.
Do we think terrorism has to be kicked-off?
Obviously yes, while direct confrontation
generates escalation, and population,
caught in the crossfire, fatally elects the
stranger as the enemy (so, _we_ are the enemy)
Do we think we have enemies? All that I know is
I'm my better one.
Do we need heroes? The less possible...
If perchance I go to Afghanistan, anyone will be
my enemy? Potentially, yes.

In short, for a French, to speak generally:
*to be killed or injured is a question of
statistics and risk taken, and
NEVER a collective fear.
*there is no Universal Enemy.
*there are no heroes, just circumstances.
*kick-off the threat as needed. Just as needed.

And for you, American?

Funny how we never learn from our mistakes.

I remember this film from Grade 6 in Miami during the Bay of Pigs invasion in April/May 1961. We practised this everyday in the classroom and out on the playground. I attended Natural Bridge School then and I remember a tree in the middle of the playground. My whole class would be 'hugged' around that tree many times.
Now that I have children, it is frightening to realize how very little the government, that is JFK, thought of the everyday Joe. I remember having nightmares of being burned alive and even now have made note in my will that I do not want to be cremated.
To watch my children grow up and see their innocence, knowing that the information in this film would have been taken as gospel because it came from the Almighty Government really brings it home. Also knowing that 'duck and cover' should have read 'kiss your a-- goodbye'.
The threat now is even greater than during the 50's and 60's, what with quick global travel, terrorists h---bent on destroying everyone but themselves and governments too soft to take the hard-nosed approach civil safety. But the world today, have more choices, and in most cases can make those choices as they wish. With instant CNN news feeds, Internet blogs, text messaging, etc. troubling events can be quickly disseminated giving time to react safely.
On a sad note, for the government of that era, it gave the people something to do in the event of Atomic War, hence no panicked crowds for the government to deal with. It also made them feel grateful that the government really cared about the welfare of their country's populace. Sheesh!!!!

Now, I love stuff from this era, but movies like this creep me out something horrid! Since I live in Oak Ridge (where they made the bombs/componets), so I'm VERY paranoid about these kinds of things.

First wensday of the month, they sound the alarms all around the city as a test, and they never fail to make me shudder... There would be days back in elementary school were we'd be out on the grounds and they'd sound. Everyone would be quiet for a moment. It's that once a month reminder we're living in a huge bomb...

Just the other day my father and I were discussing the evac plan should there be a melt-down... Where to go, what roads to take, and where the nearest bomb shelters are. Ug... Still, movies like this say so much about the past and how the government treats the public.

I have watched it. My friends have watched it, and we couldn't help but laugh. I mean, why did the American government teach children the wrong things? Earthquake drill techniques are almost completely useless in atomic bomb attacks. It would fuse atomic waste and still kill a lot of shielded people.

But hey! To think that it used to be taught in American schools in the fifties, this is a treasured downloaded file. It made me realize that the American government have also screwed a lot of its citizen's minds. And really, this film is cool. I'm glad it still exists.

Benek, what are you drinking??? Yes I believe the govt. sometimes uses fear to manipulate the populace, but this film is essential knowledge for the age we live in.

I have friends in the defense department and on a personal level they tell me that current threats are actually much worse than the government lets on. I also have experience in the middle east and have witnessed indiscriminate terrorism first hand.

You can't trust that everyone has good intentions. You also can't believe that diplomacy will fix every problem (just ask Europe about WW2).

Do you not think Russia would have done it? Do you have any clue what they told their people about America??? Who sealed off East Berlin and oppressed it's people? Who tried to put nukes in Cuba???

There's an old proverb that says, "A wise man sees danger, and takes action."

I honestly wish the govt. would get back into the habit of teaching the public what to do in case of an emergency. There are certainly REAL threats that most are not prepared for...

Even Superman ducks when someone throws an empty revolver at him,(after bouncing the bullets off his chest). Smart to avoid that flying glass that MIGHT cut you.

The main point to get from this, it seems to me, is that one of of creating a sense of community is by dramatising (and exaggerating) external threats.

Don Delillo, in Underworld, remembers the dog-tags that some children were given so that in the case of nuclear holocaust, their little charred bodies would be identifiable.

