Chapter Seven
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"THE BEGINNING OR THE END" has been
described as the story of the atom bomb. It is also the story of
the men and women who solved the atomic mystery, and who helped
American win a life and death race to become the first nation to
build an atom bomb. And, possibly most important of all, it is a
story that tells all the peoples of the world just what they face
today - the crucial problem of whether atomic energy is to be used
for good or evil.
It is a story of our own times that is
so vital and so spectacular that
no fiction could match.
Yet, Hollywood has not made a straight
documentary film story of it. Believing
that an entertaining drama will carry far more influence and appeal
to audiences in general, a handful of fictional characters have
been introduced to give the story a cohesiveness that might otherwise
be lacking. Each of these characters, however, is in actuality a
composite figure drawn from real-life persons who served their country
in its greatest crisis. Each has a distinct significance.
Tom Drake, for example, representing the
young scientists in his role, can
be interpreted as expressing the conscience of mankind faced with
releasing atomic energy in wartime. His character was drawn from
dozens of young scientists interviewed at Oak Ridge and Los Alamos
by the studio officials. Robert Walker, as a young military officer,
can be regarded as typifying the duty of man in wartime. His is
the job to end a terrible conflict as quickly as possible.
Through these two and their contrasting
impulses, the whole drama is told
from the earliest atomic research in Europe and America to the bombing
of Hiroshima and the return of peace.
Included in the exciting highlights
are the arrival of British scientists
in America to work on the project, the appeal by Professor Einstein
to the late President Roosevelt for government support of atomic
development, the historic Chicago "brickpile" test that saw the
first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction known to man, the combining
of scientists. military men and industrialists on the vast project,
the growth of Oak Ridge, the New Mexico bomb test, the exciting
take-off of B-29s from Tinian and the blasting of Japan. |
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