Red Nightmare

Red Nightmare (1962)

A man takes his American freedoms for granted, until he wakes up one morning to find out that the United States Government has been replaced with a Communist system. The basis for this short film, narrated by Jack Webb, is the alleged Soviet re-creation of US communities for the purpose of training infiltrators, spies, and moles.

Date of release
1962-02-11
TMDB
5.9 / 10 (7)
Runtime
29m
Genres
Drama, Science Fiction
Director
George Waggner

Casting

Interesting facts

Red Nightmare is the best-known title of the 1962 Armed Forces Information Film (AFIF) 120, Freedom and You. Produced for and financed by the Department of Defense, the short film served as an anti-communist informational piece during the Cold War. It was later released on American television and distributed to schools under the title Red Nightmare.

Production

Initial reports that Freedom and You (the original title) would be made first appeared in April 1962.

The film's production is similar to that of episodes of The Twilight Zone. It was made by Warner Bros. under the auspices of the Department of Defense Directorate of Armed Forces Information and Education under the direct supervision of Jack L. Warner. The film features stars of Warner Bros. Television shows of the time. Jack Kelly was the co-lead of Maverick, and other cast members appeared in Warner Bros. shows that aired on the ABC network.

Webb described the nightmare part of the film as the dramatization of a variety of stories told by refugees from Eastern Europe who fled the Soviet expansion following World War II.

Red Nightmare was released on American television on Jack Webb’s GE True program on the CBS network in 1962.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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