At this point, surely, we must agree that the propagandists' objective is not to educate and save lives, but to drive the image into parents' heads of their child, killed by a Soviet bomb; a political objective by the govt, achieved through fear, even the mental torture of its own citizens.

This film often has the tone that "the bomb will come, like it or not..." But regardless, this shows the government's efforts to educate and protect citizens, especially children, in case of nuclear attack. I was not alive back then, but Duck and Cover makes the fear of fallout part of everyday life. For those who lived with it, however, it probably became routine.

I used to have nightmares about the "Bomb" when I was a kid. It was such a nebulous but terrifying thing. In school we had this sort of "duck and cover" propaganda complete with drills and explainations about the "bright flash", etc. Come on, we were little kids, what did they think we were going to think? Obviously, they didn't think of that. Case in point: As a child, one of my big fears was that this horrible thing called the "Bomb" would happen WHEN I WAS NOT AT SCHOOL! To my 6-year-old mind, the only safe place in the world was under my desk at school!

On a serious note: The "updated" version of "duck and cover" should be studied by EVERYONE, regardless of whether you live in earthquake or tornado prone areas. See the American Red Cross page about it:
http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_583_,00.html

On a not at all serious note, the South Park take off on this (involving a volcano) is especially funny if you've seen this.

Having watched this film, I now understand a sickening point:

People have a difficult time explaining to other people that they could be wiped out without warning.

"If a weapon this powerful is detonated anywhere close enough to affect you, please assume this posture". While the drill was touted as "Duck and Cover", we all know that it' was nothing more than the time tested "Put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye" maneuver.

I'm torn. I subscribe to the Roman way of thinking: "To keep peace, prepare for war." This film outlines what happens when there is no real preparation for a war that could have few surviors. The other part of me knows that if you don't engage in an arms race, or a war preparation race, you'll be enslaved by those who will.

Midnight Oil: Put down that weapon, or we'll all be gone...I must know something, to know it's so wrong, and it happens to be an emergency...

Man is self destructive by nature. We used to use rocks to kill people.

I remember being in the third grade when this film was made in 1951. We use to practice the drill in school on a regular bases. We were also given army type "dog" (I.D.)tags which hung from a neck chain around our neck. This film tried to help the children of that era. It was effective for its time.

"funny" to see that the culture of living under constant fear was already strong in the 50's.

First and foremost, I would like to state that there is scientific basis in this film. The pressure wave from a 20 kt nuclear bomb ( hiroshima sized) will go out to approximately 5km on a clear day with flat terrain, while the radiation and heat will cause harm at approximately 2km. Thus ducking and covering will protect the majority of those affected by a nuclear blast. As ducking and covering will reduce the harm caused by flying debris. It is still advocated for that reason today in tornado and earthquake prone areas.
Secondly this film takes us back to the day when threat that faced America menacing in the backdrop. The Korean war was in progress and the nuclear armed communists had invaded South Korea. Here we have a film that tries to explain to the children how we as the adults have opened the pandoras box. It is a film that brings the message to the children that we as humans, both young and old , are capable of doing the most utterly horrendous things to each other. The message in this film comes across simply and others may mock it. But it is a fil with a pained and difficult message. As I watch this now in the wake of the islamist horrorshow in London. It reminds some types people have not learnt the lesson of the past. If we as a species love out children, and never want to be forced to bring them the same message we have brought them for each and every generation, by film, by word, or cnn, we must forever learn; never again.

This film really showed a lot of hard times and good points. Though it might seem useless to "DUCK and COVER," a lot of people who were killed by the bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were due to flying debris and infections from debris wounds (such as glass flying through the air, etc). Also, these bombs were made to explode before they hit the ground so there would be more destruction. The shockwave would easily be enough to knock someone down, if not more, but if they were near low ground and away from windows and things that can fall, ducking and covering would actually increase their chance of survival by a lot. Also, there is no real protection against an atomic bomb; if you have read Hiroshima, you know that some people that were barely inside the bombs' radius died instantly, despite good health, while some people that were less healthy and close to the blast survived. If there were an atomic blast in America around the time this film was show to students, those who followed its advice would have most likely increased their chances of survival by quite a bit.

