Movie about the enola gay

Feature Films (Updated 6/2006)

Above and Beyond (1952).

Hollywood bio-pic of Enola Gay pilot Paul Tibbets focuses on his coaching and personal existence, with his wife very often narrating. Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, dir. Melvin Frank. (122 mins.)

Barefoot Gen (1983).

Japanese cartoon version of the bombing. Dir. Mamoru Shinzaki. (80 mins.)

Bataan (1943).

Brutal view of Japanese soldiers in this motion picture about a tragic battle for Americans, one that roused fierce anti-Japanese feelings. Robert Taylor, George Murphy, dir. Tay Garnett. (113 mins.)

Beginning or the End (1947).

First American film to portray the maturation of the A-Bomb and the bombing of Hiroshima. Brian Donlevy, Robert Walker, dir. Norman Taurog. (112 mins.)

Black Rain [Kuroi ame] (1989).

Radioactive consequence gradually kills a Japanese family that survived the authentic bomb. "I can't die like this, like a guinea

I first saw THE BEGINNING OR THE END (1947) in 2012thanks to Turner Classic Movies. I've found it interesting that in the ensuing years I include received numerous emails from professors and students wanting to recognize how to obtain this MGM film on the creation of the atomic bomb.

Happily this production is now easily available to both academics and a wider audience thanks to the Warner Archive. The movie was recently released as part of a "wave" of films directed by Norman Taurog.

I've previously reviewed Taurog's LUCKY NIGHT(1939) and PLEASE BELIEVE ME(1950); still ahead in my review stack is the fourth and final film of the batch, William Powell in THE HOODLUM SAINT (1946).

THE Commencing OR THE END, the story of the Manhattan Project, was released early in 1947. Though it's a fictionalized telling, one of the most interesting aspects for me was simply seeing how the story was depicted, roughly 18 months after the dropping of the atomic bombs. The film mixes facts with plenty of conjecture about what the atomic bomb would ultimately mean for the world, hence the movie's title.

It's an engrossing film with a large cast of excellent actors. Brian Donlevy plays Maj. Gen. Leslie Gro

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