Alert Today - Alive Tomorrow (1956) User Reviews

Great for old views of Reading, PA

[jfschif · 7/10 · 21 May 2011]

What really makes this movie valuable is that it is a time capsule of what Reading, PA looked like in its heyday back in the 1950s. Back then it was a thriving community of over 100K people, had three hospitals, good schools, lots of industry, a bustling downtown, etc. None of that exists today. But the movie captures it all for posterity. If you grew up in a thriving small industrial city, you'll see a lot of familiar things in this film. In many ways, Reading is now like the aftermath of an H-bomb, and one that CD couldn't do anything about. The city itself tore down most of the downtown in the 1970s in the name of "redevelopment", which subsequently never came.

Thermonuclear pyrotechnics

[nickenchuggets · 7/10 · 9 February 2022]

It might seem really hard to believe, but the nuclear weapons possessed by Russia, America, and some other countries nowadays are powerful enough to make the ones dropped on japan look like firecrackers. A hydrogen bomb has an explosive yield so massive that anything within a three mile radius of its detonation is disintegrated, and shockwaves will destroy countless other things in every direction for even further. In the 1950s, american society and most people living in it had one thing on their mind: Soviet nuclear attack. In order to help the public prepare for what could really turn out to be the end of the world, this film was produced so americans could sleep knowing that procedures were in place to put safety as the highest priority. The film uses a town in Pennsylvania as a potential target for a soviet ICBM strike. It explains how people such as firemen, cops, and even regular civilians can all do their part in making sure america is ready for such an unthinkable catastrophe. They also go over different types of fires (for some reason) and how extinguishing methods that work on one might not work on another. Other than the various tasks people will have in a post nuclear holocaust society stated by the narrator, there isn't that much to say about this film. All I can write is that you will no doubt be glad you didn't live back then after you watch it, since atomic war at the time was a real possibility. America and the USSR were always looking for ways to destroy each other, but it proved impossible for both countries as each one was too large, well armed, and defended. If the soviets nuked the US, they might as well be nuking themselves. This is another example of the just plain odd things TCM likes to show sometimes.

Good Time Capsule Of 1950's American Town

[verbusen · 7/10 · 26 December 2012]

This film focuses on Civil Defense of the 1950's (CD). I grew up in NYC in the early 70's and would see the yellow and black faded CD signs everywhere as a place to hide if WW3 was starting, the supplies were all going bad and would not be replaced then. I was so fascinated by nuclear war as a kid I was probably the only one my age to actually notice those small signs posted on buildings by their basement access. So with that in mind I really enjoyed watching one of the only films I have seen about the Civil Defense agency. Say what you will about survival from nuclear war now but in the 50's a city like Reading probably had a decent chance of survival, the Soviets didn't have enough arms to wipe us all out at the time. The film shows us how very prepared these folks were. It's not big on gory effects as it's purpose is to calm not scare the audience, they had probably seen enough mannequins burst into flames by now anyway and were tired of that. It is on the business side and some might think it's boring, I did not.

Another reason to watch the short and another reason why I found it entertaining is it shows Reading in the 1950's, it is 100% white middle class. Curious as to how it looked then and never being there, I looked it up on Wikipedia as it was playing. Quote: "According to the 2010 census, Reading has the highest share of citizens living in poverty in the nation." If you look at the racial mix of the city with the highest poverty rate in the nation you will probably not be thrilled with increasing amnesty for illegal aliens from Central and South America because that is who make up the majority of Reading now. It's not racist to point out actual facts. It's ignorant to ignore them though. So it's a great time capsule as to what was once a great looking middle size town in America and what is now probably a dump as it has the highest poverty rate in the country. Let the title "Alert Today - Alive Tomorrow" apply to us as a nation as we go forward and update it with Reading today for a new short subject. With 30% of the population there now under age 18, the city sounds like a breeder farm for welfare recipients. 50 years is all it took.

I remember those times.

[maddutchy · 30 October 2011]

I was a child in the 50s and this short film brought back memories of the time period. Nuclear War was a real possibility back then. We all took it seriously. "Civil Defense" was done by most communities with the Federal Government supplying training and supplies. One reviewer questioned the value of CD activities since there was no attack. Recent documents and testimony from the former Soviet Union reveal that their leaders sought the ability to obliterate the U.S.A.. Yes, WE took it seriously! The local people were expected to use this training and supplies to take care of themselves. It was definitely different from today's dependence on FEMA for everything! Neither then nor now would I consider this a "scare film" as was stated in one review. It was taken seriously and was to allay fears not amplify them.

It was one of the better films of the period dealing with this subject.

I wish I had recorded it.

Civil Defense in the community of Reading,PA

[phifergj · 6/10 · 6 December 2020]

Preparing for nuclear war and many disasters during the Cold War of the 1950's. America used Civil Defense to train ordinary citizens to handle disasters at the local level. We should have kept up this training because the threat has not really gone away, but in fact has increased. Imagine how much stronger a country is with prepared and trained citizenry who are willing to take care of business instead of FEMA lumbering around. There was great info in this film short. One we could still learn from. Everyone was expected to take care of themselves and help their community. Worth watching.

If you can pry yourself away from Sean H. for 20 minutes or so . . .

