Red Nightmare (1962) User Reviews

The reds are coming! Hide your daughters!

[Captain_Couth · 7/10 · 26 September 2004]

Red Nightmare (1962) was a government promo film produced by narrator Jack Webb. It was made to scare the populous and to encourage young men to join the fight against terrorism. Today this movie is nothing more than a reminder about how scared the government actually was of the "reds" and their ideology. The short plays out like a badly written and acted version of a Twilight Zone episode. The acting ranges from hammy to wooden at times. It pretty silly at times and if you're in the mood a great watch.

What's even scarier is if you ever get a chance to watch this propaganda piece, just place the word terrorists instead of communists. In some ways this movie can still be used and made today (with some obvious tweaking of course). A sad reminder of what times we lived in during the red scare days of the early 50's to late 60's (but the "threat" never faded away until the late 80's). Oh well, it's a fun watch for those who like to "relive the days of yesteryear!"

Recommend for historical purposes.

Last saw this in junior high in 1971

[lockwood-10 · 7/10 · 26 August 2006]

I could not remember the name of this movie. I saw this about 35 years ago in 1971 and never did know the name of the movie. I was in a very small town in Colorado (Rangely) and the movie makes one think of a small town being infiltrated by terrorists. Well, it's 2006 (August) and we have another wave of xenophobia spreading across the country. I love Jack Webb even though he exemplifies true patriotism and love of country. I served in the military in the Persian Gulf War and believe in defending this country from attack. I have read several of the reviews and many of the readers attack Webb as being too right wing and zealous. But people, this was his nature to begin with. Look at all of his productions (Dragnet, Adam 12, Emergency) and he believed in the USA and also his generation lived to defend the country. He was essentially, 'America's Greatest Generation' and he believed in the country. We live in a different era now and generations question loyalty vs. right wing fervor. Jack Webb was caught up with loyalty to American and it's institutions so give this movie a break and view it as harmless. But bear in mind the 80/20 of the Army. 20% defending freedom for 80% who don't really care!!! Mark Lockwood, Lubbock Tx...

This is a Government sponsored film

[VidResearcher · 5/10 · 6 July 2005]

The government ID and title are" AFIF 120 "FREEDOM AND YOU" AFIF stands for Armed Forces Information Film. Shot on Universal backplate including famous City Hall steps from Bye Bye Birdie and City Square shots from "Back to the Future" series. Only thing film missing is Ann-Margret and Michael C. Fox! Peter Brown actually tries to act and Jack Kelly, he of "Bart Maverick" fame overacts wildly. If you look hard you see Beaver's neighborhood too!

Jack Webb looks solemn and oh so sincere. Film ends with shots of everything that was wonderful in 1962 America. Rioting scenes from unidentified countries. Film is good for a few laughs due to it's overtly simplistic examination of Communism.

American Propaganda Beyond Camp

[greggwager · 1/10 · 21 March 2006]

How weird to see this film now released under the title "The Commies are Coming, the Commies are Coming," as if you could show it at a drunken frat party along with "Reefer Madness." I was twelve years old in my first year of Junior High School when this film was shown to me--twice (in other words, by two different teachers, on two different occasions). Yes, they showed it to us in school as if it were an educational film. What's worse, the teachers were entirely serious about it and none of my fellow students, at least it seemed, even chuckled while it was shown. Did someone mention the Twilight Zone? Not on the screen, but in the school I attended. For the life of me, I still can't imagine (the year was 1970 with the Vietnam War raging) that anyone in their right mind could pass this drivel off as something educational about the Soviet Union. Even worse, it cheapens all of the genuine human rights violations and atrocities of the Stalin years and makes our public schools the sources of idiotically inept lies. I want to go back and sue my school for showing me this type of stuff and pretending that only normal students would find it engaging and believable.

Propaganda

[Raven18 · 20 August 1999]

Basically a good 1950's propaganda film to make fun of on a rainy day. But if you can't appreciate it's camp value I'd suggest you skip it. Otherwise it would make a good follow up movie to The Atomic Cafe and Reefer Madness

Funny, but sad at the same time . . .

[frankfob · 2/10 · 9 March 2002]

This film succeeds, and fails, on several levels. It doesn't succeed as a camp classic, like "Plan 9 From Outer Space," as it's too well made for that. It doesn't succeed as a straightforward piece warning of the dangers of Communism, as it's too simplistic and one-sided for that. What it does succeed at is as an insight into the mind of the hysterical right wing that dominated U.S. public life at the time--and still does today, in fact. This is the kind of film from "the good old days" that the Bush/Cheney/Ashcroft crowd yearns for: We're right, they're wrong. We're good, they're evil. We're anointed by God, they're sadistic, atheistic monsters. The main thrust of the film, though, isn't the usual "those godless Russky Commies are out to get us" paranoia. Its message is more insidious than that: the REAL danger is from INSIDE America, not outside, from the collaborators, the "America-hating liberals" who are chomping at the bit to do the Commies' bidding in their misguided efforts to "improve" American life (which, as the film implies, we all know is perfect anyway, and since perfection can't be improved upon, these people have to have something else in mind . . .). So we have to be watchful, we have to keep an eye out for people who might be dangerous, who don't act or think like good Americans do, who don't like our values, who want to harm us. We have to watch out for these people, and report them to the authorities, so we can safeguard our way of life, and . . .

