The China Syndrome

"There WAS A Vibration!!"
Review of "The China Syndrome: Special Edition" DVD .............................

"The China Syndrome" first appeared in theaters around the USA on March 16, 1979. In an almost unbelievable coincidence, just twelve days later, on March 28th, the worst nuclear accident in United States history occurred at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The real-life incident at Three Mile Island was, in many ways, identical to the plot of the movie. An incorrect reading of equipment at Three Mile Island made the plant's operators THINK, in error, that there was more water covering the core of the power plant than there actually was -- just exactly what we see unfold on the screen in "The China Syndrome".

Another extremely eerie "coincidence" between the real event and the motion picture is a line of dialogue that was written for the film, and is one of the most chilling lines in the picture, where a nuclear expert is explaining that, if an explosion had occurred...

Dated, but the fear remains.
The idea of a potential nuclear meltdown is and always will be absolutely terrifying. That is the main reason this film has lost little of its impact. I first saw this film when I was a young teenager, and back then I took no notice of the depth of the acting or the political nuances strewn throughout the film. The acting is excellent all around, but the best performance comes once again from Jack Lemmon. It is truly mesmerizing to see him at the beginning of the film as a steadfast employee making excuses for the 'accident' that even he pretends to believe; and then his gradual decline through doubt, suspicion, fearful revelation, and absolute panic. His performance here is one of the best of the 1970s. However, the story and direction take on a "Liberal Hippies against The Man" feel frequently, the bad guys being heartless bureaucrats without families or moral character. In this story they are painted as scoundrels who care about nothing else other than the proverbial 'bottom...

The Real Star
This is one of my favorite movies. I have the 1999 DVD. (I'm not sure why another is needed; maybe more subtitles.) Mine has 1.85 anamorphic, letterbox, and 1.33 too. The transfer is good. The sound is mono; that on the one just out is a matter of dispute -- either mono or stereo, depending on what you read. (Amazon says mono.)

Yes, this movie has Lemmon, Fonda, et alii -- especially Wilford Brimley, whose performance impressed me a lot. But, maybe because I'm an engineer, I've always thought the real star was the nuclear power plant itself. The movie is, after all, about the safety of nuclear electrical power. The "Ventana" plant stands as a monolithic menace, dominating the movie. (The control room was based on the Trojan plant in Eugene, Oregon; I can't find out where the bowels-of-the-plant sets came from, or the external views.) That it is both loving and vengeful God is always apparent, true at the time of release and moreso today after Three-mile Island,...

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