Watch On the Beach Online
Mercredi, août 18th, 2010 |
Watch On the Beach Online.
Movie Title: On the Beach On the Beach is available for streaming or downloading. |
The epigraph at the beginning of the book, “On the Beach” is part of a poem from T.S. Eliot: “this is how the world ends; not with a bang, but a whimper.” I read the book first, then watched the movie, and would recommend both to everyone. The movie is a fair portrayal of the book, and the cast is outstanding. Fred Astaire is a real surprise in this, his first dramatic performance. Ava Gardner is beautiful and believable as the drunk, but in denail, Moira. My favorite characters are Tony Perkins and actress who plays his wife. The scene in which Perkins explains to his wife how to use the suicide tablets sent chills up and down my spine. Two things really stand out for me in this movie: The first being the use of “Waltzing Matilda.” At times it’s played with all the fanfare of a national anthem; at other times, it sounds funereal. The use of “Waltzing Matilda” reaches its climax during a scene in the movie when Moira takes Captain Towers trout fishing, mistakenly thinking they could get away to the mountains for some private time outdoors before the nuclear cloud arrives in Australia and pretty much eliminates humankind. Instead of peace and tranquility, they find drunken revelers…and throughout this revelery, they’re singing “Waltzing Matilda.” It’s funny at first…then increasingly annoying…until one last tenor sings the final verse solo. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a finer scene is a film. The impact of that verse, the way it’s tenderly sung, and the shared look between Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck—I will never be able to listen to “Waltzing Matilda” again without tears in my eyes. The second thing is although the subject matter and the tone of the movie are serious, there are a few amusing moments, which for me, make the movie even more realistic. On the Beach is a classic…and anyone who loves film, and worries about the future of our children…should watch and ponder…could this really happen? The answer is a terrifying “yes”.
This is the film that for me captures the terror I felt as a child, growing up at the height of the Cold War; it is bleak and intense, with scenes that are forever etched in my mind. It’s one of the great films of that era (”Seven Days in May” and “Fail Safe” are others) that I can watch repeatedly, and their power and impact are never diminished.
Based on Nevil Shute’s best seller, and brilliantly directed by Stanley Kramer, the use of sound effects combined with Ernest Gold’s Oscar nominated score is very effective. Sometimes the simplest noise set against complete silence is ominous, and gives the feeling of the desolation of empty cities.
As time runs out, people try to avoid the “morbid discussion” of what awaits them, and some make the most of those precious days, weeks and months, like the elderly scientist Julian (in an exceptional performance by Fred Astaire), who completes his dream of being a race car driver.
Both strong and tender, Gregory Peck is fabulous as Dwight Towers, the commander of a submarine, who has trouble accepting that he is alive, while his family are victims of the “monstrous war”. The woman who falls in love with him is Ava Gardner, who has spent far too much time being consoled by a bottle of brandy. The plot is filled out by Anthony Perkins and Donna Anderson, a young couple facing the fact that their baby has no future.
In the late 50s and early 60s, the scenario in this film was all too real; we face other dangers now, but there was something truly chilling about those Cold War years, and this film vividly brings back the memory of them. Total running time is 134 minutes.
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