Some things never change, do they?

RED NIGHTMARE (George Waggner, 1962) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 31 October 2008]

This educational short – intended as a propaganda piece, solemnly narrated by Jack Webb (a familiar face of the era) and personally overseen by movie mogul Jack L. Warner – feels very much like an episode of "The Twilight Zone". As in INVASION USA (1952), on whose DVD it's included, the politics are hard to take nowadays – though the fantasy, albeit moralistic, framework of the narrative (wherein a passive working-class American wakes up one morning to find his hometown overrun by the Communists) makes it at least palatable in an IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) sort of way. On the other hand, being compact and on a much smaller scale than the earlier feature-film, it's easier to suspend belief in its case. By the way, George Waggner (billed "waGGner", for whatever reason) is best-known for his stint directing such classic Universal chillers as THE WOLF MAN (1941).

The story you are about to see is not true; no names ever got changed to protect the idiotic.

[lee_eisenberg · 1/10 · 28 November 2005]

A previous reviewer said that this movie had a good point because Communism was (and remains) a real threat. FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD MISTER, WHICH ERA ARE YOU LIVING IN? I should identify that I don't doubt that the USSR had missiles pointed at us, but we also had missiles pointed at them. As for spies, all countries spy on each other.

The point is that anyone who takes this movie seriously must have his/her brain warped. "The Commies Are Coming, the Commies Are Coming" is unintentionally one of the most laughable movies ever. It portrays a wholesome American small town getting taken over by the Soviet Union, and one man gets accused of "deviationism" and subsequently gets executed. If nothing else, this movie could be used to show what the McCarthyites did to the Rosenbergs.

As for host Jack Webb, aside from having this to his credit, he also had "Dragnet" - which apparently was nothing more than pro-police propaganda. So that's that: Jack Webb was a loser.

Better dead then Red!

[dtucker86 · 10/10 · 27 September 2023]

This film was made at the height of the Cold War in America (in fact it was made the same year as the infamous Cuban Missile Crisis). It opens showing us what looks like an American town that is really a Russian town being used as a training ground for their spies who are going to infiltrate America. Who better to narrate this film then good old Jack Webb and he brings the no nonsense style of Sergeant Friday to narrating this cautionary tale about what happens when we take our liberties for granted. Jack Kelly plays Jerry Donovan a loving husband and father who does just that. He would rather go bowling then to a PTA meeting and he poo poos his Army Reserve duty. He then wakes up to find out that America has become a totalitarian regime! Yikes what a nightmare. All freedoms have vanished, why his children are now little Communist robots who threaten to turn him in and his church is now a communist museum. He tries to speak out but is brought before a Kangaroo court and sentenced to death being shot in the head which wakes him up from his nightmare. He makes a great speech about the evils of Communist slavery and how its victims should rise up against it. Webb also makes a great speech in the end about freedom and it is more moving then ANY Sergeant Joe Friday ever gave.

not worth much attention

[Andy Sandfoss · 3/10 · 1 December 2000]

I got this expecting a camp riot. What I found was a fairly standard propaganda piece, a bit confused at times but generally aware of itself enough to stay "on message" as the phrase goes these days. Jack Webb, though obviously rightist, was too knowledgeable and talented to let things get completely out of control. As a result, the film isn't as funny as originally billed; it really provokes no strong response in me at all. Ho-hum.

The Commies Were Never Coming

[icoa9125 · 1/10 · 14 October 2016]

I too am a history teacher, specializing in postwar American history. This IS a glimpse into history - not the history of the Soviet Union but of the United States and the very worrying extent of the irrational hysteria about Communism in that period. I don't think it is very relevant to talk about how realistic this is as a portrayal of the USSR as the point is that this is a portrayal of a Communist takeover of the USA and that was just never going to happen, either by external invasion or internal subversion. To understand a film like this we are better off looking at domestic American politics and to the advantages this bogey- man (a negative mirror-image of what America was understood to be) afforded various groups, and the need for others (like film executives who were not from Anglo-Saxon Protestant backgrounds and who wanted a handy baton to beat Unions with) to present themselves as "100% American". There are lessons to be learned here but not about the USSR.

A right-wing "Twilight Zone"

[Baroque · 18 July 2002]

Jack Webb takes an average white American male, husband and father of two, into a vision of what America might be like under Soviet control.

Heavy-handed and one-sided, this propaganda one-reeler has Jack Webb's thumbprints all over it. Rumored to have been bankrolled by a US Government agency (you pick one), this film runs almost like a right-wing answer to "The Twilight Zone", as if to confront TV pioneer Rod Serling's liberal-left musings.

It may have shocked people in it's day, and will probably enthuse those who still look for Commies under the bed, but now, it's a camp classic, reminding us of how paranoid we were (and, by the way, how paranoid the Soviets were about the USA!).

