Atomic Power (film)

Atomic Power is an American short documentary film produced by The March of Time and released to theaters August 9, 1946, one year after the end of World War II. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Atomic Power
Advertisement in Life, August 12, 1946
Directed byJack Glenn
Produced byRichard de Rochemont
StarringDean Acheson
Vannevar Bush
Arthur Compton
James Conant
Albert Einstein
Enrico Fermi
Leslie Groves
Ernest Lawrence
David Lilienthal
Lise Meitner
J. Robert Oppenheimer
George Pegram
I. I. Rabi
Leó Szilárd
Merle Tuve
Harold Urey
Narrated byWestbrook Van Voorhis
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • August 9, 1946 (1946-08-09)
[1]
Running time
18 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Raymond Fielding, chronicler of The March of Time, cites Atomic Power as the only one of the series' postwar films to emerge as a classic. "It tells of the making of the atomic bomb, and is a quite remarkable example of film making in the March of Time tradition," Fielding wrote.[3]

Nearly every person involved in the invention of the atomic bomb performs as an actor in the film, recreating the events and conversations that led up to the Trinity test, which is also reenacted and intercut with government footage of the blast. Jack Glenn directed.[3]:291–296

Reception

The National Board of Review called Atomic Power "a vivid short … a good condensation of masses of material into simple, clear exposition".[4] Atomic Power was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.[5]

See also

References
  1. "Synopsis" (PDF). The March of Time Newsreels. HBO Archives. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 6, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  2. Film Screenings, Museum of Modern Art, December 30, 2009; retrieved April 15, 2012
  3. Fielding, Raymond, The March of Time, 1935–1951. New York: Oxford University Press 1978 hardcover ISBN 0-19-502212-2
  4. "March of Time #13 (12th Series) 'Atomic Power'". New Movies, the National Board of Review Magazine. Internet Archive. 21 (10): 42. October 1946. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  5. "The 19th Academy Awards (1947) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
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