Duck and Cover (film)
| Duck and Cover | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Anthony Rizzo |
| Written by | Raymond J. Mauer |
| Narrated by | Robert Middleton |
| Distributed by | Archer Productions |
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Release date
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Running time
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9 min 15 sec |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Duck and Cover is a civil defense social guidance film that is often popularly mischaracterized as propaganda.
Film production started in 1951 and it gained its first public screening in January 1952 during the era after the Soviet Union began nuclear testing in 1949 and the Korean War (1950–53) was in full swing.
Funded by the US Federal Civil Defense Administration, it was written by Raymond J. Mauer, directed by Anthony Rizzo of Archer Productions, narrated by actor Robert Middleton and made with the help of schoolchildren from New York City and Astoria, New York.
It was shown in schools as the cornerstone of the government's "duck and cover" public awareness campaign, being aired to generations of United States school children from the early 1950s until 1991, which marked the end of the Cold War.
The US government contracted with Archer to produce Duck and Cover. The film is now in the public domain, and as such is widely available through Internet sources such as YouTube, as well as on DVD.
The film starts with an animated sequence, showing an anthropomorphic turtle walking down a road, while picking up a flower and smelling it. A chorus sings the Duck and Cover theme:
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