On the Beach

1959

Action / Drama / Romance / Sci-Fi

14
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 78% · 23 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 69% · 2.5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.1/10 10 14331 14.3K

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Plot summary

In 1964, atomic war wipes out humanity in the northern hemisphere; one American submarine finds temporary safe haven in Australia, where life-as-usual covers growing despair. In denial about the loss of his wife and children in the holocaust, American Captain Towers meets careworn but gorgeous Moira Davidson, who begins to fall for him. The sub returns after reconnaissance a month (or less) before the end; will Towers and Moira find comfort with each other?


Uploaded by: OTTO
August 19, 2014 at 01:57 AM

Director

Top cast

Gregory Peck as Cmdr. Dwight Lionel Towers, USS Sawfish
Anthony Perkins as Lt. Peter Holmes - Royal Australian Navy
Ava Gardner as Moira Davidson
Fred Astaire as Julian Osborne
1080p.BLU
1.95 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
2 hr 14 min
Seeds 44

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by dbdumonteil 8 / 10

The last shore

The French title is "le dernier rivage"(the last shore)The intellectuals dismiss this movie in France and I've always thought they were wrong.Ava Gardner had never been better with the eventual exception of Huston's "night of the iguana".My favorite part is the central one:one of the soldiers tries to find the cause for the strange Morse signals.He crosses bleak dead San Francisco harbor (the camera takes prodigious high angle shots of him,making us share his loneliness and his hope against hope)Hope that was to be short-lived!What a symbol,this equivalent of a bottle thrown into the sea!So few special effects,ans so much emotion.Stanley Kramer's peak.

Reviewed by bkoganbing 9 / 10

Our Destiny Is In Our Own Hands

Released in 1959, the apocalypse of On the Beach allegedly took place in 1964. We missed it, but it sure doesn't mean it still can't happen. Maybe now more than ever. But probably not in the way it happens here.

That's one of the awful things about On the Beach, they don't know what happened. Scientists among the survivors in Australia speculate, but they don't really know. Interesting however that their speculations led to the future film scenarios in Failsafe and Doctor Strangelove. But as Ava Gardner said, she didn't do anything so why is she and all the rest still left south of the equator doomed.

Nuclear war has occurred and the result was total annihilation of life in the Northern Hemisphere. The nuclear powered submarine U.S.S. Sawfish was submerged and sailed south until land with people was found in Australia. Still people like Gregory Peck can't get it into their heads that everything they knew and loved is gone.

Still though he finds time for a romantic interlude with Ava Gardner as the Australians and those who made it to their shore size up the situation and it ain't good and no options for hope.

Nevil Shute's apocalyptic novel was filmed in Australia and it leaves a good ring of authenticity. Anthony Perkins gives an earnest portrayal of the young officer in the Royal Australian Navy though he does slip in and out of the Aussie accent.

Besides the message of On the Beach the main publicity about the film concerned Fred Astaire in his first straight dramatic part. He got rave reviews from astonished critics and deservedly so, playing a nuclear scientist who know amuses himself by indulging in a secret fantasy to become an auto racer.

This film was hated, still hated by right wing critics everywhere because of its total pessimism. The religious right particularly doesn't like this film because the apocalypse arrives and there's no divine intervention, even just to save God's Elect whomever they might be. It's just the end of life and the promise that future visitors to the planet might piece together the story of what happened as does the crew of the Starship Enterprise finding a devastated world or two on their mission to seek out life. Yes, it could happen to us.

I think that what Stanley Kramer was trying to tell us is that whatever created this universe left it in the hands of those who inhabit it to do what they could with it or any corner thereof. It's our responsibility to find a way to live together and respect each other and our differences or annihilate ourselves. It's not easy, but it's that simple.

Maybe we'll learn that lesson and On the Beach is a good teacher.

Reviewed by Hitchcoc 8 / 10

What Can We Do?

This film has that subdued fifties quality to it. There was a lot of cold war fear and worry about bombs, as well there should be. There still is when we consider the screwballs who seem to have their hands on these weapons. I would hope that this fairly dated film would give us another reminder as to how fragile we really are. Obviously, at some point our species will die out, be it from lack of food, disease, pollutants, or war, but we certainly don't have to accept it and we need to be aware of the most immediate dangers. I had trouble with the characters in the film. I know that some have said, "What are they supposed to do?" I guess, knowing the nature of the beast, there would be a little more panic and a little more looting. We don't need to portray it like "Children of Men" but there would certainly be an element. Just look at natural disasters where a considerably smaller number of people are affected. The acting is good; the plot is interesting. I just had trouble with the stiff upper lip stuff.

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