The Day the Earth Caught Fire (UK)
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The Day the Earth Caught Fire (UK)
We switch to the orange-reddish tint at the end (which we started the film with). The film is in b&w but the first few minutes and the climax have the illusion of color to suggest intense heat.
ABOVE: London suffers under the heatwave... and don't rely on the headlines...
This has some startling images for its time, mostly courtesy of Les Bowie and his matte paintings. Some of the wide London shots offer a near-epic apocalyptic scope (the story sticks to the London area even though this is a worldwide calamity). Arthur Christiansen was not an actor; he'd recently retired as a real newspaper editor; all the scenes in the newspaper office have an authenticity to them and much of this is thanks to Christiansen. Overall, the film is adult in tone; it's not a kid flick. This is thanks to writer-director Val Guest, who strived for realism even with such a fantastic premise; this was his most personal project.
This was Judd's first starring role (he'd been on TV and in small parts in films before this); he does very well as the realistic central character. He's not typically heroic, with some character faults, but shows that with the right woman, he can improve himself. The right woman is Munro, of course; she has some of the most sultry and seductive shots of sixties cinema here - and in a sci-fi film. This was rare. She's also very good in the role. McKern was his old reliable self. BoG's Score: 8 out of 10
THE FULL FILM:
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