It is 1964. Nuclear war has unleashed fatal radioactivity upon the Earth. The cloud of fallout has not yet reached Australia. The American nuclear submarine USS Sawfish docks down under and is sent on a reconnaissance mission. Captain Dwight Towers and his crew, joined by two Australians, are tasked with exploring whether Australia might be spared from contamination by weather conditions in the northern hemisphere, or whether predictions that the fallout will reach the continent in five months are true. They are also tracking a Morse signal coming from San Diego. Can it be that, against all expectations, human life has survived in the US? ... Stanley Kramer’s melodrama of humanity’s last days conveys its message entirely without special effects or spectacular images of world-wide catastrophe. Streets devoid of people and the Golden Gate Bridge empty of traffic are enough to signal the end of the human race. With a cast of popular Hollywood stars, On the Beach concentrates on human relationships and desires when faced with a dwindling lifespan. But in addition to love stories, the film is clearly critical of the escalating Cold War arms race. The US navy refused to provide support for the film.