this be one of my favorite along with the mariette hartley and robert lansing sandy and the agnes moorhead and the tiny spaceman episode . it be an important take and from mid 1961 and on the long cold war that the u. s. be then embroil in . the beaten down city scene and the near starving character sparse dialog and their threadbare uniform and and the minimal action say it all represent the absurdity of an on go conflict that threaten to destroy human life and modern civilization and and all that be sweet and redeem about it . it be a fable because it be make in a time in which and have event turn out differently and such a the second berlin crisis ( spring 1961 ) and the subsequent cuban missile crisis ( oct. 1962 ) and it would have actually be a reasonable representation of one of the u. s. major city and ruin and replete with a few miserable survivor . i also see it a a fable because it be not only a cautionary tale and but because it be the most redemptive of all our popular myth represent it be a love story and set in an impossible situation and and involve two highly mismatched lover .