[pixrox1 · 7/10 · 4 December 2020]

. . . it will be well worth your time to view ALERT TODAY - - ALIVE TOMORROW. You might even decide it's a matter of Life and Death. The film explains what the Department of Homeland Security and F.E.M.A. need each of us to do when China attacks. These nefarious Easterners intend on wiping out the cores of all American cities that have ever hosted so much as a minor league baseball team with H-Bombs that will leave potholes a mile across and 175-feet deep. (Current M.L.B. sites will doubtless be rained upon with multiple warheads.) Since some of these nukes will explode in the atmosphere, taking down America's electrical grids, motor vehicle computers, all airliners in the sky, water and sewer transport systems, banking infrastructure and communication networks, every loyal patriotic U.S. citizen will need to hop on their bikes, pedal as fast as they can around the plethora of flaming wrecks and exploding buildings into the city center craters and administer first aide to their neighbors down in the depressions. (Or is "Down in the dumps" a better way of putting it?)

Squeezed between two "creature features" . . .

[oscaralbert · 4/10 · 1 November 2014]

. . . on the Old Movie Channel, this apparent period piece (all the people and things pictured seem too ancient and authentic to be part of a modern Mockumentary) was far scarier than either so-called fright flick. A bunch of mostly middle-age White male types blithely prattle on here for 16 minutes explaining how to continue with Civilization-As-We-Know-It in the wake of a multi-hundred warhead "H-Bomb" barrage against America which has destroyed all the city centers down to the size of Reading, PA. This alleged Public Service Announcement posits that a bunch of Elvira Gulch-types will pedal through the fallout on their one-speed bikes to "Hello Central"-style antiquated phone banks, from which they'll access the miraculously intact land lines to mobilize all the local Cabbies as emergency vehicles. The narrator intones that there will be a role for everyone, as in the Legion of H-Bombed Bankers, the Ad Hoc Ad Writers Administration, and the Why Not Insure What's Left? Agents. This reminds me of a joke of the 1950s Grandpa once told me: Him--"Don't forget to Be Alert." Me--"Why?" Him--"Because the world needs more Lerts."

In The Event Of Nuclear Attack, Hold A Barbequeue And Invite All The Neighbors

[boblipton · 5/10 · 28 August 2019]

Well, not quite, but when the narrator interrupts a homily on neighborliness and group effort to show us a nuclear bomb being exploded, and telling us how the nuclear arsenal can produce a bigger boom than all the bombs of World War 2, it tends to make me nervous and full of black humor. When the talk goes back to training for Civil Defense in the aftermath -- showing measures to deal with annihilation in Reading, Pennsylvania, by bandaging the arms of presumably glowing cinders of corpses, I just shake my head.

My goodness! They have rescue teams made up solely of women! There's a blow for gender equality. That's the official 1950s attitude to nuclear war, in response to Tom Lehrer singing "We Will All Go Together When We Go." Some of us will be stubborn and not go, so what do we do then?

Nuclear wars can not only be survivable but fun if we all stick together!

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 24 May 2016]

In the 1950s, Hollywood made a variety of public service films about nuclear war for the US government. The most famous of them, undoubtedly, is the incredibly stupid cartoon "Duck and Cover" which served to give the public a very false view about the survivability of a nuclear attack...and it advised students to get under desks to ensure survival!! As for "Alert Today--Alive Tomorrow", it's not full of ridiculous jingles and cartoons and its message isn't quite as simplistic...though how well this can prepare the public of nuclear attack is probably also negligible.

The main thrust of this short is that together we can all work in order to 'easily' survive a nuclear holocaust. It features Reading, Pennsylvania as an example city and discusses the roles that government, private agencies and the public have in readying for civil defense.

The film is a bad lesson on science but it is an interesting historical artifact and gives us a glimpse into a another time. Worth seeing for this reason and not too many others as it isn't exactly exciting or crowd-pleasing today.

Bland Scare Film

[Michael_Elliott · 3 February 2009]

Alert Today - Alive Tomorrow (1956)

** (out of 4)

RKO-Pathe short tries to show the viewing how the citizens of Reading, PA are preparing in case of an A or H-bomb attack. We see the people coming together in a civil defense mode and how they would not only fight the enemy but save those who are hurt. Today we know none of these attacks ever happened so it's hard to really judge these films fairly because today we look at them as being over dramatic. Thankfully most of these shorts remain quite campy but that's not the case here because this one is pretty straight-forward without any campy laughs. That doesn't mean this film is good because it's quite boring even though it clocks in under 20-minutes. Andre Baruch's tense narration doesn't add any entertainment value nor does the direction by O'Reilly. The film is mildly entertaining with a nice animation sequence but that's about it. Fans of scare-films might want to check it out but others can skip it.

Not Quite as Catchy as Duck and Cover but...

[curt-14 · 24 January 2023]

Sandwiched in between The Omega Man and whatever comes next on TMC's apocalypse theme. I remember those days... tornado drills, fire drills and nuclear attack drills where we'd all go down to the boiler room with all the asbestos. Was the 1950's really that idillic? What do those neighborhoods look like today? How much are those houses going to now? Too bad about the whole-world-could-end-any-moment thing. We had a CD metal sign on the porch of my house growing up... I've got it now in our basement ... just checked, they're going for $75 on eBay. I don't know what my mother was going do in case of all out thermonuclear war. We had a basement but no secret knock (that I know of) and no rifle to shoot our neighbors who'd be trying to get in... and I really liked all my neighbors... come to think about it, not doing that is kinda the point of this film.