The House in the Middle

"The House in the Middle" is a 1954 short (12:09) documentary film produced by the Federal Civil Defense Administration and the National Clean Up-Paint Up-Fix Up Bureau, which attempted to show that a clean, freshly painted house is more likely to survive a nuclear attack than its poorly maintained counterpart. It recently was included in the first issue of the DVD magazine, Wholphin.

In 2001 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

The film was actually produced by the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association. [http://www.archive.org/details/Houseint1954] The likelihood that repainting a house would be effective in protecting it from the extreme heat and blast force of a nuclear explosion is questionable, and the film all but ignores the status of the structure's occupants during the event.

See also

* Duck and cover, the most famous FCDA film

External links

* [http://www.archive.org/details/Houseint1954 Internet Archive copy of this film]
*imdb title|0303271