Sean Ramsdell Pros: Darkly comedic collection of outdated propaganda films, archival footage and so on, soundtrack filled with obscure tunes, final scene featuring Hungarian Rhapsody #2, glad it's selected by the National Film RegistryCons: Not for the fate of heartIT'S A BOMB , DUCK AND COVER

Martin Teller Completely free of narration, commentary, or intertitles, this documentary presents archival footage from the Cold War era expressing all the facets of nuclear paranoia and the government's feeble attempts to pacify it. Mostly comprised of bits from newsreels and education films (with occasional nuclear-related songs of the time on the soundtrack), the material is alternately hilarious and horrifying, preying on the public's gullibility and need for a voice of authority, no matter how absurd the message. Thirty years after its release, the film is still relevant (everyone got their duct tape ready?).8/10

Julia Forbes I just ran this film for a high school Social Studies class. Part documentary, part propaganda, part satire. I, too, remember "duck and cover" civil defense drills mixed in with fire drills. It is particularly interesting to consider this film in a post-9/11 world and think about the messages in the current news media and our security-phobia today. The more things change...the more they stay the same. I saw this film in 1982 when it was released, and it hasn't lost any of it's impact. It is entertaining, informative and a little frightening. There is an aura innocence as well as something sinister captured at a time in the history of the United States.

kmsp1079 When I viewed this video all I kept thinking was, I actually lived through this. It's on target and shows just how bizarre the world was at that time. I've read many who have said it was at times boring, but for my generation, it was anything but. Imagine being 12, being at home after school, and watching cartoons....instead of watching commercials on Wonder bread, we were watching commercials on how to ...in an event of a nuclear strike...to run to the nearest shelter and continue to "wipe" off the nuclear fallout.In '62, during the Cuban missle crisis, my dad was busy building a bomb shelter in our backyard. It's still there though he made it into a workshop after the crisis was over. Someone else has since bought the house and workshop but I doubt they know the origins of the workshop, even though there is still a pipe for water in the middle of the structure. I still can't imagine 5 people living in a shelter roughly the size of 12feet by 12 feet for 30 some odd years. In retrospect, I think death by radiation would have been easier.As I've said...it was a bizarre world then. .