The Beginning or the End (1947) is an American docudrama film about the development of the atomic bomb in World War II, directed by Norman Taurog, starring Brian Donlevy and Hume Cronyn, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The film dramatizes the creation of the atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project and the bombing of Hiroshima.The film originated in October 1945 as a project of actress Donna Reed and her high school science teacher, Edward R.