After the entire Northern Hemisphere is destroyed by a nuclear war, a group of survivors in Australia prepare for their own inevitable demise. As a deadly cloud of radiation creeps toward the continent, some survivors cling to hopes that life as they know it has continued somewhere, hopes that are fed by the discovery of a mysterious, erratic radio signal emanating from San Diego. Others, such as Astaire's sardonic, race-car driving physicist and Gardner's world-weary, tippling party girl, throw their energies into squeezing the last drops from their lives. A grim, unflinching clarion call for sanity that inches along at a maddeningly deliberate and suspenseful pace. Based on the novel by Nevil Shute. Academy Award Nominations: 2, Best Editing (Frederic Knudtson) and Best Score (Ernest Gold).