The Beginning or the End is a 1947 American docudrama film about the development of the atomic bomb in World War II, directed by Norman Taurog, starring Brian Donlevy, Robert Walker, and Tom Drake, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film dramatizes the creation of the atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima. The film originated in October 1945 as a project of actress Donna Reed and her high school science teacher, Edward R. Tompkins, who was a chemist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Bob Considine wrote the treatment, which was sent to MGM scriptwriters. The title was supplied by President Harry S. Truman. At the time there was a legal requirement that permission be obtained to depict living well-known public figures. Many refused, but others, such as J. Robert Oppenheimer, co-operated. Major General Leslie R. Groves, Jr., the director of the Manhattan Project, was hired as a consultant for $10,000 (equivalent to $165,000 in 2025). Although the filmmakers put considerable effort into historical accuracy, particularly in details, the film is known for some key distortions of history. An entirely fictional sequence was added in which Truman agonizes over whether to authorize the attack; anti-aircraft shells are shown bursting around the Enola Gay on its bombing run over Hiroshima. The film received generally mixed reviews, and was a box office disappointment.
Plot A prelude scene in the form of a Newsreel story suggests that the film is part of a package of information about the development of atomic energy and the atomic bomb being placed in a time capsule in California, to be opened in 2446. Physicist and atomic scientist Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer praises the discovery of atomic energy but also warns of its dangers. American scientists such as Matt Cochran, working under the guidance of Dr. Enrico Fermi and Dr. Marré, have split the atom, and essentially beaten the Germans in the race to devise an atomic bomb. With the assistance of Albert Einstein, they inform President Franklin D. Roosevelt that a monumental discovery has been made. In 1941, with the United States at war, Roosevelt authorizes up to two billion dollars for the Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb. In December 1942, at the University of Chicago, under the watchful eyes of observers such as Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Nixon and international experts, scientists create the first chain reaction, under a stadium at the campus. Nixon is assigned to General Leslie Groves, who is placed in charge of the project. Groves has to bring together the scientific, industrial and defense communities to build a working atomic bomb during the war. In 1945, following the death of Roosevelt, the new president, Harry S. Truman, continues to support the atomic project, then moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico. Facing stiff resistance in the Pacific War, Truman orders the use of the atomic bomb against Japan in July 1945. Cochran and Nixon are assigned to accompany the crew transporting the bomb to Tinian. While assembling the bomb, Cochran comes into contact with radioactive material and dies. The following day, on August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress, drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. After the mission, Nixon returns home to break the news of Cochran's death to his wife.
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