The Atom Strikes! (1945). US Army Signal Corps. Held by the Internet Archive; public domain.
The Atom Strikes!
Signal Corps assessment footage of blast damage, with testimony from a Jesuit priest who was in Hiroshima at the moment of detonation.
- Year
- 1945
- Made by
- US Army Signal Corps
- Directed by
- No director credited
- Free to use because
- A work of the United States government — no copyright, anywhere
The note
Made as a technical record rather than a public film, which is why it sounds the way it does: measured, procedural, appalled underneath. Father Siemes's account is the part that stays with you, and it is entirely a matter of voice. Federal work, no copyright.
The Atom Strikes!, 1945. US Army Signal Corps. Directed by No director credited. This is the film’s soundtrack: narration, score and location sound, streamed from the Internet Archive’s master. No picture — the audio is the work. A work of the United States government, and therefore free of copyright anywhere it is used.
The soundtrack