Rent The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)

Superb early 1960s sci-fi disaster film. See it before the world ends! - The Day the Earth Caught Fire review by RP

Filmed in black-and-white with tinted yellow/orange opening and closing sequences, this is a superb early 1960s period sci-fi disaster film. Sharp dialogue (the film won a BAFTA for Best Screenplay), good acting (some of it isn't acting - the recently retired editor of the 'Daily Express' played himself), topical even today (end of the world through climate change, anybody?).

The story goes like this: simultaneous nuclear tests at the North and South Poles tilt the earth on its axis and cause extreme change of climate. Later it turns out that the orbit of the earth has also been changed. That's clearly improbable, but the story is told through the eyes of individuals whose lives are affected by the changes and that's what makes it gripping stuff. Humanity is very fragile.

The story is built around a reporter (played by Edward Judd) working for the 'Daily Express', his colleagues (including the always excellent Leo McKern) and the girl he meets at the Met Office (Janet Munro). The glimpses of the 'old' Fleet Street and the workings of a real-life newspaper of the period give the film a realistic feel (although the Canadian accent of Bernard Braden who plays the news editor seems a little out of place). Period details abound: typewriters, carbon paper, telex, Roneo copying machines, printing presses, smoking, Morris Minor cars, a working Battersea power station, Battersea funfair with wooden roller coaster, police in 'proper' helmets and uniforms, CND rallies, boys in short trousers, even the nuclear bomb tests themselves - all give a glimpse of a world gone by, but in this case place the film firmly in a period of near history.

The film ends on a downbeat note with a countdown to a corrective nuclear explosion - and a nicely ambiguous ending is provided by newspaper headlines. Superb stuff - 5/5 stars - highly recommended.

[Aside 1: In its day this was X-rated and was regarded as quite risqué, with a brief glimpse of Janet Munro's chest :) I remember sneaking in to see this at the cinema when I was far too young for an X certificate film. The DVD also appears to be a direct transfer from film, as the original British Board Of Film Censors certificate is still included.]

[Aside 2: My copy of this film came in a Classic Sci-Fi Collection box set which when I bought it was excellent value - you can probably pick it up second hand on eBay]

Brilliant story, dreadful acting - The Day the Earth Caught Fire review by JD

I would like to start with Arthur Christiansen, who was the editor of the Daily Express until 1957 (4 years before the film was released). He may have been a good journalist but he is a dreadful actor. If you tried to act badly it would probably not be as impressively awful. Unfortunately the painfully bad acting ran through the cast with the lead actor Edward Judd (who is he) making a ham of it. The only actor with any credibility was Janet Munro (who later sadly died at the age of 38). Even Leo McKern was not as good as usual. John Barron plays a minor role very well (later to become CJ in Reginald Perrin).

With the negative points out of the way, a great sci-fi with a nice plot based on the effect of knocking the earth out of its previous orbit. It is a beautiful film in every sense with inventive cinematography.

Classic Sci-fi. - The Day the Earth Caught Fire review by Steve

When I first saw Val Guest's sci-fi classic, it was the witty script (Wolf Mankowitz) and the energetic thrust of the blokish Fleet Street backchat that made it so strong. Plus the contemporary doomsday payoff as the cold war powers' nuclear escalation leans into the apocalypse.

But now, it is the astonishing foresight- a coincidence I suppose- of its theme of global warming meltdown, as mankind looks to scientific solutions for political failures. Which today makes it a genre landmark, and incredibly prophetic.

It focuses on a daily newspaper (based on the Express) as it covers the last few days of life on earth in a dystopian London, and in particular on Edward Judd's recovering alcoholic and recently divorced hotshot reporter. Maybe the crisis is a metaphor for his unbalanced, ruined psyche?

Judd and Janet Monro, as the last meteorologist standing, are properly sexy and share an abundance of screen chemistry. The locations and visual atmospherics of an unravelling, burned out world are magnificent, including the tinted widescreen sunrise at the start of the film. It's probably the best ever British sci-fi. But it's much more than that.