The second feature from the husband and wife filmmaking team of director Frank Perry and screenwriter Eleanor Perry takes on the Cold War and the fear of the atomic bomb through the eyes of children. The 1964 film opens at a rural elementary school in an unnamed town somewhere in Middle American as its morning routine is shattered by the blare of a civil defense alarm. It's not a drill but no one in authority can give the principal (William Daniels in his feature debut) a firm answer on why exactly the alarm has sounded. It is an attack or merely an error in the system?
With no clear guidance, they follow procedure and the teachers walk the kids home down winding country roads while the children work themselves into a state of anxiety and panic about the impending atomic attack. One girl invites a group to her family's bomb shelter—the only one in the area—and then becomes almost tyrannical as she denies access to anyone else. It's based on a story by Lois Dickert, which was in turn inspired by a real-life incident that occurred during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Perry directs with a measured naturalism, letting scenes play out without urgency while developing the growing tension in the increased anxiety of the students and teachers alike as their worst fears take over. The dialogue, however, is contrived, especially among the children. While the adult actors are very effective (in addition to Daniels, it features Nancy Marchand and Estelle Parsons), the children have complex ensemble scenes that they don't always pull off. They are more effective in smaller groups or even in solo moments, as when one terrified child curls up alone under her bed and whimpers. The film, produced independently on a small budget, struck a nerve when it was released, tapping into very current anxieties.
But at 82 minutes it feels drawn out, which dissipates much of the tension and softens the punch of its more immediate moments. It's still interesting, both as a snapshot of the nuclear anxieties of the early 1960s and as a drama of runaway fears driving behavior in the face of uncertainty, and the naturalistic direction and production design and black and white photography give it a quasi-documentary quality.
The Perrys went on to make a series of interesting movies that tackled social issues and cultural moments, including The Swimmer, Diary of a Mad Housewife, and Play It As It Lays.
The film is not rated and features no explicit imagery or language. The Blu-ray is mastered from a new 2K master and features well-researched commentary by film historian Richard Harland Smith. A strong option purchase.