The Atomic Café

A collection of Cold War public service announcements and other kitsch synthesized into “a comic horror film” by Rafferty et al (1982). From the IMDb website: “An ostensibly tongue in cheek documentary about the nuclear age of the late 40’s and 50’s, juxtaposing the horrific realities of the arms race with cheery misinformation(and simplistic redbaiting) doled out to the public by the US government and private sector. The overall effect is chilling- for every scene of hilariously misguided propaganda and dismissal of nuclear danger(an army film cheerfully assures a fictional fallout victim that his hair will grow back in no time) there’s scenes of Pacific islanders affected by fallout from remote nuclear tests and US soldiers getting debriefed on the minimal dangers of witnessing a nuclear detonation a few miles away(with goggles on, to be fair). Not an objective documentary by any means – not that it should be – the filmmakers excoriate the duplicity of the government and the mock the complacency of the public with equal zeal, but there’s a certain absurdist charm to the whole affair.”