Guides: HU 3900: Life in the Nuclear Age: Films

How to Find Films and Videos in WPI Library Search

To find films at the Gordon Library:

Enter your keywords into WPI Library Search
On the search results page, click on Resource Type on the left, and then select the Videos filter
To limit your search to online videos, go to the Availability filter on the left and select Available online
To limit your search to dvds, go to the Availability filter on the left and select Available on shelf

How to Access Films

DVDs: DVDs at Gordon Library are organized by call number. When you find a DVD in the WPI Library Search, look for the film's call number:

You can check DVDs out at the information services desk on the main floor. Your WPI ID is your library card.

Online Videos: Some of Gordon Library's videos are available digitally, and you can access these via the links in WPI Library Search. For example:

Video Databases

Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window
Academic Video Online makes video material available with curricular relevance: documentaries, interviews, performances, news programs and newsreels, and more. Search for award-winning films including Academy®, Emmy®, and Peabody® winners and access content from PBS, BBC, 60 MINUTES, National Geographic, Annenberg Learner, BroadwayHD™, A+E Networks’ HISTORY® and more.
Academic Video Online: Premium covers all disciplines and subject areas, with specific strengths in: Anthropology; Counseling & Therapy; Art, Fashion & Design; Business & Economics; Diversity Studies; Documentary Film; Feature Film; Education; History; Music & Dance; News & Current Events; Theatre & Drama. It also provides content in nursing; allied health; criminal justice; engineering; and science.

Video Websites

Internet Archive: Movie Archive

Examples of Films Available at the WPI Library

Examples of documentaries available at Gordon Library:

Required Film: The Atomic Cafe
Call Number: D843 A796 1982x dvd
Publication Date: 1982
A compilation of archival film clips beginning with the first atomic bomb detonation in the New Mexico desert. The footage, much of it produced as government propaganda, follows the story of the bomb through the two atomic attacks on Japan that ended World War II to the bomb's central role in the cold war. Shown along with the famous 'duck and cover' Civil Defense films are lesser-known clips, many of which possess a bizarre black humor when seen today
Windscale 1957: The Nuclear Winter
Call Number: Available Online
Publication Date: 1997
In October 1957, one of the Windscale nuclear reactors caught fire. It was the world's first nuclear accident, attributed to the rush to build atomic weapons. This programme highlights the mistakes leading to a nuclear event which, 40 years on, still takes second place only to Chernobyl.
The Last Atomic Bomb
Call Number: Available Online
Publication Date: 2006
Nuclear proliferation today is seen through the devastating yet inspirational stories of Nagasaki survivors, joined by college students, to ensure that the truth about atomic bombs used on human beings will never be forgotten.
White Light, Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Call Number: PN1995.9 D6 W457 2001 dvd
Publication Date: 2007
In August 1945, the world was transformed in the blink of an eye when American forces dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and then Nagasaki. The destruction was unprecedented and the bombings precipitated the end of World War II. Contains archival footage and stunning photography. Interviews are from both Japanese survivors and the Americans who believed that their involvement would help end a brutal conflict.
Countdown to Zero
Call Number: QC773.A1 T75 2006 dvd
Publication Date: 2010
Tracing the history of the atomic bomb from its origins to the present state of global affairs: nine nations possessing nuclear weapons capabilities with others racing to join them, with the world held in a delicate balance that could be shattered by an act of terrorism, failed diplomacy, or a simple accident. The film makes a compelling case for worldwide nuclear disarmament, an issue more topical than ever as over 40 nations have the technical capacity to construct nuclear weapons.
The Man Who Saved the World
Call Number: D848 S43 2012 dvd
Publication Date: 2013
This film explores the dramatic and little-known events that unfolded inside a nuclear-armed Soviet submarine during the Cuban Missile Crisis. While politicians sought a solution to the stand-off, Vasili Arkhipov, an officer aboard the submarine, refused to fire a nuclear torpedo, thus averting disaster.
Nova: Nuclear option
Call Number: Available Online
Publication Date: 2017
Five years after the Fukushima disaster, the future of nuclear power is in question. Join engineers as they embark on an unprecedented cleanup and investigate new nuclear technologies that would prevent future meltdowns.

Examples of dramas available at Gordon Library:

Godzilla
Call Number: PN1995.9 H6 G62 1954x dvd
Publication Date: 1954
A prehistoric monster ravages metropolitan Tokyo. Scientists suspect that H-bomb tests awakened it from a two-million year sleep. They try to develop techniques to stop the monster.
I Live in Fear (Ikimono no kiroku)
Call Number: PN1997 I154 1955x dvd
Publication Date: 1955
An elderly and wealthy industrialist is so fearful of a nuclear attack that he pressures his family to leave Japan. His family, complacent and cynical, is outraged and move to him declared insane.
Hiroshima mon amour
Call Number: PN1995.9 W3 H57 1959x dvd
Publication Date: 1959
A Japanese architect and a French actress engage in a brief intense affair in Hiroshima in 1959. Both deal with their personal memories of World War II--he by articulating his firsthand experience with nuclear disaster, she by remembering her traumatic affair with a German soldier.
The Atomic Submarine
Call Number: PN1995.9 W3 S385 1998x dvd
Publication Date: 1959
A series of mysterious sinkings plagues the northern seas. Great trans-arctic submarine liners are vanishing without a trace! The nuclear powered U.S.S. Tiger Shark, the most advanced sub in the fleet, has been undergoing around-the-clock modifications to prepare for an urgent top-secret mission: to discover the cause of the Arctic disasters, and put an end to it!
Fail-Safe
Call Number: PN1997 F355 F355 2000
Publication Date: 1964
A computer malfunction sets off the events which could result in a nuclear war when a bomber is set to destroy Moscow and the President has to destroy New York in retaliation.
Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Call Number: PN1997 D775 1963x dvd
Publication Date: 1964
A satire in which the U.S. president and his military advisors struggle ineptly to avert a holocaust after a psychotic Air Force general launches a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union because he fears that the Russians are poisoning the water supply in the United States.
Gamera, the Giant Monster
Call Number: PN1995.9 H6 G35 1965x dvd
Publication Date: 1965
When a plane carrying an atomic bomb crashes over the Arctic Ocean, the explosion unleashes Gamera, a 200-foot-long fire-eating turtle. He is hungry for destruction and not about to be stopped, until he reaches Tokyo, where a small boy forms an odd connection with him, allowing authorities to unleash 'Plan Z'.
The China Syndrome
Call Number: PN1997 C46435 1979x
Publication Date: 1979
It started as just another assignment. Reporter Kimberly Wells and cameraman Richard Adams were covering the daily routine at an Los Angeles power plant when the unthinkable occurred: a nuclear accidnet that could have wiped out Southern California. And Richard caught it all on tape. When their TV station refuses to air the footage, Wells and Adams recruit plant supervisor Jack Godell to expose the terrifying truth: the facility is a ticking bomb. But with millions of dollars at stake, company officials cannot let the story break. When the trio attempts to broadcast live from the plant's control room, the utility company does everything in its power to silence Godell permanently, as the world watches.
Silkwood
Call Number: PN1997 S554 1983x dvd
Publication Date: 1983
Karen Silkwood becomes contaminated with plutonium at her job, voices her protest at the indifference and denial of her company, and becomes a threat to the entire nuclear industry and the government agencies that monitor it. Based on a true story.