THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE

I remember seeing this British disaster film on TV in my youth, and it having quite an impact which has remained with me ever since.

The premise (that a couple of nuclear bomb tests have changed the Earth's orbit, sending it towards the Sun) may be ridiculous, but the main strength of this picture is that it succeeds in making this seem a scarily realistic scenario.

This is despite the small budget for special effects, which is evident at one point where we see what are clearly model boats being passed off as the real thing. But overall the director (and co-writer) Val Guest does a good job of using stock footage and matte paintings to portray a world suffering from extreme weather, especially (of course) heat.

It’s a clever idea to have the entire tale be told from the point of view of journalists because it helps give the unfolding events a veneer of verisimilitude.  

An actual newspaper editor plays the fictional editor, and I thought he was (as one would hope) convincing in the part, so I was amused to learn that apparently he had great difficulty remembering his lines.

Janet Munro gives a sparky performance as Jeannie Craig, a woman who works for the Met Office and who develops a romance with the lead protagonist, reporter Peter Stenning.

Leo McKern also provides solid support as a journalist who has a sprinkling of scientific knowledge.

Which brings me to Edward Judd who plays Peter Stenning.  This was his first lead role in a major film and it’s no great surprise to me that this performance didn’t provide the launchpad for his career to take off to greater things. 

It’s not so much that he’s bad but that I found his screen presence unattractive, he just seems sour and miserable throughout, beyond what the role requires.

This problem is compounded by the film being, as one contemporary critic noted, "exhaustively talkative", and containing a seemingly endless supply of what another critic called "fatalistic quips".  

As a result I found the relentless pace of the dialogue wearisome.  Judging by this film and the only other Val Guest production I've seen (‘Jigsaw’) he didn’t have the knack of allowing his films to breathe.  

Notwithstanding this though, the film is well-made and in these days of concern about climate change it still packs a punch. 

RATING: ✓ Cheers