On the Beach (1959)

On the Beach is a 1959 post-apocalyptic drama film based on Nevil Shute's novel of the same name featuring Gregory Peck (USS Sawfish captain Dwight Lionel Towers), Ava Gardner (Moira Davidson), Fred Astaire (scientist Julian – John in the novel – Osborne) and Anthony Perkins (Australian naval officer Peter Holmes). It was directed by Stanley Kramer, who won the 1960 BAFTA for best director. Ernest Gold won the 1960 Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Score.

The story is set in 1964, what was then the near future (1963 in the book) in the months following World War III. The conflict has devastated the northern hemisphere, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout and killing all human life. While the nuclear bombs were confined to the northern hemisphere, global air currents are slowly carrying the fallout to the southern hemisphere. The only part of the planet still habitable is the far south of the globe, specifically Australia.

From Australia, survivors detect a mysterious and incomprehensible wireless telegraphy signal originating from the United States (San Diego). With hope that some life has remained in the contaminated regions, one of the last American nuclear submarines, USS Sawfish, placed by its captain under Australian naval command, is ordered to sail north from its port of refuge in Melbourne (Australia's southernmost major mainland city and headquarters of the Australian Navy) to try to contact whomever is sending the signal. The American captain, Dwight Towers (Peck), leads the operation, leaving behind a woman of recent acquaintance, the alcoholic Moira Davidson (Gardner), to whom he has become attached, despite his feelings of guilt regarding the certain deaths of his wife and children in the U.S. He refuses to admit that they are dead and continues to behave as though they are still alive.

The Australian government makes arrangements to provide its citizens with free suicide pills and injections, so that they will be able to avoid prolonged suffering from radiation sickness once it arrives. One of the film's poignant dilemmas is that of Australian naval officer Peter Holmes (Perkins), who has a baby daughter and a naive and childish wife, Mary (Donna Anderson, referred to once as "Charlie" early in the film), who is in denial about the impending disaster. Because he has been assigned to travel north with the Americans to search for signs of life, a trip expected to take several weeks, Peter must try to explain to Mary how to euthanize their baby and kill herself with the (unspecified) poison should he be unable to return in time. Mary, however, reacts badly, almost violently, at the prospect of killing her daughter and herself.

By one theory postulated by an Australian scientist, the radiation near the Arctic Ocean could be less than that at mid northern hemisphere latitudes, and if so this would indicate the possible survival of southern hemisphere populations. One of the goals of the expedition is to determine the Arctic radiation level.

After sailing to Point Barrow in the Arctic Ocean, the expedition members determine that radiation levels are intensifying. On the way back, they stop at San Francisco. The views through the periscope indicate what they have seen elsewhere; there are no signs of life, and minimal or no damage. One crewman, who is from San Francisco, jumps ship to spend his last hours in his hometown. After first attempting to convince the crewman to return, Towers then accepts his decision. He is last seen in a motorboat, fishing and awaiting his death as the Sawfish submerges, never to return.

Sawfish then travels to an abandoned oil refinery in San Diego (in the book, it is a naval base located near Seattle), where they discover, although the city's residents have long since perished from radiation poisoning, the hydroelectric power is still on-line. The ship's communications officer is sent ashore in a radiation suit to investigate. The mysterious signal is the result of a Coca Cola bottle being nudged by a window shade teetering in the breeze and occasionally hitting a telegraph key. Bitterly disappointed, the submariners return to Australia to live out the time that remains before nuclear fallout arrives and kills everyone.

The characters make their best efforts to enjoy what time and pleasures remain to them before dying from radiation poisoning. Scientist Julian Osborne (John Osborne in the novel) and others organize a dangerous motor race that results in the apparent violent deaths of several participants. Moira remarks on the apparent senselessness of the race, but when she asks Osborne why he is taking part, he responds, "because I want to" -- apparently sufficient reason given the circumstances.

Prior to the submarine voyage to America, Towers had remarked to Moira about his enjoyment of the silence and relaxation of his pastime of fishing. During his absence, Moira uses her friendship with government officials to 'move up' the fishing season so Dwight will get one more chance to fish. With Towers now apparently accepting the death of his wife and children, they embark on a weekend trip. Unfortunately, the fishing stream is anything but silent and relaxing, as raucous visitors turn the outing into a fiasco. Retreating to the resort for the night, Dwight and Moira share a romantic interlude inside the dark hotel room, as outside, a gathering storm howls.

Returning to Melbourne, Towers is informed one of his crew members has developed radiation sickness. The deadly radiation has arrived. Some citizens seek spiritual guidance from religious leaders from the Salvation Army. They hang a banner from City Hall that states, "There Is Still Time ... Brother."

Osborne, proud and satisfied after winning the auto race, seals himself and the car, engine running, inside a garage to set up his suicide by exhaust poisoning. Others line up outside hospitals to receive their suicide pills. Later, Mary Holmes becomes emotionally unbalanced and must be placed under sedation. However, she regains lucidity and she and Peter share a tender moment together before Mary decides that she has been "foolish and impractical" and asks her husband to "take care" of her and their daughter.

Dwight wants to stay with Moira, but his remaining crew wants to head for home and die in the U.S. In the end, Captain Towers chooses not to remain with Moira but rather to lead his crew in a final attempt to make it back to the States. Moira watches from the shore as the Sawfish submerges beneath the waves. The final scenes of the movie show the deserted, abandoned streets of Melbourne.

Unlike the novel, no blame is placed on who started the war—it is hinted that it may have been an accident.

Like the novel, much of the film takes place in Melbourne, close to the southernmost part of the Australian mainland. Nevil Shute is said[who?] to have despised the film (which was released little more than a month before he died), feeling that his characters had been altered too greatly, especially the scene where it is implied Moira and Dwight sleep together. However, the film shot in and around Melbourne was a great novelty for that city at the time.