On the Beach (1959)

John Chard

4.0

Sep 13, 2015

Like watching paint dry. Stanley Kramer and John Paxton adapt from Nevil Shute's novel. Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins and Donna Anderson star, with music by Ernest Gold and cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno. After a global nuclear war, the inhabitants of Australia realise that the radiation clouds are heading their way. A group of people try to come to terms with this fact. A well regarded film by the critics, and lauded by the makers at the time as an important and potent piece of cinema, On the Beach is still a film that's not for everyone. The star ap…

Well acted story with an obvious anti-war theme, written during the cold war provided an interesting portrayal of how different people may react facing impending doom. Fearful, Angry, Fatalistic. It developed feelings for the characters as they dealt with the situation each in their own way. Overall, at the end, there was a sadness that prevailed and led one to contemplate the possibility of this occurring. That is the success of the film and the book that inspired it, to create an atmosphere against nuclear war. I saw this film in the 1960's and enjoyed it immensely and read the book beca…

CinemaSerf

7.0

Sep 5, 2025

With nuclear warfare having eradicated most of the population of the world, it seems that only Australia still has a population - and they know that it is only a matter of time before the irradiated dust reaches their coastline and death will follow. Just ahead of that, though, is the USS Sawfish under the command of the now widowed “Towers” (Gregory Peck) who arrives with a grateful but demoralised crew. Their hosts welcome them with open arms, and swiftly he befriends local sailor “Holmes” (Anthony Perkins) whose wife “Mary” (Donna Anderson) has just given birth to a baby and he is also intr…