This film always cracks me up when I'm watching it. The animation is pretty good for an early 50s film, slightly resembling the animation of the old Warner Bros. cartoons. I also think that today, the "Duck and Cover" bit wouldn't work during a bomb blast. However, this was 1951, before the first perfect hydrogen bomb was produced, WAY more powerful than the atomic bomb! The simulated "blasts" are corny. It's mostly just a quick, harmless-looking blinding flash. In reality, there WOULD be the flash, but it could burn people. We'd also hear the "KABOOM!" of the bomb exploding, and, we might be able to see the mushroom cloud. Then there's the radioactivity and heat, which the producers left out describing! THAT is a serious problem, you know. You'll also notice that people in the background don't even CARE about the blasts and such. Now, a newspaper or thin cloth may not protect you, but at least this film is a definite must-see!

I have this question for those who thinks the US government cared so much about them it even paid for a movie to help save their lives...

What is easier to control than a population 'ducked and covered'?

The year is 1951. Not a year earlier, and not a year later. 1951. In 1951, the Soviets had but a handful of nuclear weapons (all fission devices) and the most probably delivery system was the TU-4 Bull, a knockoff of the Boeing B-29. Crawling over the north pole at 300 miles an hour, it would have taken aeons to get to US airspace. There would have been no full-blown Armageddon in 1951. Cities would have been destroyed and several million people killed, but for most people, life would have carried on very nicely. A far cry from the situation as of the early 1970s, when thousands of ICBMs were on constant alert and mass extermination was in the offing with less than an hours notice. And even then, the basic advice in this film could have significantly improved your chance of survival (in the short term...you need to DL a film on fallout shelters to realy stand a chance :) As I tell my kids in class, this is a film targeted at, what?, eight year olds? Cut the CD guys some slack...they were only trying to save childrens lives, 'yaknow?

That is hilarious...People used to be so dumb.

It's a funny, and interesting movie, but a lot of it gets boring (well it is a public service announcement!)

Fun now, scary back then. Worth watchin' if you're a youngin'.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/dac.shtml

This is just as hillarious as the original product

For someone my age (20) this movie is hillarious... A little jingle so kids know what to do in case of the end of their world...
But seriously, if I'd been a kid when and where this came out I'd be scared shitless.

This film reminds me, as a Canadian, that the americans could attack at any time.(lol)

I LOVE THIS ONE

All I can say is that this song is EXTREMELY addicting!

THEN:
"The flash of an atomic bomb can happen at any time, no matter where you are"(Duck and Cover).
AND NOW:
"Terrorists are working to obtain biological, chemical, nuclear and radiological weapons, and the threat of an attack is very real."(on the homepage of Ready.gov, the website of the Dept. of Homeland Security).

This fear-inspiring rhetoric is just as strong in its implications, but the threat today (according to ready.gov) spans across many realms of human harm (from the biological to the nuclear!). We need to combat this fearmongering before it is too late.

I'd forgotten about this! Hee-hee-hee... Funny stuff...

If i were a student at this time i would have had serious problems now. Everytime I would hear a loud bang, or see a bright flash i would dive to the ground and cover my face with newspapers so i don't get burned.

I also recall seeing this film while a student in Brooklyn in the 1960's. The dread of the atomic bomb was the equivalent of Antrax and chemical weapons or dirty bombs now. Then as now, there was a need to feel a sense of control and understanding to make life tolerable.

One can look at the price of gasmasks and filter on eBay and correlate them with 9-11 or subsequent threats. We all need something to make us feel secure. And how many people made a run for duct tape and plastic wrap so that they could "duct and cover" their attics?

Incidentally, I don't think that all of the information is ridiculous in the film. Although it is obvious laughable to think newspaper can prevent radiation burns, if a bomb explodes some distance away, you had better be prepared to get next to a wall or under a desk and away from windows. Would we survive an atomic bomb? Certainly there were survivors in Hiroshima, but also there were shadows left on walls and pavement. That's not the point. The point is that we have become largely complacent in America feeling either that we are protected by oceans or military might or because we are battling the terrorists "over there." We don't often give thought to the idea that we might have to take some kind of practical action.

I hope that we will always be able to afford to look at films such as Duck and Cover as silly and naive and that we never are forced to think about how we handle air raids or strafing runs or the aftermath of catastrophe practically.

