The 27th Day (1957)

Director:

William Asher

Writers:

John Mantley (novel)
John Mantley (writer)

Release Date:

July 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Terror Fom Outer Space!

Plot:

Five individuals from five nations, including the "Superpowers," USA, USSR, and China, suddenly find themselves on an alien spacecraft...

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Cold War | Alien Abduction | Secret Weapon | United Nations

Cast

Gene Barry	...	Jonathan Clark
Valerie French	...	Eve Wingate
George Voskovec	...	Prof. Klaus Bechner
Arnold Moss	...	The Alien
Stefan Schnabel	...	The Soviet General
Ralph Clanton	...	Mr. Ingram
Friedrich von Ledebur	...	Dr. Karl Neuhaus (as Frederick Ledebur)
Paul Birch	...	Admiral
Azemat Janti	...	Ivan Godofsky

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #18274) | Finland:K-16

Company:

Romson Productions

Trivia:

When the Soviet General and Prof. Beckner launch the capsules the General gives the coordinates for Houston, Texas (29° 45' 26" N, 95° 21' W). Beckner gives the coordinates for Moscow (55° 45' 18" N, 37° 37' 14" E). Beckner is also heard giving partial coordinates for 45° 4' 23" N and 12' 12" E but the degrees are missing.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the doctor is standing in the life raft waiting for the bomb to detonate he is standing perfectly still. If the raft was actually in the ocean there would be be movement.

Quotes:

[a running Ivan Godofsky is illuminated by a spotlight]
Russian Officer: Going somewhere, Private Godofsky?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Monsterama Sci-Fi Late Night Creature Feature Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)

First-Rate science Fiction

An alien ship picks up five different people from the five super powers of the world. There he gives each a device that only they can open. Each device contains three vials that have the power to annihilate every human being on Earth. The aliens are a dying race from a dying planet, and even though they can and will not destroy mankind on earth, they will speed up the process of seeing whether mankind will destroy itself. How long is the experiment of seeing whether these five will survive and live without opening the vials? 27 days. This is a thought-provoking film about the nature of man more than anything. The underlying point behind the film is that mankind needs to rise from its child-like state of fighting and killing itself over seemingly petty issues. The aliens act merely as referees watching and waiting to see if the Soviet Union will destroy North America or vice versa. Now, the film definitely has an anti-communist slant(not that there is anything wrong with that)but admonishes all negativity, power hunger, and perniciousness in humankind worldwide. Director Will Asher does a fine job setting up the pace of the story and creating tension. The script, even though very weak in some areas, is quite interesting and full of thoughtful insights. Gene Barry plays the American representative and is good as a cynic. The rest of the cast is also very good with George Voskovec as a German scientist and Stephan Schnabel as a Soviet general standing out. Arnold Moss is the alien and he certainly makes his screen presence memorable. A good film. After watching I kept wondering what I would do if given the same circumstances, and I must confess I am so very happy that that burden lies not on my shoulders! Take some time to see The 27th Day and enjoy!