The House in the Middle is the title of two American documentary film shorts (13 minutes), respectively from 1953 and 1954, which showed the effects of a nuclear bomb test on a set of three small houses.
1953 version
editThe black-and-white 1953 film was created by the Federal Civil Defense Administration to attempt to show that a clean, freshly painted house (the middle house) is more likely to survive a nuclear attack than its poorly maintained counterparts (the right and left houses).
1954 version
editA color version was released the next year by the National Clean Up – Paint Up – Fix Up Bureau,[1][2][3][4] a "bureau" invented by the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association trade group (now known as the American Coatings Association).[5][6]
Production
editFootage for the film was recorded during the Upshot-Knothole Encore test at the Nevada Test Site on May 8, 1953.[7]
Legacy
editIn 2001, the Library of Congress deemed the 1954 film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.[8][9]
It was featured on Rick Prelinger's 2004 collage film Panorama Ephemera.[10]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "About ACA". American Coatings Association.
- ^ Zimring, Carl A.; Editor, William L. Rathje, Consulting (Feb 27, 2012). Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste: Encyc Consumption and Waste. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781506338279 – via Google Books.
{{cite book}}:|last2=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "American Paint and Oil Dealer ..." American Paint Journal Company, Incorporated. Aug 7, 1917 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Preservation News 1 March 1965 — Preservation News". prn.library.cornell.edu.
- ^ Mike Mashon (March 10, 2015). "The Cold War Meets Commerce: The House(s) in the Middle". Now See Hear!. Library of Congress. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
- ^ "Past to Present". American Coatings Association. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
- ^ Eden, Lynn. "Whole World on Fire: Organizations, Knowledge & Nuclear Weapons Devastation". Retrieved 9 June 2017.
- ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-04-30.
- ^ "Librarian of Congress Names 25 More Films to National Film Registry". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-04-30.
- ^ Panorama Ephemera (2004) - Rick Prelinger on YouTube
External links
edit- The House in the Middle at IMDb
- The House in the Middle at the TCM Movie Database
- The House in the Middle at AllMovie
- The House in the Middle essay by Kelly Chisholm on the National Film Registry web site [1]
- The House in the Middle essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 ISBN 0826429777, pages 483–484. America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry
- Internet Archive copy of the 1954 film
- Library of Congress copy of the 1953 film
- Library of Congress copy of the 1954 film