I have to agree with ColoradoRuss, you would have had to been around in the late '50s and '60s to appreciate how serious we took these films. I remember the Civil Defense sirend sounding every Friday at noon, to make sure they were working. The threat of global nuclear war was closer than ever, and thinking that this little film was part of some campaign to promote consumerism is complete nonsense. Sure, the movie is pretty naive, but it was aimed at children, not adults. It is a perfect example of how simple things were back then.

I am haunted by the little jingle of the movie. I still sing it in my head. My initial encounter with "Duck & Cover" occurred years ago while watching an amazingly insightful film "The Atomic Cafe". Perhaps one of the best film documentaries to date on World War II propoganda related to the Atomic Bomb. In TAC, clips of D&C were interspersed with actual footage of atomic blasts laying waste to cities. You don't know whether you should laugh or cry at the disparities between the two. I had wondered if those old war training films had been manipulated in any way. I guess they weren't. Most importantly, D&C definitely serves as a reminder to question, even now, the validity of information we are presented for public consumption.

It is sad to read some of the myopic review that have no sense of historical context for the material they are so quick to dismiss. As we took Civil defense class in grammer school and watched this and other films, we knew and were told how bleak the prospects were for survival in the advent of a nuclear war. But with the same instinct for survival in the face of the worst obsticles that drove creatures to climb out of the primordial slime and yes, even build the bombs we lived in constant fear of, we learned how to fortify out basements as fallout shelters, use household bleach to purify the water from toilet tanks and even treat the symptoms of the radiation sickness that would inevatibly kill us. The people who made these films weren't selling anything that isn't sold in the Hospices across the world every day; a way to keep going with pride and dignity even when hope cannot rationally be measured beyond your next breath. Recommended viewing: "On the Beach"

Its easy to say how horrible the U.S. government is, especially today as its very politically correct to spout this garbage. I grew up in a country that won the cold war by being strong and out-spending the enemy to the point that the wall fell and the iron fist of the Soviet Union is gone. Hmmm I guess it would have been better to let them do their own thing and mind our own business.How often do you worry about the nuclear threat now? This movie was designed to help children deal with what was in the papers every day,the threat of nuclear war. Given something to do, as minimal as survival would be,helped ease the fears of children who regularly heard that the bomb could drop any minute. Ours is not a perfect country or government.But, name a better one. Name one that has helped preserve freedom and liberty for hundreds of other nations as well as for itself. Name one other country that has so many races,cultures and religions and lives in relative peace with eachother. If you are from another country and love to criticise the United states of America, let me ask you,"Has the USA ever helped your country in time of war,natural disaster or financial trouble? Then shut your trap and start looking for the good in man instead of pooping on my country.

That tune is so very catchy. I wonder If they actually fooled anyone with this foolish nosensical crap. It's just another way to pump Americans full of fear so they consume. Except back then they weren't very good at hiding it. I find it so sick that it is amusing. I can't really change anything so I might as well laugh.

I found the innacuraccy with which the effects of the atom bomb were portrayed to be quite amusing. They talk about how the bomb can rip through buildings and collapse them, although they seem to have given no thought to the the intensity of the radiation in the blast radius. 'Duck and Cover' would do nothing for you when the supercharged electron and gamma radiation penetrates through your clothes. Where did they get this information, anyway? Did they test the atom bomb on humans or animals to see what would protect them and what wouldn't?
I suppose they were anticipating that the Americans would be gullible enough to believe that they were 'protected'. After all, look how quickly stores ran out of duct tape when Bush told them to wrap a room of their house in duct tape to protect from terrorist bombs. I mean, who would actually believe that (please take no offense at the last sentence if you happen to be one of those who followed his advice.)

I could hardly believe my ears: what a fantastic resource for teaching. My American colleague is a 50 yr old "duck and cover" kid and it revived a lot of memories for her. The film, she says, neglected to mention how you were supposed to "duck and cover" from A bomb tests in Nevada! I wonder if the transcript is available for this film?

Anyone else notice how the voiceover reads "We must get ready for it, just as we are ready for many other dangers that are around us all the time" as the camera lingers on the lone black kid in the classroom for maybe a second too long? Some classroom desegregation politics plays into this, methinks.

The 'Duck and Cover' US Civil Defense film from the 1950's shows the US government was as corrupt then as it is now. The point of the film was to prepare the citizens of the USA for nuclear war with the Soviet Union, which Curtis LeMay and other military leaders of that time actively supported as a winning strategy.

