Pictures of Big Atomic Bombs Going Off: Operation Cue (‘64)

This 1964 film by the Department of Defense’s Office of Civil Defense was an attempt to outline the effects of a nuclear blast on American soil using a Nevada test site in 1955, and the a more powerful nuclear weapons test in 1964. An important part of American military history, the army conducted elaborate atomic bomb tests, which required the building of power lines, transformers, and a complete substation that would imitate the damage that would be sustained on American infrastructures. In order to better gauge the effects of nuclear radiation, five different kinds of furnished houses were also built, and dummies wearing civilian clothes were set up in the test area. At one point, reporter Joan Collins observes that after the blast, the clothes on the test dummies have faded. Collins takes the viewer from the planning phase of the tests to the actual blast site itself, showing the audience how to minimize their own exposure in the event of an atomic attack. The film also demonstrates the differences between the 1955 and the 1964 tests. Canned food exposed during the 1955 blast was later eaten, the film claims, while in 1964, knowledge of radiation poisoning was better understood. This film contains some of the most amazing footage ever taken of nuclear blasts and effectively shows the destructive power of these weapons. The effects of the atomic bomb are staggering, and this film captures the devastating, huge explosions that are capable of mass destruction.