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U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Civil DefenseOperation Cue (1964 revision) (1964)

Study of a nuclear test in 1955 at Nevada Test Site.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Civil Defense
Sponsor: U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Civil Defense
Audio/Visual: Sd, C
Keywords: Atomic-nuclear: Weapons; Atomic-nuclear: Civil defense

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Spuzz - - December 18, 2003
Subject: Cue the bomb!
There are two Operation Cues on this site, and since both of them are quite cimilar to another, thought I'd kill two birds with one bomb and review them together.
The two operation cues detail the bomb explosions that happened in Nevada. What starts off these films hilariously is the dismissal of these films at the very start of them. Like, this is an important film, but it's irrelevant now. A 'reporter' named Joan Collin (the name of the reporter is dropped in the later version) drops by before the blast and familiarizes herself with all the stuff that will be blown up into smithereens. I found it hilarious that the male narrator would come on basically after that and narrate the piece, and the woman would come on with silly female asides as 'being a mother and a house wife, I was quite interested about the food tests"
Soon, the bomb hits, and everything goes boom. 24 hours later of course, everything is fine, and they go trolloping around the site as if everything is hunky dory. The whole thing ends off, as it shoot with a cook-out. Why, who knows. A bizarre classic, and a must see on this site!

Reviewer: Randel - - March 14, 2003
Subject: Operation Cue
Good historical footage and some useful information about structural survivability. Surprisingly, an inaccuracy is on the part of the update narrator suggesting that a ten megaton weapon could be expected on an American target.

In the early days some large weapons were tested as we learned to scale them down and deploy them effectively, as did the Russians. Most H Bombs were 3.8 megatons, as more than that is wasted, the force of the explosion being refected away from the earth. MIRV warheads are much smaller, posing a danger due to their disposal around a target area.

People may be interested to know that current building standards including things like specifications for the re-inforcing of concrete in buildings, bridges, etc. were developed from these tests. Also our modern building codes concerning flamable roof materials and siding.

Nothing will stand up to a direct hit but NO weapon system can destroy an entire city or kill all of the people; an air burst, the type expected during a military attack, will produce very little fallout. In almost any community there wiould be more survivors immiediate deaths.

My personal worry is not about being under a bomb if it goes off but rather what kind of Civil Defense plans are in place and rehearsed by our current civil authorities. Any such disaster, deliberate or accidental will need vigilant response.

My family has several plans for dealing with such events, and they do not differ much from how we deal with hurricane threats here on the gulf coast. Anyone who lives in a tornado area no doubt will consider it in much the same way.

This event was televised by CBS live.

Reviewer: PConheim - - February 25, 2003
Subject: troubling nuke test as
Some of the more dramatic color footage of nuke tests (albeit a little faded) can be found in this short overview of the destruction of a test site by a nuclear blast. Phony "reporter" makes such pithy observations as noting that the color of a tan jacket on a life-life dummy had faded from the heat of the blast; there's also a puzzling line about how "salvaged cans from demolished buildings could have been used for preparing meat" so that the assembled masses at the test can be fed.

The simultaneously calming and menacing tone of the film is noteable, and the conclusion finds the narrator mentioning that the relatively low level of destruction seen in the film pales in comparison to what would probably happen if a modern, more powerful weapon was to be used on a city, but that's OK because "many lessons were learned", anyway.

Shotlist

Points out the contrast between the Nevada test in 1955 and present nuclear devices.



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