Gregory Peck asks Anthony Perkins, in the 1959 movie, ‘On the Beach’ ….
“Do you live in Melbourne?”
“In Frankston,” He answers
It’s a futuristic apocalyptic film set in 1964. Survivors of a nuclear war that has killed all the occupants of the Earth, except those in Australia, await their fate. They are expecting the nuclear radiation to poison them also, within the next 6-12 months. A silent killer.
As the film captures 1959 Melbourne, there are some iconic shots of the town. As the drama unfolds, the back drop is a historical gem. It includes a traffic of bikes and horses, racing up Elizabeth Street, with familiar buildings and old trams in the background. It shows, Ava Gardener at Flinders Street Train Station, after a date with Greggory Peck, where they danced at a Swanston Street club.
Despite the pending doom, Mara (Ava Gardiner) an alcoholic seductress, shamelessly, pursues the wooden, Captain Dwight Towers (Gregory Peck), to his navy ship, docked at Williamstown.
“Get a load of the Charlie Wheeler” an onlooking sailor remarks, as she saunters by.
There is a lot of beach frolicking, drunken conversations, dancing, and racing of cars and boats. Life goes on, people go to work, trams and trains are running and the cast are spending their last summer, on the beach.
Just in the days of Noah, they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the Ark, and the flood came and swept them away.
Few are preparing their souls for their eternity, except for the Salvation Army (Salvos) preacher and band at the City Museum (State Library) lawns, where crowds gather under a sign that states ‘There is Still time Brother’
The movie is a classic time capsule of old Melbourne. American films, of this era, show streets of cars, but Melbourne streets were not. People mostly rode bicycles or used public transport. There is some footage of the old Queen Victoria Hospital (QV)as people line up for their suicide pills.
The soundtrack, featuring Waltzing Matilda, is badgered throughout the film. You will never want to hear the song again, after watching it. The movie lacks a destination, and the characters are erratic and shallow; however it has great nostalgic value for Melbournians.
“Who do you think started the war” a sailor asks
“Albert Einstein” Julian (Fred Astaire) answers and then he adds..
“Who believes human beings would be stupid enough to blow themselves off the earth…..It started when people believed the idiotic principle that peace can be maintained, and arranging to defend themselves with weapons they couldn’t possibly use without committing suicide…the devices out grew us, we couldn’t control them…”
Filmed and produced by Stanley Kramer based on Nevil Shutes 1957 novel, On the Beach. United Films
melbourne press 