Underplayed Gems

A Day Called X (1957)

A Day Called X poster
Original title
The Day Called X
Directed by
Harry Rasky
Genre
documentary film
Country
United States
Runtime
28 min
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A CBS documentary from 1957 follows Portland, Oregon as it stages a practice evacuation for a nuclear attack. The film shows real city officials and workers carrying out civil defense plans up to the final moment before a bombing that never happens in the story.

educationalmatter-of-factanxiousdatedmethodicalneutralearnestdocumentary-style

What happens

The Day Called 'X' is a dramatized CBS documentary film set in Portland, Oregon, in which the entire city is evacuated in anticipation of a nuclear air raid, after Soviet bombers had been detected by radar stations to the north; it details the activation of the city's civil defense protocols and leads up to the moment before the attack (the ending is left intentionally unknown). The operations were run from the Kelly Butte Bunker, which was the emergency operations center at that time. It was filmed in September 1957 and aired December 8 of that year. Apart from presenter/narrator Glenn Ford, none of the people shown are actors. They are locals of Portland shown in their real jobs, including Mayor Terry Schrunk. Whenever one of these individuals is heard uttering warnings or statements regarding attack, the words "AN ATTACK IS NOT TAKING PLACE" are superimposed over the picture. On September 27, 1955, Portland actually conducted an exercise evacuation of downtown called "Operation Greenlight", which is referenced by the film. It was re-broadcast locally in 2004 and uploaded by the online Prelinger Archives. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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