On the Beach

Although there'd been "doomsday dramas" before it, Stanley Kramer's On the Beach was considered the first "important" entry in this genre when originally released in 1959. Based on the novel by Nevil Shute, the film is set in the future (1964) when virtually all life on earth has been exterminated ...more

Released at the height of the Cold War (and when most nuclear-themed films were sci-fi horror films like Them!), On the Beach is a very flawed but intensely powerful film. Rarely one for subtlety when preparing one of his famous "message" pictures, director Stanley Kramer tends to overemphasize the horror that nuclear war represents, negating some of the impact. Indeed, it is when Kramer lets the simple facts speak for themselves -- the sight of people standing patiently in line waiting for ...more