It is wonderful how 'nuclear bombs' are framed in the film as just another natural hazard of life that the citizens of the USA must 'get used to', like fires or car accidents. This removes the responsibility of the politicians to do anything about avoiding nuclear war.

Similar to 'terrorism' today, the threats of nuclear war were largely a creation of US government actions. Gore Vidal has written on the subject of the 'Cold War' and says it was largely a creation of US policy and a means to US global empire. Similarly today, the US government puts it's citizens at risk due to it's aggression in other parts of the world, and the inevitable asymmetric response of 'terror' attacks by those on the receiving end of empire.

It would have been much less expensive, in lives and money, and probably just as effective if the Bush administration had re-released an updated film like 'Duck and Cover' to 'protect' us from the 'terrorists'. Skip the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the Homeland Security Department.

The safest solution for the citizens of the US would be to elect a government that did not endanger it's citizens with nuclear wars, or 'perpetual war' for oil.

Okay, this was all great and very enjoyable. One thing questions my mind, how is it that cubscout jumps on the ground behind the wall, and the safty guy just strolls up saying it's okay. 0_0... How did he know it was "okay"

Funny how they talk about the kids ducking and covering on the bus...but what about the driver?!?!?

Quite possibly the grandfather of latter-day hero turtles, this mute hero informs us that hiding next to a wall, in a ditch or under a desk will protect you from The Enemy's atomic blast and subsequent fallout. After what I witnessed in the Nevada test site newsreels on this site, a piece o' formica ain't gonna cut it. Plutonium the size of a dime caused rampant chaos out in the desert, but in suburban America bombs are much tidier. Nifty air raid sounds!

The key thing to remember with thsi film is that it represents the time it was made and the way society was back then. This film was made in 1950, and the Soviets had only got the atomic bomb late the last year, so they would not have had many (if any, going by the stagnant nature of the command economy in the Soviet Union) so if war had broken out between NATO and the Soviet Union & it's allies around the time this film was made, any atomic use on the part of the Soviets would have been minimal at most, the war would have been largely conventional like the World War II, worse in the number of casulaties but not a situation from which mankind could not recover. And with the small amount of atomic weapons and their relatively low yields, the advice in this film MAY have come in handy IF you were outside of the main blast and heat areas. But still, it's very patronising and simplifies it far too much. To sum up, I am nin between the people who ridicule this and the people who take it seriously. I think it's ridiculous and funny to an extent, but I also understand the geopolitical situation at the time. But watch it, you will enjoy it!

This film has been the object of a lot of criticism over the years, and held up as an example of futility in the face of certain destruction. But the people who made it weren't stupid, and the advice it contains is worth taking.

First you have to realize that "D&C" isn't directed at people in the primary blast zone, people who wouldn't even have time to react. They'd be vaporized in an instant and never know what hit them. Instead it's directed at people in the outlying areas, anyone with time to react after seeing the flash of the blast. The bright flash of light from the bomb's detonation travels at (obviously) the speed of light; the shock wave travels at the speed of sound. So between the flash and the shock wave, you have anywhere from a split-second to a few seconds to react.

For people in or near buildings, the shock wave means a lot of glass and other debris will be flying through the air, which could cut or blind you, so the important thing is to get down on the floor or ground and cover your face. And silly as it seems, something as flimsy as a sheet of newspaper could protect you from radiation burns.

For the millions of people outside the main blast area who could still be injured or blinded by flying debris, Duck and Cover were (and maybe still are) words to literally live by.

And on the subject of fallout shelters, as the name implies, they're designed to protect you from fallout (radiation). They're not blast shelters.

Did anyone notice that at the beginning of the film, Bert was menaced by a clever monkey weilding a firecracker? Amusing way to represent the Russians. Not cartoonishly cute at all.

Some of the film's tips, as the earlier reviewers suggested, were useful in limiting casualties, especially in the early days of the Bomb... but at the cost of ever=present anxiety. And, of course, in an all-out nuclear war, there would be very little saving of oneself as many bombs hit an urban area. Fallout shelters would become crematoria, and, in the famous words, any living would envy the dead.

Our political action remains our best fallout shelter.

All these versions of how we should best see this slice of idealised life from the past is revisionists. The absurdity is aparent - even from the "safe" distance of Brisbane, Australia (pronounced "brizbn", btw). Recall, "on the Beach was set in Melbourne, Australia.

