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US Army Signal Corps, Pictorial ServiceThe Atom Strikes! (1945)

Shortly after the end of the war an American mission was sent to Japan, to report on the destruction wrought by the atomic bombs. The mission, organized by the Manhattan Engineer District, included engineer and medical officers and a few scientists. This film portrays some of the devastation they witnessed,.


This movie is part of the collection: Open Source Movies

Producer: US Army Signal Corps, Pictorial Service
Production Company: US War Department
Audio/Visual: sound, BW
Language: English
Keywords: atom; atomic; Hiroshima; Nagasaki; World War II; WWII; atom bomb; ABomb; nuclear; nuclear weapon; little boy; fat man; radioactive; Japan

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: CGourley - - June 17, 2006
Subject: Compare and Contrast
Excellent primary source document of destruction from the viewpoint of the victors. Compare this version with the more subjective and shorter edited version "A Tale of Two Cities" to see how musical score and careful selection and arrangement of images can change the overall message. NOte, too, the interview with the priest, when asked to comment on the use of the atomic bomb. He reads from a prepared statement and is not, at least to this viewer, altogether convincing in his support of the bomb's use. But then he was in the presence of the occupiers. And likely still in shock. I wonder what he might have said after a year or five or ten.