Wilding Productions
1967
Out of all of the short, instructional style films produced during the Cold War era, About Fallout was perhaps the most widely
distributed motion picture concerning civil defense and fallout
protection. Based off of the popular pamphlet Fallout Protection: What to Know and Do About Nuclear Attack, About
Fallout was created in 1963 as a collaboration between the Office of Civil Defense and
Wilding Productions.(1) Blending animation with live
actors, the film functions as both a science lesson in radioactivity as well as
an advertisement for the recently created National Fallout Shelter Program. Because of its broad message and easy to understand content, About Fallout consistently ranked as one of the top
requested films rented from government and military archives throughout the mid-1960's and was translated into both French and Danish for use overseas.(2)
In 1967, acknowledging the success of the film, thrifty editors in the Office of Civil Defense
trimmed About Fallout from it's original running time of twenty-three minutes to a brisk eight minutes and released this shorter version under the apt title Briefly, About Fallout.
Whereas the original version opens with a lengthy speech concerning the danger of fallout radiation, this film opens with a curt narrator announcing "Briefly, a few facts about fallout" before a scrolling message admits that blast and fire would likely kill millions during a nuclear attack. As part of the overall goal of
demystifying fallout, the narrator stresses radiation erupting from
the sun is showering Earth continually, resulting in the occasional
sunburn. The pervasiveness of this natural "background"
radiation is shown onscreen as bright streaks of light flashing through scenes
of everyday life. While humanity has lived with this presence since the
dawn of time, medicine and industry have harnessed radiation for the
advancement of mankind. Even with the benefits being reaped by science, however,
radiation still presents a danger when it comes in the form of fallout, the
deadly residue of atomic explosions. 
The worst aspect of fallout, its
ability to diffuse with the wind for miles, leaves no region of the United
States safe from contamination. Measured in Roentgens, when fallout falls
across urban areas, shelter is needed for adequate protection though it can be
found in nearly every building whether marked as a shelter or not. The
specific threat to humans, graphically demonstrated when gamma rays punch holes
in human skin cells, can be overcome when enough solid shielding is placed
between the outside radiation and the sheltered spaces. Whereas the
full-length version provides extensive directions on how to cleanse food and
your person when
entering a shelter, Briefly, About Fallout offers only
glimpses of the decontamination process. Despite these problems, the film
makes clear the federal government's National Fallout Shelter Program has chartered
millions of public spaces to serve as post-attack shelters. The ending
sequence, identical in both version the 1963 and 1967 versions, follows a family enjoying a peaceful
walk, presumably secure in the knowledge they have a place to go when the
sirens sound. In the years following it's release, Briefly, About Fallout would not be deemed obsolete by the Office of Civil Defense and could still be rented or purchased from government catalogs as recently as 1986!(3) An even more abbreviated version of About Fallout would appear in the 1969 OCD production A Briefing on Civil Defense.(4) There, an expert lecturer on fallout radiation discusses a film he intends to play for the viewing audience. He proceeds to show seven minutes of About Fallout, before the camera cuts back to him discussing public fallout shelters.
References
1. Fallout Protection: What to Know and Do About Nuclear Attack. United States Government Printing Office, 1961.
2. Office of Civil Defense. 1967 Annual Report. United States Government Printing Office, 1967. 89.
3. Department of the Army. Audiovisual Catalog: Photo Devices, Graphics, Audiovisual. 1986. 91.
4. A Briefing on Civil Defense. Office of Civil Defense. Motion Picture. 1969.