Please don't drag us into your post-WWII-communist neurotic insanity.

A final comment - what a absolutely stupendous achievent this archive this is! We are campaining to replicate it over here in "Oz" *(oh, please, no).

Sincere thanks,

Stewart and all my associates.

seek a newspaper!!! the tips in this film are less then useless. if you were in a open area near the grounds of the blast no matter if you did duck and put your head in your hands you still would be fried by the heat wave, not to mention blown up by the blast wave. they should put in a section about bert the turtle getting blown up into 10 differnt sections shell and all. ah duck and cover a classic comical film!

Perhaps no other film in history has generated more urban legends and mythology than Duck and Cover.

Randell Smith of Texas illuminates some of these myths in his review so I won't repeat them here. I'll just say that those who think the techniques taught in the film would be useless in an atomic attack literally don't know what they're talking about.

For every type of explosion there is a fringe area where survival is possible if the right steps are taken. People who don't take this into account are probably projecting their existential dread that an atomic attack would be so catastrophic that life would not be worth living. This is foolishness.

First of all Duck and Cover came out in 1951, the year before the much more powerful hydrogen bomb was first exploded. Much of the information in Duck and Cover was derived from studies of the aftermath of the atomic attacks on Japan.

The reviewer who thought protecting oneself with a newspaper would be naively ineffective obviously never saw the photograph of a Japanese survivor whose back was burned only where the darker colors of her kimono pattern absorbed more energy.

According to data later supplied to the United Nations by the City of Hiroshima less than half of the population died in a city that suffered a direct attack! (Deaths were counted as of the end of 1945, about four months after the attack.)

But Bert's advice is still relevant today.

In the 1979 The Office of Technology Assessment published a paper called The Effects of Nuclear War which you can download from the Federation of American Scientists site.

The paper reports that after a one megaton ground explosion in Detroit, "In the outermost band (4.7 to 7.4 miles [7.6 to 11.9 km]) there will be only light damage to commercial structures and moderate damage to residences. Casualties are estimated at 25 percent injured and only an insignificant number killed."

I'm sure these figures will come as a surprise to many people, which is why I included the source.

Now consider this. North Korea has nuclear weapons and the missiles required to carry one to the western United States. Other nations are also seeking to acquire this capability. As the possibility of an atomic attack slowly returns to the level it was in the early fifties, what are you going to tell your kids?

"If you see a flash, just look right at it and wait a few seconds for your death, kid, because you're doomed."

or

"Duck and cover."

Bert the Turtle was right.

Ahhhhh, Duck and Cover, one of the films that started my obsession with archival films. I saw a bit of this film first in the classic National Film Board film 'If You Love The Planet'. I don't actually think I've seen the whole film until then, if I did, I certainly didn't pick up the whole lunacy of it, like how kids can cover up with a singular piece of cloth or a newspaper, and you will be miraculously protected, or how you must stay away from windows 'because it may break and cut you', seemingly oblivious to any, oh I don't know, nuclear holocaust that could happen, Bert seems to be the hero of one very naive generation. Of course this is a must see.. over 55,000 views can't be wrong!

Hilarious!

An effective Civil Defense film for its time, regardless of its detractors today. Well constructed for children with techniques still in use.

The criticism of this film offered by people today fails to state accurately any technical deficiencies in the data presented. As a FEMA trained Radiological Defense Monitor I can say that the circumstances as presented and the facts given are perfectly valid.

The instructional material in the film has many applications, only one of which may be a nuclear explosion. Whether it be a nearby refinery accident or a gas main exploding, familiarizing youngsters with some type of evasive action in such an emergency is wise.

City centers, outlying industrial complexes and military bases are the targets of an enemy attack. Most of us live and work in surrounding areas where "duck and Cover" techniques are pertinent. This is NOT a film about Fallout. Strategic nuclear warheads are not, as one reviewer said, "ten megatons". They are less than one, and a terrorist attack would probably involve an even smaller device. In Japan the cities were very small with mostly wood and paper (!) traditional Japanese architecture. The total destruction seen there covers an area about 5000 feet across! There was NO radioactive fallout in Japan. They were air bursts chosen to increase blast damage and avoid radioactive fallout. It works. Please study the subject in more detail to learn how the people died and what measures, if known then, would have helped them.

