Collection search - Radio Bikini

Record information – Brief

1

Radio Bikini

Item number (ISN):

106461

Series title:

The American Experience

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1987(c)

Item number (ISN):

106461

Type of material:

Moving images

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

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Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

WNPE-WNPI: OFF-AIR

Accession:

1988-0121

Media:

Video

Part:

1 of 1

Production date:

1987(c)

Release date:

1988-10-11

Production company:

Crossroads Film Project Ltd.

Production credit:

director/producer/editing, Robert Stone; host, David McCullough

Description:

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This is a documentary about the aftermath of atomic bomb tests on Bikini Atoll. In the summer of 1946 the U.S. Navy implemented Operation Crossroads, two A-bomb tests on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. Along with testing effects of the blasts on shipping, Naval officials hoped to gather public support for atomic weapons. Navy footage of the tests, however, was not released and was kept classified for decades. For this Oscar-nominated 1987 documentary, director Robert Stone obtained that film under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. It shows not only the detonations, but also the men who witnessed and were exposed to them nine miles away - seen in a celebratory mood that, in retrospect, appears naive. Interwoven are two compelling interviews. One is with Kilon Baüno, chief of the evacuated Bikinians, who laments his people's exile and still cannot comprehend the radiation "poison" that continues to prevent them from returning. The other is with John Smitherman, one of the thousands of servicemen who participated in the tests. Smitherman, who suffered from a progressively disfiguring illness following the blast and who died from cancer in 1983 (shortly after this interview) comments: "We were told 'do as you're ordered and nothing will become of it and nothing will happen to you' - and that's exactly what we did."

Language:

English

Notes:

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1. First item on the videocassette original.~2. Recorded at 2-hour speed, from PBS from 9-10 p.m.~3. Description quoted from TV Guide, Oct 8-14, 1988, p. P-49.

Detailed holdings information:

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Vault ISN:

491360

Format:

VIDEO

Location number:

WM88-0605

Number of items:

1

Duration:

60:00

Made from:

OFF-AIR

Status:

MASTER
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

Restrictions on consultation:

No Restrictions / Pas de restrictions

Reproduction access:

with written permission of copyright owner : with permission of PBS and WNPE-WNPI

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