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The Day The Earth Caught Fire (1961)

Started by Keebleman, July 16, 2022, 06:30:18 PM

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Keebleman

Anyone in England or Wales looking for some hints on how to survive the next few days is directed to this prescient little film from the early sixties.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Caught_Fire

Not a bad film actually.  Scientifically ridiculous, but the societal impact of the events and individual human stories are good.  Surprisingly sexy, too.

Rich Uncle Skeleton

#1
Been thinking about this film during work a lot today for obvious reasons. Really love it, and any recommendations from anyone for anything similar is more than welcome.

BFI player has it to stream at the minute, if anyones interested. free trial and you're good to go, well worth a watch. (despite making you miserable when you think how badly such a situation would actually be handled in future...)

Small Man Big Horse

I saw it for the first time last year and loved it, the dialogue is something really special and the film as a whole really gripped me.

zomgmouse


Alberon

I think I first saw it during some BBC 2 Sci-fi film season back in the eighties. The central premise looks wonky now, but the exploration of the scenario works well.

Watched it fairly recently and the ending had the church bells tacked on right at the end. IIRC that was done for the American release as the ending is a little bleak otherwise.

The scenes at the newspaper do seem like another world now. The Editor was played by a real life editor as well.

Keebleman

Quote from: Alberon on July 19, 2022, 07:38:22 PMThe Editor was played by a real life editor as well.

Yeah, exceptionally badly too.  I expect his participation was the price of being allowed to film at the Daily Express offices.

Edgar Balloon III

I have an early memory of watching this with my grandfather, who was very disappointed the Earth didn't literally catch on fire. There are fires, yes, but he wanted the entire globe to be in flame. I was disappointed at the time, but it's a favourite of my mum, so I learned to appreciate it. I remembered it being about the disasters, but when I see a theatrical screening of it a few years back, I realised it's really the story of the man learning to take responsibility for himself.

The scene of Jeannie having a topless wash but supposed to be a lot more revealing, but it was censored for the US market. Interestingly, the US DVD release had a supplemental picture gallery feature that included more nudity than is the film.

Oh, and Michael Caine makes a very brief appearance.

Quote from: Keebleman on July 20, 2022, 03:02:11 PMYeah, exceptionally badly too.  I expect his participation was the price of being allowed to film at the Daily Express offices.

He turns up again in 80,000 Suspects, another Val Guest film. I think the director just liked him.