Atomic Power (1946)

Original title

Atomic Power!

Directed by

Jack Glenn

Genre

documentary film

Country

United States

Runtime

18 min

Rating

7.5 of 10 from 2 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This short documentary shows the development of the atomic bomb during World War Two. It uses reenactments with the actual scientists to show events leading to the first test explosion.

educationalseriousinformativedocumentary-styleperiodrecreationssoberretrospective

What happens

Atomic Power is an American short documentary film produced by The March of Time and released to theaters August 9, 1946, one year after the end of World War II. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. Raymond Fielding, chronicler of The March of Time, cites Atomic Power as the only one of the series' postwar films to emerge as a classic. "It tells of the making of the atomic bomb, and is a quite remarkable example of film making in the March of Time tradition," Fielding wrote. Nearly every person involved in the invention of the atomic bomb performs as an actor in the film, recreating the events and conversations that led up to the Trinity test, which is also reenacted and intercut with government footage of the blast. Jack Glenn directed. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• A Tale of Two Cities (1946)
• One World or None (1946)
• Special Delivery (1946)
• Critical Mass: America's race to build the atomic bomb
• Paramount News Issue #37 (1946)
• Survival City (1955)
• Hiroshima Nagasaki August, 1945 (1970)
• That Justice Be Done (1946)