My friend asked me at some point what I was watching recently, and I told him On The Beach. I was about halfway through the movie. He asked, "Should I add it to my Q?" After all, I had described the film as it reads: some post-apocalyptic thriller in Australia. It does sound fucking cool. But what was my response to his question? "I don't know, it depends how much you like talky black and white character dramas. It's well shot and has some great acting, but overall it's a bit long."
And honestly, I could just leave the review at that, but let's muster something here....
An American submarine comes up around Australia. The crew disembarks and talks to the locals, and learns that while they've been underwater, the bomb went off and most of the Earth's population has died of radiation. The radiation is slowly spreading all over the world, so it seems that in time it will infect Australia as well. They pick up on a signal being sent from somewhere in America about 45 minutes in, and decide to go investigate.
And it's, like I said earlier, very well done in parts. Gregory Peck, Anthony Perkins, Fred Astaire, Ava Gardner, it has the great cast one could fall in love with. Filmed in gorgeous back and white with sometimes amazing shots. The acting, sometimes it's just there and is fine, but sometimes its amazing and nuanced and makes the film wonderful.
With something so bleak, I wondered where the movie would go. When they board the submarine and take off for America, there is a sense of palpable tension to the film. They get to America, San Francisco, and they need to investigate where the signal is coming from. Some spoilers present here. They end up finding the signal is being sent by a coke bottle caught in a window drape. They leave America and head back. Back home, soon the first of their Australian people has the radiation sickness. They then discover they're all going to die, and so they all make choices. Stay and die in Australia, or get on the boat, and head towards the mainland? And eventually, well everyone dies. Which for 1959, was pretty fucking dark. This is a very dark, very bleak movie.
Spoilers over. Considering the plot, this movie should be recommended to anyone who enjoys these types of films. There were some odd choices made, however, and some minor things I didn't like. The American guy is so strikingly "good guy". Anthony Perkins wife is ridiculously fragile and has some vague mental thing that's never explained. There's endless dialogue at times, while at other times no one ever expresses more than slight concern that the whole world has died in the beginning of the movie.
In the end, it's a great mix between classic 50's dialogue heavy, and chilling dark view of the future and what humanity would seem very likely to do in the case of true hopelessness. I think it's up there in terms of the more "realistic" end of the world films, and if nothing else, I think it totally nails it on some of the character turns. I give it.... I guess 4.5.
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