6 Comments

This sounds fascinating in a train wreck kind of way, but doesn’t appear to be streaming anywhere -- not even for rent. My local library has two copies of Mitchell’s book, though, which seems like it will be more edifying.

Expand full comment

I watched a YouTube rip. (Apologies to all.) It's also on DVD, through Warner Archive.

Expand full comment

It shows up on Turner Classic Movies every now and again.

Expand full comment

Love this

Expand full comment

The scene where Cochren receives a fatal radiation dose is based on actual incidents during the Manhattan project. Physicists Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotin were each exposed to fatal radiation during experiments with a just-barely-subcritical plutonium core (look up the "Demon Core" for details).

Expand full comment

I expect that’s also the basis for the accident involving John Cusack’s character in Fat Man and Little Boy.

Expand full comment