The Day The Earth Caught Fire [DVD] [1961]

Gosh - where to start!

`The Day The Earth Caught Fire' is one of the most intelligent science-fiction/apocalypse movies ever made, and that's that. If you can live with the completely absurd premise that our planet could be knocked over by 2 simultaneous atom-bomb tests, when the multi-million-megaton Chixulub impact of 65 million years ago didn't even make it sneeze, then the rest is easy-peasy.

Set in London, and mostly from the standpoint of the `Daily Express' newspaper office, the disaster unfolds with frightening plausibility. Most movies of this genre usually had (and still have) a political, military or scientific overview with the media presented as little more than a side-issue, a baying mob. here, we see the story breaking from the actual standpoint of the media, a premise to which the Daily Express gave substantial support. It is the other instiutions that are marginalised.

Seldom-seen Edward Judd won his first starring role as a journalist on the skids. His marriage has broken down, he has limited access to his estranging son, he has become disillusioned, bitter, and wobbles on the threshold of alcoholism and dismissal. He now holds women in contempt. But although obnoxious, he is desperately vulnerable. Judd was a big man and handsome in the traditional British way. He had tremendous screen presence, not unlike Richard Burton. His character is kept in some sort of order by the science correspondent, an indulgent uncle-figure here played by excellent Leo McKern, who always brought a solid lump of gravitas to every role. See his conniving `Cromwell' in `A Man For All Seasons', not to mention his enduringly humorous `Rumpole'. Janet Munro is `the girl'. She is marked to bring salvation to Judd's character - if they survive. And a very fiesty heroine she presents. These three are core to a host of decent character actors, with cameos from Bernard Braden and a juvenile Michael Caine.

The climate-change effects are simple, but believable and harrowing. Clear genuine disaster footage is incorporated seamlessly. The sweaty spell is never broken by clumsy editing.

But the real high-point is the script. It's as sharp and witty as those of the best film-noir. Some have criticised it for being too smart; however, I don't agree. These people are journalists, wordsmiths; their business is the witty summation, the one-line header. And it keeps the story moving at a fast, intelligent pace.

It is surely a measure of the adult theme of this movie, that despite its vintage, and despite the absence of any graphic violence or explicit sex, it still commands the same `15' rating as the Coens' recent and extremely brutal `No Country For Old Men'. On a couple of occasions there is swearing. McKern utters the `B' word once.

The `Network' DVD is satisfactorily clear both visually and aurally. There are no extras.

This is a great film. I saw this at the cinema when it first came out - boy, does that date me! I think that it is a very atmospheric film and, even with all the CGI that they have to work with today, I doubt very much if it could be bettered. I find the re-makes of some films are too frenetic, while this film is very low-key, which makes it all the more frightening. You can feel the temperature rising while the actors are sweating it out on screen, and the fog rolling up the Thames is a great effect. If you only buy one DVD of an old film, make it this one, you won't regret it.

I know that's a pretty grand claim of mine in the title, but I really believe this is one of the most intelligent, well-acted, and chillingly effective films we've ever made. Made at the height of concern about nuclear warfare (this was the era of the CND Aldermaston marches), it takes the idea that by detonating two massive nuclear bombs at once we have caused the Earth to shift off its axis and ... gulp, we are now heading towards the sun! Much of the unfolding terror is seen through the eyes of journalists in a newspaper office covering daily what could be the oncoming end of the world. These scenes are highly effective indeed, most particularly the briefings in the Editor's office, and Leo McKern is splendid as a jaundiced hack getting his biggest (and most unwelcome!) story. As the days click on and society begins to unravel, with water rationing causing riots and old diseases making a comeback, you even get reminded of later terrifying docu-dramas like "The War Game" and "Threads". On a lighter note look out for a before-he-was-famous Michael Caine appearing briefly in one scene as a policeman doing traffic duty.