Town of the Times
Office of Civil Defense
Wilding Productions
1963
Most American civil defense films were shot on tight budgets with an aim
to achieve one of two goals, to inform and motivate viewers to
volunteer or to teach technical procedures (such as radiological
monitoring or rescue) to specialized audiences. A select few, however,
were granted the financing and creative leeway to develop into
entertainment productions as well, often with the understating that such
films would later be broadcast on national television stations. Such
was the intent of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) when it released
Town of the Times in 1963. With an ambitious narrative, use of famous
actors and popular music, as well as a willingness to criticize
government policy, Town of the Times is incredibly unique in the genre
of Cold War preparedness films. Set in a town "just across the county
line", the film stars Ralph Meeker as George McCardle and Larry Gates as
William Groves, school board members who clash over the implementation
of a public fallout shelter system. Each man is portrayed as a pillar
of the community and each brings potent arguments to support his
respective side.
McCardle, an insurance salesman, sees constant reminders of the threat
of nuclear war. The theater across from his office plays The Day the
Earth Caught Fire. A news stand features Time Magazine with a furious
Nikita Khrushchev on the cover. Area teenagers jive to Peter Scott
Peters little known song Fallout Shelter. Acknowledging a cultural
immersion with the atomic threat, McCardle, who also narrates, takes a
moment to express his disdain for private fallout shelters in the home,
which he equates with locking out one's neighbors. Instead, he fiercely
advocates for public shelters, the ultimate insurance in the event of
disaster. Groves, on the other hand, views fallout shelters,
particularly in schools, as an encouragement of war. He argues they are
a costly expense, absorbing resources better spent on hiring more
teachers and obtaining better educational facilities. The issue comes
to a dramatic head when Groves wins over the "town council" by
presenting a long list of programs and resources which students will
have to do without in order to fund a budget for fallout shelter
construction and maintenance. Angry and looking to prove a point,
McCardle later refuses to sell Groves an insurance policy, arguing that
any man who won't invest in insurance for the survival of the local
population's future, doesn't need a personal policy. Later that
evening, Groves makes passionate statements to his wife about how the
process of seeking shelter is nothing more than humanity abandoning its
responsibility to maintain peace. He is finally swayed when his wife
admits she will not feel safe until their daughter has somewhere to go
if an enemy attack occurred while school was in session. Groves quickly
changes his position and addresses a skeptical crowd at town hall to
express his support for public shelter.
Neither Ralph Meeker nor Larry Gates were strangers to atomic-themed
productions when they went to work on Town of the Times. Meeker is
perhaps best remembered for his role in the noir classic Kiss Me Deadly,
where he plays a hard-boiled private eye chasing weaponized uranium.
Larry Gates previously starred as Dr. Bill Stockton in the infamous
Twilight Zone episode "The Shelter". There, he is the only man on his
block to build a bomb shelter, and he must deny access to his neighbors
upon warning of a possible enemy air raid. When the all clear signal
sounds, he tries in vain to motivate his lethargic friends to take steps
to ensure their safety. In Town of the Times, Gates' character is
unique because he echoes the beliefs of many vocal government critics of
the 1960's, particularly the idea that fallout shelters encouraged a
false sense of survivability. Characters with such attitudes in most
OCD films are portrayed as oafish and ignorant, and often learn hard
lessons about the value of civil defense preparation. William Groves,
however, is a dignified and well spoken man, with the ability to sway
his town's opinion. His conversion to a supporter of public fallout
shelters by the end of the films, then, is much more impactful. The
effort and expense which went towards making Town of the Times was well
spent. It would enjoy favorable longevity and could still be rented or
purchased from government catalogs well into the 1970's.Town of the Times May be Viewed, in its entirety, HERE.