- Actors: Edward Judd, Janet Munro, Leo McKern, Michael Goodliffe, Bernard Braden
- Directors: Val Guest
- Writers: Val Guest, Wolf Mankowitz
- Producers: Val Guest, F. Sherwin Green
- Classification: PG
- Studio: Network
- VHS Release Date: 20 Aug 2001
- Run Time: 98 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00005NMVU
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 22,122 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
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.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I'd forgotten just how good this film is. Fine performances bring to life a very good script and the setting is brilliantly realised. This isn't just British SF at its best, its SF at its best. OK so some of the science is cobblers but the story is stylish and clever.
The DVD is excellent. A good range of extras and, most importantly, a brilliantly clear print of the film itself. The sepia tinged opening is particularly effective and looks better than ever.
And this is a film with one of those endings that you can never get out of your mind.
Highly recommended.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I remember seeing this film on Saturday afternoons when I was a kid and rewatching as an adult made me appreciate just what this film has to say. The day the Earth caught fire was made at a time when people lived with the fear that world could at any time be decimated by nuclear war, even when I was a child it seemed quite probable yet people doggidly went on with there lives. There's an element of this in The day the Earth caught fire as people continue to live their lives as the earth rocked by nuclear tests hurtles towards the sun.
Edward Judd plays a reporter for a london newspaper who through bouts of drinking discovers that similtanious nuclear tests by the americans and russians have dislodged the earth from it's orbit and have set it on course to hit the sun, Judds not bad in the role and Janet Munro makes an excellent and sexy female interest but Leo McKern can't help but steal the show. His grizzled portrayal of Judds friend and newpaper journo is electrifying to watch. It's worth the money just to see him but you won't have wasted any cash on this film even if he hadn't been in it. The day the Earth caught fire is an intelligent taught and highly entertaining film, to call it Sci fi would be wrong, It's just an excellent drama with a slightly far fetched plot. Although at the time it really didn't seem that far fetched living under the shadow of the bomb.
The end is particularly un Hollywood as it leaves you hanging, never finding out the fate of the characters.
Edward Judd plays a reporter for a london newspaper who through bouts of drinking discovers that similtanious nuclear tests by the americans and russians have dislodged the earth from it's orbit and have set it on course to hit the sun, Judds not bad in the role and Janet Munro makes an excellent and sexy female interest but Leo McKern can't help but steal the show. His grizzled portrayal of Judds friend and newpaper journo is electrifying to watch. It's worth the money just to see him but you won't have wasted any cash on this film even if he hadn't been in it. The day the Earth caught fire is an intelligent taught and highly entertaining film, to call it Sci fi would be wrong, It's just an excellent drama with a slightly far fetched plot. Although at the time it really didn't seem that far fetched living under the shadow of the bomb.
The end is particularly un Hollywood as it leaves you hanging, never finding out the fate of the characters.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Day After Tomorrow - Yesterday!
Fed up with the juvenile, CGI dependent garbage Hollywood is churning out these days? Give this 1961 British film a try. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Now Zoltan
Simply a classic
It is well acted with a good storyline and for classic movie buffs it's a must. The scene in Battersea park at the time was very cleverly done even if its not so impressive now. Read more
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A sultry Janet Munro makes for a good story
The story starts out with an orange filter. Then we plunge into a long flashback.
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Published on 1 April 2010 by bernie
wow hot day for the earth
enjoy this film loads strange ending but was enjoyment all through the film the film is about two nuclear bombs both exploded at the same time which shifts the earth's orbit so it... Read more
Published on 29 Aug 2009 by A. Jones
A Blazing success!
Fantastic movie which now seems eerily prescient, even though the cause of the eponymous fire wasn't global warming... Worth its weight in black and white!
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I struggled in Places
Despite coming up for being 50 years old soon, this film still feels relatively modern with its themes of nuclear testing etc. Read more
Published on 16 Dec 2008 by S. Smith
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