This docu-drama about the development of the A-bomb reveals itself as a Pentagonal apologia. Introduced as a documentary to be buried in a time capsule no less, this flim-flam film claims its place in history, factual distortions and all. Brian Donlevy plays Gen. Leslie R. Groves, the man who supervised America's best-kept secret. Under his watch, entire populations are relocated and mega-labs rise in a frenzy of research. It's all men in lab coats pursuing the power of the universe: Oppenheimer and Fermi, Lawrence and Szilard, even Einstein gets a look-alike cameo. Behind the exhilaration of discovery come the little falsehoods-that Japan was developing its own bomb, that we warned the citizens of Hiroshima to flee. Louis B. Mayer explained in a 1946 letter to Einstein, "dramatic truth is just as compelling a requirement...as veritable truth is on a scientist." A revision-free film for carefree viewing.-Steve Seid

• Written by Frank Wead. Photographed by Ray June, Warren Newcomber. With Brian Donlevy, Robert Walker, Tom Drake, Audrey Totter. (110 mins, B&W, 35mm, From MGM/UA)