a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The "National Clean-Up Paint-Up Fix-Up Bureau" was an arm of the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association. I don't know who was the intended audience for this film (homeowners? hardware store jobbers?), but the unintended hilarity is of a piece with other Cold War atomic-survival films.The film does take pains to point out that this advice is meant for suburban homeowners who live on the "outer fringes" of a target area. There is enough truth in the advice here -- paint your house white to reflect heat, keep your grounds free of trash and clutter to prevent the spread of fire -- that the casual viewer of the 1950s might begin to think seriously about doing a little maintenance work. It was not enough to urge people to keep things neat and tidy because, well, they really should; the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association clearly felt that homeowners had to be scared into doing so. I wonder if it worked?You'll be happy to know that the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association is still around. After a merger in 2010 with a like-minded organization, it's now called the American Coatings Association. I'll bet there's a p.r. guy in the ACA keeping a close eye on the movements of the Chinese Navy.

Well folks, I am literally speechless. Do you think this was serious? I've seen my share of exploitation flicks from the Thirties and Forties dealing with drugs, alcohol and prostitution, but I have to say, this is a genre of film making that defies credibility. Right out of the gate I thought they were trying to pull a fast one with that business about 'The National Clean Up - Paint Up - Fix Up Bureau' but if you do a quick Google search you'll come up with a bunch of hits, although most of them lead you right back to this film short.Bottom line - a clean, white painted home with proper inside housekeeping may be the margin between life and death if an atom bomb explodes in your neighborhood. In it's short ten minute or so run time, the somber narrator practically begs you to keep your home tidy to ward off the destructive effects of an atomic heat flash. I bet you think I'm making this up, right? I was intrigued about a film I heard of called "The Atomic Cafe" that dealt with Cold War paranoia and the palpable threat of nuclear war back in the Fifties. There's a set of two DVD's put out by Docurama Films that contains that hour and a half documentary along with another eight or nine propaganda shorts including this one. This was the first one I watched on the bonus disc, and if the rest are as zany as this one, it will qualify as the find of the century. However as I sit here writing this review and check out the condition of my work area, I could be a goner when the big one hits. I should really take the advice of the guy in the film - he states emphatically that if you keep your house neat and tidy, THE REWARD MAY BE SURVIVAL. You know, I think he meant it.

I'm not sure who in the movie business went all ape-crap in the mid 50's, but somebody sure did. My god, why did anyone think this was a good idea? Fascinating and funny, it makes you wonder how we even got past slavery. There is not much to say about this except, DAMN!Paint your house, or die! Nice message. Can't imagine who sponsored it (Sherwin Williams, perhaps?). The point of this 13 minute short seems to be that we should paint and keep our houses clean, so that our homes can survive a nuclear attack, even if we don't. Perhaps the commies put this film out, so that they would have somewhere nice to stay when they nuked us and came over here and took over.Being born in the 50's myself, I try to give a break to the stupidity of the era, but this load of a movie short is just indefensible. The 50's equivalent of the government telling us to buy duct tape and plastic sheeting to protect us against terrorist attacks in the 21st century.Oh, BTW, don't miss it. Funny stuff.

House in the Middle, The (1954)** (out of 4) The National Clean Up- Paint Up- Fix Up Bureau produced this documentary teaching people how to save their houses if an atomic blast was to take place. The Nevada Test Site is the setting for the short that shows various houses and how well they take an atomic blast. I'm really not sure how true the details provided in this short are but we're told that if you clean and paint your house then it won't be destroyed by an atomic blast. If you leave newspapers around your living room or trash bags by your house then you're going to die when the blast comes. Again, I'm not sure how true this research is but the short comes off as a neat freak trying to use an atomic scare to get his neighbors to clean up the yard. The film is rather boring in all of its tests but those who enjoy the atomic scare films should get a few laughs. Telling someone to mow their lawn before an atomic blast is pretty funny in its own right.