On the Beach **** (1959, Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins, Donna Anderson) – Classic Movie Review 3501

Stanley Kramer’s sombre 1959 drama film On the Beach is based on Nevil Shute’s novel depicting the aftermath of a nuclear war, and stars Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Anthony Perkins.

Producer-director Stanley Kramer’s sombre 1959 nuclear holocaust black-and-white drama film On the Beach is based on Nevil Shute’s novel depicting the aftermath of a nuclear war, and stars Gregory Peck and Anthony Perkins as Commander Dwight Towers and Royal Australian Navy Lieutenant Commander Peter Holmes.

They are submarine officers of the USS Sawfish, who come to investigate as atomic radiation from a distant global nuclear war sweeps across Australia in the then near future (actually 1964). The residents of Australia face the idea that all life will be destroyed in a few months.

Other characters involved in the action are boozy and careworn but gorgeous Moira Davidson (Ava Gardner) who begins to fall for Towers, who has lost his wife and children in the holocaust, nuclear physicist Julian Osborne (Fred Astaire) and Holmes’s wife Mary (Donna Anderson) and their baby.

Kramer directs this well-meaning conscience-jolter about world peace with a disappointing lack of urgency and the plot unfolds with a lack of plausibility. However, the production and performances are very strong and do hold the attention, while Giuseppe Rotunno’s black and white cinematography is superb.

Also in the cast are John Tate, Lola Brooks, Guy Doleman, Harp McGuire, Lola Brooks, Ken Wayne, Richard Meikle, John Meillon, Joe McCormick, Lou Vernon, Kevin Brennan, John L Cason, Paddy Moran and Grant Taylor.

It is musical comedy dancer Astaire’s drama début.

Surprisingly, Ernest Gold’s boring music won the 1960 Golden Globe for Best Original Motion Picture Score and was Oscar nominated. Kramer won the UN Award at the Baftas and the 1960 BAFTA for best director.

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (Ernest Gold) and Best Film Editing (Frederic Knudtson), with no Oscar wins.

John Paxton and James Lee Barrett’s screenplay is taken from Nevil Shute’s 1957 novel.

Unlike in the novel, no one is blamed for starting the nuclear war in the film that hints global annihilation may have arisen from an accident or a misjudgement. Shute disliked the film as too many changes had been made at the expense of his story.

The staunch liberal Peck campaigned to rid the world of nuclear weapons and was an active opponent of President Reagan’s Star Wars defence missile system.

It is Peck and Gardner’s third film together, following The Great Sinner (1949) and The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3501

Link to home page for more reviews derekwinnert.com