The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)

Director:

Val Guest

Writers:

Wolf Mankowitz (written for the screen by) &
Val Guest (written for the screen by)

Release Date:

May 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi | Romance

Tagline:

THE PICTURE THAT GIVES YOU A FRONT SEAT TO THE MOST JOLTING EVENTS OF TOMORROW...TODAY! (original U.S. print ad - all caps)

Plot:

British reporters suspect an international cover-up of a global disaster in progress... and they're right.

Plot Keywords:

Reporter | Newsroom | Newspaper | Alcoholic | Newspaper Editor

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Janet Munro	...	Jeannie Craig
Leo McKern	...	Bill Maguire
Edward Judd	...	Peter Stenning
Michael Goodliffe	...	'Jacko', Night editor
Bernard Braden	...	News editor
Reginald Beckwith	...	Harry
Gene Anderson	...	May
Renée Asherson	...	Angela
Arthur Christiansen	...	Editor
Austin Trevor	...	Sir John Kelly
Edward Underdown	...	Sanderson
Ian Ellis	...	Michael Stenning

Also Known As:

The Day the Sky Caught Fire

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (with tinted sequences)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Battersea Fun Fair, Battersea Park, Battersea, London, England, UK

Company:

Pax Films

Trivia:

In an early scene Jeannie is struggling with a Roneo stencil duplicator, saying it is "over-inking". The Roneo company threatened to sue the producers for the potential damage to the reputation of their products.

Goofs:

Plot holes: It's some forty days after the bomb blasts before the scoop is made concerning the eleven degree shift in the Earth's axis (the flashback begins ten days after the explosions with another four weeks going by before Pete and Jeanie meet again). Even if the officials and professionals were mum, it would still be impossible for all the amateur astronomers, naturalists, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, navigators, timekeepers, ritual sun worshipers, etcetera the world over, not to notice a gradual tilt of the globe's axis (the destruction of the planet notwithstanding). In short, the alteration would have been common knowledge long before it was officially confirmed in the film, and The Daily Express, if not from the "top down", would certainly have learned the big bad news from the "ground up".

Quotes:

[Jeannie is working as a telephone operator; this is the first time she's talking with Peter Stenning, just a few sentences later]
Peter Stenning: Listen, your job is to pass messages on, when you're asked!
Jeannie Craig: My job is to do what I'm told by the people who gave me the job, and anyway, this isn't my job; I'm from the Pool.
Peter Stenning: Well, then why don't you dive back in and drown?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Godzilla (1977)

Soundtrack:

Light Cavalry Overture

The Day the Earth Caught Fire

1961's "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" must be judged according to the parameters of classics as 1951's "The Day the Earth Stood Still", and not today's special effects mega productions in which the perspective of the disappearance of planet Earth is taken with cynic humor. The idea came to director Val Guest during the Cold War in 1954, and it is under that decade's spirit that the movie is better appreciated. I remember seeing it when it opened, and I've never forgotten that experience, specially its tinted sequence. Forty-three years later I am able to see it again, and it's still the same notable film, not the least affected by today's cinematic technology, because, in its core, Guest's motivation -the worry for the actions of mindless men who struggle to control the Earth- is still relevant. If it's not highly regarded today as "The Day the Earth Stood Still", I think it has to do with the fact that Universal sold it as a B movie in America (though not so by British Lion in the UK, where it was a huge success, and won the film industry's top prize for its screenplay) and because not too many critics paid attention to it and wrote positive reviews, establishing it as an important science-fiction movie since then. Although there are very few re-enacted disaster scenes and it relies upon footage of real catastrophes, the tension is handled effectively in the newspaper's office where most of the action takes place, with its overlapping dialogues and constant flow of new information; and in the development of the romantic story in the midst of violence and terror in the streets. Edward Judd, Janet Munro and Leo McKern contribute good performances to this fine movie, shot in Dyaliscope.