As far as what Duck and Cover is telling us, it is quite true that if you see the bright light you will have time, from 1 to 30 seconds, to protect yourself from flying debris and heat. If you don't see the light, you were killed due to being too close to the blast.

No Civil Defense film will tell you that it is possible to survive a direct hit on your position, whether the weapon in question is a conventional aerial bomb, an artillary shell or a nuclear weapon.

American citizens and officials responsible for public safety are not going to ignore their duty or stop trying to help us because a few people make smart alec remarks or by others who have been mis-informed by popular myths. With the advent of theinternet, it is easier than ever to become well informed on this somewhat complex subject.

As a film maker I am preparing a new generation of safety videos on this subject which I hope will help dispell some of the misunderstanding about nuclear weapons.

"Duck and Cover" is no more corny than the educational programing seen on juvenile television today. It presents the data in accordance with current proven methods of instructional design (the subject in which I did my post graduate work).

Randel Smith
Houston, Texas

When the government makes cheeseball reels about atom bomb explosions, we should feel insulted by the narration and bad acting. I mean who are they to try and help educate people on a basic threat that could have been real ?! I mean whoa hey hey, they're just trying to make us afraid so they can control our fragile little minds and pass mean ole fascist legislation while we eat our chili-dogs with slaw eh ? Yeah, thats it....fascists.....mean ole fascist US. Tell you what, even the mention of 9/11 makes me yawn these days eh ? Terrorist attacks ?! bah ! Chemical weapon attacks ?! bah ! Bad acting and PR is the REAL enemy ! ....anyway...classic reel.

I loved it. Too bad the Iranians don't have their atom bomb ready yet...wait, maybe the North Koreans can get a little more range on theirs. I am ready to duck n cover. I guess it would work if you were abour 40 miles away from the blast...you would still see a flash. At least you would be a little prtected form the ratioactive dust. Any closer to the center and I think you will look like a duck n cover little lumpy shadow on the wall you just ducked next to. DOn't think it would work well now...the students wouldn't listen to the teachers. I give this 2 stars for usefulness and 4 stars for being entertaining.

Was is Duck tape or Duct tape they told me to buy? Well thank goodness we have films like this to educate us that newspapers can protect us from "New-Clear" fall out. A true classic in governmental education.

Good film, but not very realistic. By the time you see the flash, I'm afraid it would have been too late to duck and cover. Still very entertaining.

Yeah, watching the clip really brings back memories...waning nostalgiac, truth, justice and the american way...Eisenhower, mom's macaroni and cheese, the Bay of Pigs...grandma's fried chicken, the military industrial complex...seperation of church and state, political aspirations...Bertrand Russell.

Wow, what a flick.

It was difficult sleeping in those days, especially when I could hear the planes coming into Selfridge Air Force Base...hoping they could intercept the A bombs. I must have been dreaming of anti-anti-star-wars missles then...and when the cold war ended..so did my acid reflux...and all this time I thought it was the Mylanta. I never associated it with turning the bomb shelter into a compost heap.

But I digress. I still find it rather difficult to dance to, but this film is worthy of a solid 4 stars.

Hey Martha...hand me that pitchfork. Thanks

This film is regaining topicality as we listen to our leaders telling us to buy duct tape & plastic wrap as they ratchet up the 'terror index'...
I beg to differ in those who failed to see the dark humor in this. This is funny in the way that Dr Strangelove was funny. The absurdity of the situation, and the desperate desire to control uncontrollable situations led to this "instructional" film, to let children feel there was something they could do about nuclear attack. Absurd? Certainly. But also absurdly poignant, in it's desire to protect youthful psyches from the stress of the nuclear sword of Damoclese, by giving them a catchy jingle and an upbeat lesson about what THEY could do in a nuclear attack. At least the naive & gullible slept well at night.

Two things struck me when watching this film. The first was how pointless the advice was (as we all know). The second was how well this advice was given. "Duck and cover" is the catchphrase repeated continuously throughout the film while always at the same time showing children ducking and covering. In between these messages are little pieces of information about the effects of a nuclear blast which are simultaneously disturbing and funny. Despite the poor advice, the film was done very well. It's worth watching just to see how effetcively a message can be got across, no matter how stupid it is.

