Five (Oboler, 1951)

[madali]

Five (Arch Oboler, 1951)

Doing a small internet research, it seems "Five" might possibly be the first film set in a post-apocalypse nuclear warfare world. America seems to have been destroyed after nuclear holocaust and a few people randomly meet (being five). The five being one pregnant woman, the good white guy, a black man (which probably was a bit edgy for 1951!), a kindly old man, and an extremely douchy foreigner.

If I had seen it in 1951, I might have loved it. I like post-apocalypse stories a lot, but since the six decades since "Five", there have been countless movies in the genre, and a lot of good ones. "Five" pales in comparison to them all. The story is more depressing than I would have imagined from the 50s and it seems to be a bit of an interesting concept to have been made on film, only six years after the end of the World War.

Therefore, the film seems more interesting in context, but as an actual film to watch today, it is weak.

2/5

[X.]

The five being one pregnant woman, the good white guy, a black man (which probably was a bit edgy for 1951!), a kindly old man, and an extremely douchy foreigner.

Ironically not much has changed since 1951. You could use the same 5 people in any post-acapocalypse movie now and this formula will still work (for example: now, the foreign would either be an Indian or Arab instead of a Russian or Asian).

P.S. They did forget one thing in the 1950s: a dog!

[madali]

The interesting thing is that the foriegner in this version was just a foreigner, it never states where he is from, and seems to have a mixture of European accents. In a way, the movie has him as the placeholder character for every future remake ever made. Insert Foreigner of your choosing here.