The House in the Middle
Encyclopedia
The House in the Middle was an American 1954 short documentary film
produced by the Federal Civil Defense Administration
and the National Clean Up-Paint Up-Fix Up Bureau, which attempted to show that a clean, freshly painted house (the middle house) is more likely to survive a nuclear attack than its poorly maintained counterparts (the right and left houses).
In 2001, the Library of Congress
deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry
.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
produced by the Federal Civil Defense Administration
Federal Civil Defense Authority
The Federal Civil Defense Authority was established in the United States Department of Defense , by DOD Directive 5105.43, May 5, 1972.-Predecessor agencies:...
and the National Clean Up-Paint Up-Fix Up Bureau, which attempted to show that a clean, freshly painted house (the middle house) is more likely to survive a nuclear attack than its poorly maintained counterparts (the right and left houses).
In 2001, the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
.