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THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE Released in 1961 |
A rat-a-tat dialog hybrid of THE FRONT PAGE and the doomsday-anticipation of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, Val Guest's disaster opus THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE has ice caps melting decades before the standard trend...
And there's a fair amount of preaching (albeit far ahead of its time) like any cautionary science-fiction... but everything flows not only with the dire situation at hand but the hustle and bustle of a hustling/bustling newspaper office...
Where boozy yet intellectual veteran reporter Leo McKern and tattered, has-been, single father Edward Judd are in the nervy dilemma of figuring exactly what to write about — despite the fact both America and Russia tested nuclear weapons not only one day apart, but an entire week earlier, so, with that important game-changing aspect out of the way, the story begins as if the viewer arrived fifteen-minutes late as Judd's snarky, sarcastic reporter is a bit much to take so soon, all at once: Yet his obnoxious persona makes more sense the closer the slow-burn, possibly-apocalyptic future nears...
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Top Half of The Day BLU RAY Rating: ****
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That director Val Guest initially progresses with mild catastrophes, from a heat wave to a dense fog, ultimately leading to the primary flaw, which, in 1961, couldn't be helped... although, mainly set in a press-room, the starkly contrasting/randomly inserted film-aesthetic of actual storms, fires and floods could be attributed to news footage as opposed to stock footage...
And like any Disaster tale there needs a human angle... and Judd's romance with gorgeous and assertive Janet Munro, coinciding with each of nature's setbacks, is the true mainline...
Since, as a government secretary, she picks up on important information first, their heated chemistry... along with various eruptions of newsroom politics and deadlines... flows smoothly yet frantically, making DAY a counterpart to Val Guest's police procedural HELL IS A CITY: the underrated auteur (usually employed by Hammer) is key at moving an intense, suspenseful film's pace neatly in-step with the all-too-human characters, desperately trapped in-between.
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Janet Munro in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE
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Janet Munro in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE |
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Janet Munro in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE |
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A steamy Janet Munro in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE with Edward Judd
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The gorgeous ingenue Janet Munro in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE |
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Edward Judd, Gene Anderson (The Break) & Leo McKern in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE |
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Val Guest's Hell Is A City cop Geoffrey Frederick in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE with Bernard Braden
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Edward Judd, Geoffrey Frederick & Leo McKern in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE |
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Non-famous cameo of Michael Caine in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE |
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Michael Caine as a checkpoint cop in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE |
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Intro & Outro Sepia film-stock with Gene Anderson in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE |
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Leo McKern in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE with Edward Judd & Janet Munro
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Leo McKern in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE with Edward Judd, Janet Munro and Gene Anderson
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Gorgeous model cameo by Julie Samuel fog-trapped in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE |
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Edward Judd's "Why don't you blow yourself?" line from THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE |
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Edward Judd checks panties in THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE |
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Edward Judd over a decade later on THE SWEENEY with John Thaw
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