A controversial adaptation of Neville Shute’s 1957 Nuclear end-of-the-world novel (the author completely disowned it), On the Beach sees the entire population of the northern hemisphere wiped out by nuclear fallout. Australians await their fate as air currents slowly carry the fallout south.
Filmed in Melbourne, director Stanley Kramer focuses on the arrival to Australia of the only surviving American submarine, captained by Gregory Peck. But this is no military narrative. On the Beach is a character-driven story as each person deals with the inevitable: Peck’s love affair with Ava Gardner, the crew aboard the Sawfish, Australian naval officer Anthony Perkins dealing with a young wife in denial.
It’s a deft, message-driven feature (even if Shute felt it was diluted in its message) made at the time of the Cold War and nuclear arms build up. But 60 years later, On the Beach, whilst engaging, comes across more as a talkative curio, an overly-simplified and naive melodrama.
Nominated for 2 Oscars in 1960 – editing and original score (Ernest Gold)
Rating: 62%
Director: Stanley Kramer (The Defiant Ones, Judgement at Nuremberg)
Writer: John Paxton (Crossfire, The Wild One) – adapted from the novel by Neville Shute
Main cast: Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird, A Gentleman’s Agreement), Ava Gardner (Mogambo, The Barefoot Contessa), Anthony Perkins (Psycho, Friendly Persuasion)
An Opinion or Two 