[PW] Another post-nuclear, scorched-earth SF movie identification

[Jo Falcon]

One of our science teachers is looking for a movie she seems to recall
in substantial detail -- but having just seen again the 1973 flick,
"The Telephone Book," I know how much one can conflate.  Still, maybe
some of the details will trigger a memory (Dennis, you out there?)

"We talked earlier about trying to find a title for a movie I saw
roughly in 1970 and have thought about using in class if I can still
find a copy of it. I believe I saw the movie at Canyon De Chelly in
the summer.

"The story line that I recall was the earth surface had been
contaminated by nuclear war and people had moved underground. They
lived in very clean sparse cubicles. The event being celebrated was a
birthday of a young man. The family had found birthday candles that
they had on his cake, and lit. This brought in the police because of
the oxygen issues in burning the candle and because someone had
covered the ever present security camera in order to block the
overseers sight from observing the candle burning. After the police
leave the young man receives a gift from his grandfather, a pass for
two to the surface of the earth. We then see the grandfather and
grandson travel via elevator to the surface of the earth. They explore
through mounds of trash and debris. I recall that they find animals
that had once been stuffed and in a natural history museum. The boy
can't believe how big a bear is and has a hard time believing that it
was ever real and alive. I also recall his finding a bicycle wheel
that's mangled but recognizable and his speculation about what kind of
device it might have come from. I have no clear remembrance of how it
ends, except that the boy's day passed far too quickly to satisfy all
his curiosity."

Sound familiar to anyone?  Thanks in advance --


Jo Falcon, MLIS
The Exploratorium Learning Studio
415 561-0343
"We unscrew the inscrutable."