Strong, informative, engaging. Flew by, honestly. I admittedly assumed it would cover more time than just the films made in the immediate aftermath of the drop, but this covers the subjects comprehensively. Surprised to realize here the way so many images and ideas of what testing and development was like sort of became fact despite being completely inaccurate. Particularly surprising to hear the thing about the lotion, which felt like such a weird, distinct moment in Oppenheimer, didn't happen.

I especially loved the way this talked about the Donna Reed of it all and the casting/re-casting drama. There's not necessarily overt criticism of how much MGM allowed the government to intervene, but Mitchell sort of lets the events speak for themselves on that one.

Really hard to realize how much work this must have taken and how well Mitchell puts this particular story in the context of larger Hollywood (Red Scare) and world (Cold War) history because it's presented in such a digestible, enjoyable way.