In some ways, this scary preparedness film is rather hokey and out of date -- but not in the acting nor the special effects.
Interestingly, despite some misinformed reviews and even the overview at IMDb, no enemy country is ever named. At some points, the enemy sound like Nazis, at others Eastern European.
Yes, they are Marxists, and that is bluntly explained a few times, but, for whatever reason, perhaps of diplomacy, no nation is named.
In fact, in 1952 Marxists were the indeed the enemy most to be feared, foreign and domestic.
And that is still true today, even if they are subtler in their goals and targets than the ones portrayed in this film. And even if they prefer to label themselves "democratic socialists."
One important lesson in this film, not at all intended, is that all governments and all violent movements, whether Marxist, Nazi, or religious extremist, pose serious dangers to people, to individual human beings.
This movie opens with a reporter asking people whether they would support a "universal draft," not just for the military, but for "essential" jobs, such as military or defense plants.
Such a concept springs from a collectivist notion: We as individuals count only as cogs in the giant machine of the state.
One man expresses anger that the government wants to take over his plant to make tanks: He has spent years building his business, he notes, and he has others depending on him and his output. He objects to being taken over by the government. Tractors are important to society, also.
At the close, a quote from George Washington about preparedness being the best prevention of war re-emphasizes the movie's point; but the movie misses another point, the one I mentioned earlier: People are their own purposes, and as we submerge ourselves into the group, into "society," into the collective, we set ourselves up just for such scenarios as this.
Big government almost inevitably leads to war.
Movements that use, that advocate violence to accomplish their goals, whether economic or religious, promulgate and maintain their own wars.
Big government and violent mass movements each causes and results from the lessening, the very destruction of individualism. It behooves each of us, all of us, to work and vote and educate for freedom, for strengthening individuals and the concept of the individual, and work, vote, and educate for human rights.
But, and this is very important, those efforts are vital, not just in these United States, but in every nation-state and in every city. And especially in every human heart.
Interestingly, despite some misinformed reviews and even the overview at IMDb, no enemy country is ever named. At some points, the enemy sound like Nazis, at others Eastern European.
Yes, they are Marxists, and that is bluntly explained a few times, but, for whatever reason, perhaps of diplomacy, no nation is named.
In fact, in 1952 Marxists were the indeed the enemy most to be feared, foreign and domestic.
And that is still true today, even if they are subtler in their goals and targets than the ones portrayed in this film. And even if they prefer to label themselves "democratic socialists."
One important lesson in this film, not at all intended, is that all governments and all violent movements, whether Marxist, Nazi, or religious extremist, pose serious dangers to people, to individual human beings.
This movie opens with a reporter asking people whether they would support a "universal draft," not just for the military, but for "essential" jobs, such as military or defense plants.
Such a concept springs from a collectivist notion: We as individuals count only as cogs in the giant machine of the state.
One man expresses anger that the government wants to take over his plant to make tanks: He has spent years building his business, he notes, and he has others depending on him and his output. He objects to being taken over by the government. Tractors are important to society, also.
At the close, a quote from George Washington about preparedness being the best prevention of war re-emphasizes the movie's point; but the movie misses another point, the one I mentioned earlier: People are their own purposes, and as we submerge ourselves into the group, into "society," into the collective, we set ourselves up just for such scenarios as this.
Big government almost inevitably leads to war.
Movements that use, that advocate violence to accomplish their goals, whether economic or religious, promulgate and maintain their own wars.
Big government and violent mass movements each causes and results from the lessening, the very destruction of individualism. It behooves each of us, all of us, to work and vote and educate for freedom, for strengthening individuals and the concept of the individual, and work, vote, and educate for human rights.
But, and this is very important, those efforts are vital, not just in these United States, but in every nation-state and in every city. And especially in every human heart.