The h Day (27t) Movie Review

Despite some outdated philosophy and all-too-obvious preaching about the good and bad guys of the Cold War, this extremely literate film should have most viewers thinking along with the onscreen characters. An alien, piloting one of the spaceships from Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers, gives five mysterious capsules to five Earthlings from five different countries. Only the mind of each human can open his/her capsule. Once open, however, anyone can order the three contained radiation pellets anywhere on Earth to instantly vaporize all humans within a 1500 mile radius. Dogs, cats, and anything not human will be totally unharmed. Twenty-seven days or the death of the holder will render the capsules harmless. All five, even the “English Bathing Beauty” (as Valerie French's character was called in the press kits), want to save the world, but of course some of the evil governments involved have other ideas. Despite flaws, an intelligent film adaptation of the John Mantley novel, still to be published when Columbia Pictures purchased the rights. Mantley is credited for the screenplay.

1957 75m/B Gene Barry, Valerie French, George Voskovec, Arnold Moss, Stefan Schnabel, Ralph Clanton, Friedrich Ledebur, Mari Tsien, Azenath Jani; D: William Asher; W: John Mantley; C: Henry Freulich. VHS MOV, MLB