Tho this film may be outdated a bit,it still says a lot about how our govt chose to portray the nuclear threat that was looming at that time... Look at the world today, especially now, we are in an increasingly hostile world situation.
Does anyone know where the nearest fallout shelter is? I think everyone should be reminded what a world war can bring, and ask themselves,
"if" this would become a reality, what would you
do?

The idea that people, including our own government, believed taht this is how to "protect" yourself from an atomic blast is terrifying. Had the bomb been dropped on the U.S. those who did not have shelters would have perished and been injured just as the victims at Nagasaki and Hiroshima were.

The original Homeland Security Department, the Civil Defense Department, produced this masterpiece. It is too good.

"An Atomic Explosion can knock you down," warns the friendly narrator. He goes on to let us know it can also give a sunburn.

Hilarious, scary, and a marvel to view. "Getting ready" for "the bomb." "When the bomb goes off." "If the atom bomb explodes."

This "bomb" can go off at "any time, anywhere!" and yet the never names an enemy other than to call them "enemy" and only once. They wanted a long shelf life with this one and they got it.

"Sundays, Holidays, Vacation Time - anytime - we must always be ready for the atom bomb. We must do the right thing when the atom bomb goes off....DUCK and COVER!"

Too, too funny. This one's audio is as good or better than it's images and is a work of art in its own right.

There is nothing funny about this video. I can only imagine what our parents and grandparents were going through in this era. The threat of a nuclear strike remains even today. For as long as there are bombs, there is a threat. Believe me, I NEVER want to hear the siren or see the flash. You'd be lucky to get even a duck out of your duck and cover.

Every year in October we had this fire safety month. I can't say for sure if it's a national thing or not. But I remember one time booklets on how to fortify your house against nuclear fallout were distributed along with the fire safetly instructions. All of this was mingled with free passes to movies, where door prizes were given, and we could watch "The Three Stooges in Orbit." The Russians, of course, were the big enemy then, and when I looked at the booklets for how to wash the radioactive dust off your house, I pictured these Russians as short, brutish, Nazi-looking invaders. However, now that I'm older, I realize that WE were the only people on the whole planet who had dropped these monstrous inventions on anyone, and we had dropped them on TWO -- count them: TWO -- CIVILIAN populations. If WE were scared, can you imagine how the Russians felt?

I see now that in 1984-like propaganda, the educational system methodically introduced fear into our young lives, depicting the enemy as so deluded by their "communistic" idealogy as to disregard human safetly, as to make human life of no value. It was very subtle propaganda, and very effective. This film accurately depicts an element of that subtlety. The irony of a cartoon turtle is obvious to any adult, but to a child watching it (as I did), it sends a direct message, right between the eyes: "Communists are evil; capitalists are good." It was something that affected the rest of our lives. I'm not saying this was a GOOD thing. It was an evil thing to do to a child's mind.

This children's educational film is probably the most memorable piece of Cold War ephemera. Animated Bert the Turtle tells kids they always have to be aware that the atomic bomb could go off any minute, but if they duck down and cover the backs of their necks, they'll be O.K. Apparently, this was widely shown in elementary schools during the 50s, and one wonders the effect it had on the mental health of the schoolchildren of the era. A must.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****. Also available on Atomic Memories, Atomic Scare Films, Vol. 1, Atomic TV, Atomic War Bride/This Is Not a Test DVD, and U.S. Government Classics.

This movie is the funniest thing I've seen on the web in a long time... but scary because it was apparently taken seriously by the people who created it and showed it to kids. As others have pointed out, following this advice would probably save a few people in areas well away from a nuclear explosion: but the fraction of the population who would qualify in a major nuclear war would be minute.

Still, with the recent hysteria about "terrorist nukes", who knows, maybe this movie will be dragged out of storage again to entertain this generation of school kids...

Living in fear of anhillilation is something a lot of people experienced during the hottest parts of the Cold War. My parents and my relatives talked anout it all the time. Typical of that era, the film seems to lead everyone involved that they can survive a nuclear blast. They failed to explain that a 10 megaton blast can be about 66 miles wide, petty much a "city buster". They did what they had to do, and in far outlying areas some of these children may have survived. I hope we never have to produce films like this again. It was better than ignorance and indiffence. Very scary film...