Your tax dollars at work: the Cleavers meet the pod people

[NewtonFigg · 1/10 · 4 March 2014]

This Department of Defense sponsored inanity was done better 20 years earlier by Disney in his cartoon about the little boy living in Naziland. By 1962, it was completely redundant to preach to the American people how nasty it must be to live under a Communist dictatorship. There were recent examples of the suppressions of the uprisings in Poland and Hungary, first person testimonies by refugees and articles by the 100s in the popular magazines. Castro's mass executions of his opponents were even more recent. It would have been terrible if all those well off, white Christians in the movie had to surrender their way of life. No s**t, Dick Tracy.

I understand there have been cuts to the original release, and the 28 minute version I saw was not complete. Nowhere in that version is there any clue about what Communism is, besides nasty, and how it could possibly take over the US. Not necessary. Superimpose this lesson over the barrage of propaganda films that preceded it that gave valuable clues on how to recognize a Communist, and you have contributed to a mood of hysteria. How to recognize a Communist: does he read Pravda on the subway? Does he speak against our government? Does he not wear a flag lapel pin (no, no, that was later)? is he an atheist (Jew is close enough)? Does he stir up discontent by advocating better treatment for blacks? Does he think signing loyalty oaths is silly? Maybe there's nothing you and I can do to stop an ICBM, but we sure can stop the subversive worms from destroying us from within. Red Nightmare is just the coach's halftime locker room speech to keep the team fired up against people who call each other comrade and talk about commissars and the proletariat.

Jack Kelly's Vivid Red Dream

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 21 April 2012]

I suppose it's to be expected that this film laid on the anti-Communism a bit thick. Red Nightmare was a film for our Armed Services that Warner Brothers produced on their lot which utilized a whole lot of familiar faces from their television shows. Jack Webb in his patented staccato style narrated the film where Jack Kelly plays Mr. Average American who takes his American way of life quite for granted.

The funny thing is that I have no real problem with films encouraging greater citizen participation. Where folks might differ is the result of said participation. Nor do I have a problem with anti-Communism either as long as it doesn't involve persecution of people whose opinions are to the left of the then president of the United States when this film was made.

But this film ratcheted up the paranoia scale to unbelievable heights. We see Kelly in his daily life with wife Jeanne Cooper, daughter Pat Woodell and two other younger kids and Woodell's boyfriend Peter Brown. Job, family life are just stuff Kelly takes for granted.

But at night Kelly has an It's A Wonderful Life type dream as he sees his same life after a People's government has taken over the USA. And there's no angel named Clarence to get him out.

As there are a few survivors left from the cast I wonder how many of them feel about this film seen today.

The Young'uns Think This Is a Great Comedy

[lawprof · 25 April 2003]

I've been showing this Cold War chestnut to my Constitutional Law students for at least fifteen years. I screen it during our examination of First Amendment cases from the 50s and early 60s. That was when the Supreme Court initially upheld convictions of leading American communists (mostly older, suit wearing and essentially harmless types). Increasingly alarmed that First Amendment freedoms were being sacrificed to fears of a "putsch" that never seemed to be imminent or even real, the Court began overturning convictions while simultaneously expanding free speech protections.

The older students remember the times but most are in their early to mid-twenties and they can't believe tax dollars paid for Jack Webb, employing his best "Sergeant Friday" monotone, to warn Americans about the danger of taking freedom for granted and ignoring the threat of insidious Soviet subversion.

What gets the most laughs are the domestic scenes where "Father Knows Best" is hijacked to deliver the political message. The housewife is a stay-at-home who is assured by her laid back husband that she's no worse a nag than most spouses. The kids are just so adorable. Even the teenage daughter determined to marry her sweetheart can't mount more than a mild sullenness when dad objects to an early marriage. Sheesh!

Hubby's "Red Nightmare," his night of a bad dream, gives a good portrayal of the 1950s view of how the Communists - domestic and conquering - would wipe out all our freedoms. Reflecting the fears that swept Hollywood in the age of HUAC and Mc Carthy, the viewer is assured that this very important film was produced under "the direct supervision of Jack L. Warner."

If you want to really get a flavor of that fear-laden time, check out http://www.conelrad.com.

The Mentality May Be '50's, but the Make Is '60's

[W.B. · 13 November 1999]

Looking back today, it's still hard to believe that as late as 1962 we'd be seeing propaganda films like this. But then, this was made around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, so in that sense it figures. But in a way, one can see why some people would believe (as many reference books have claimed) that this piece came out in or around 1957, since the '50's were the height of anti-Communist hysteria in America, although Mr. Webb's necktie and jacket lapels were far too narrow for that year, more appropriate for the early '60's. Another key that this was a 1962 piece, if nothing else, was the presence of a young actress who within a year would go on to become the first Bobbie Jo Bradley on "Petticoat Junction", Pat (billed here as Patricia) Woodell. The year this was filmed, she also put in guest shots on some Warner Bros.-produced shows such as "Hawaiian Eye" (whose star, Robert Conrad, also appeared here) and "The Gallant Men", being at the time she was under contract to that studio.