Other Titles • The Day the Earth Caught Fire • The Day the Sky Caught Fire (1961) • Der Tag, an dem die Erde Feuer fing (1971)
Synopses for The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
1.
Despite its melodramatic title, which carried on a '50s doomsday naming convention, this taut 1961 English science fiction thriller offers an object lesson in the power of story over special effects. When both the Soviets and the West detonate nuclear tests simultaneously, the seismic double whammy jolts the earth off its axis and onto a new orbit sending it fatally closer to the sun--a fate that writer-director-producer Val Guest views from the street-level perspective of its principal characters, rather than an off-world vantage point. The street in question, however, is London's Fleet Street, the venerable hub of its newspaper and tabloid publishers, and the hard-nosed reporters growing realization that their number is up carries its own stark punch. Edward Judd is Peter Stenning, a rugged, appropriately grim reporter, Leo McKern is tough but compassionate editor Bill Maguire, and Janet Munro is Stenning's love interest, in an elfin, sexy turn that's a striking contrast to her best-known turn in Disney's Darby O'Gill and the Little People. With an effects arsenal that consists largely of a spray bottle to apply beads of "sweat," Guest and his small but crack cast are surprisingly effective, and the cold war plot hook still works, thanks to its uncomfortable proximity to more contemporary environmental terrors. --Sam Sutherland
2.
When the Americans test a nuclear weapon at the South Pole at the exact moment that the Soviets are testing their own weapon at the North, the earth's axis is jolted out of alignment, causing catastrophic changes in global weather patterns. Additionally, the earth has been dislodged from its orbit, and is now hurtling towards the sun. It's a race against time as the world prepares for additional nuclear detonations which could restore life as we know it. This classic piece of British science fiction won a British Academy Award for Best Screenplay and has been completely restored by Anchor Bay, including tinted sequences not seen since the movie's original theatrical release in 1961.
3.
"A Vastly Subversive Nuclear Apocalypse Film. Crank the AC and enjoy" - Baltimore City Paper
When the United States and the Soviet Union simultaneously set off nuclear explosions, The London Daily Express begins to report on bizarre weather changes around the world. But when the reporters dig deeper, they discover that the blasts have knocked Earth off its axis and sent it hurtling towards the sun. Now, as scorching heat and devastating floods plague the planet, cities explode in chaos and mankind is left with one last hope: A final massive detonation that will either re-balance the Earth's orbit or destroy the world forever.
Produced, directed and co-written by Val Guest (The Quatermass Xperiment), this British classic is legendary for its brilliant dialogue, chilling realism and one of the most provocative endings in sci-fi history. The Day the Earth Caught Fire has now been completely remastered from the original vault materials, including the restoration of its stunning tinted sequences not seen since the movie's original theatrical release 40 years ago.
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