The Atomic City
Directed by Jerry Hopper
Written by Sydney Boehm
1952/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Amazon Prime
[box] The Cold War isn’t thawing; it is burning with a deadly heat. Communism isn’t sleeping; it is, as always, plotting, scheming, working, fighting. — Richard M. Nixon [/box]
This starts out with an intriguing premise then turns into a more routine kidnapping/chase/police procedural action movie.
The Addison family lives in the “Atomic City”, Los Alamos, New Mexico. This is a self-contained strictly guarded community that houses the workers on top-secret nuclear projects at the facility there. The children know better to breath a word about what daddy does. Dr. Frank Addison (Gene Barry) is the preeminent nuclear physicist at the facility. His wife Martha worries that their son Tommy is being warped by the experience. For example, he talks in terms of what he wants to be IF he grows up.
One day, all the children in Miss Haskell’s class go on a field trip to a fiesta in Santa Fe. Tommy has been pumped up about possibly winning a bike in the raffle there. He does win, but when his name is called no one answers. He has simply disappeared. Miss Haskell starts frantically looking for him.
Segue to the Addison home where Frank has come home early, upset that one of his associates has received radiation burns. He and Martha start getting ready to go to a community dance. Then a telegram arrives telling them that they will receive further information about their son’s whereabouts at the dance. Martha begs her husband not to call the police.
They go to the dance and get slipped a letter saying that Tommy will be killed if the police are called but that they will get him back unharmed if Frank will turn over all is H bomb secrets. Martha is by now hysterical. Instead of calling the cops, Frank goes into the facility on a Sunday. He is caught by the FBI as he is about to leave his office with a folder of papers. These were dummy equations designed to buy time. After checking, the FBI decides to use the papers as a decoy to trap the spies. They make it very clear that their number one priority is catching spies and Tommy’s safety will have to take second place.
The rest of the film shows how the FBI goes about its work.
I thought this was quite OK though nothing earth shaking. Gene Barry had a hard time convincing me that he was a nuclear physicist but the rest of the players were fine. This is another interesting glimpse into Cold War paranoia and I thought the beginning about life at Los Alamos was fascinating. All the spies in this one are 100% American.
The Atomic City was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay.
Trailer
