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This review is for the Blu-Ray edition of 'The Day the Earth Caught Fire' released in 2020.
BLU-RAY: The picture is spectacular. It's as simple as that. If you are here to decide if you want to upgrade from your DVD then I'd recommend that you go ahead and do so. I'm not sure how the previous version of this movie looked but the picture is pretty awesome. I found myself saying that the movie looked as if it could have been shot yesterday. On my 60 inch UHD television, it looked as if the frame rate had somehow been increased. I can't see how anyone could be disappointed with this picture upgrade. In the commentary, it was noted that the original inks used to tint the picture at the beginning and end of the movie, were found and used in the restoration. The picture is shown in it's original 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
EXTRA'S:
-Audio Commentary with Val Guest - Guest is the famous director as well as writer and producer of this movie. He says at the top that this is the first time he has watched the movie in many years. Guest was very enthusiastic about getting this movie made and it shows in his commentary. I prefer commentaries that involve the director and/or people involved with the production over commentaries of film historian's. Generally directors will give the best information as they elaborate on the choices made and how scenes were filmed as well as giving insight to the behavior of the actors.
-Audio Commentary with Richard Harland Smith - Smith is a very well informed commentator and his main purpose in this commentary is add more information to the previous commentary. He provides much information about the people involved in the movie.
-4 television spots - Not much difference between most of the spots. Here for historical purposes. Picture is in standard format.
-4 radio spots - very little differentiation between 3 of the 4. It's also here for historical purposes. You hear the narrator claiming that there is 'unbearable suspense'. I beg to differ. Don't get me wrong, I love the movie, but I wasn't exactly on the edge of my seat.
-Trailers for 'The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)', 'The Earth Dies Screaming (1964)' and 'The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)'.
-Subtitles
*****LOTS OF SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT*****
PRODUCTION: 'The Day the Earth Caught Fire' was filmed in 1961 and released in America by Universal.
-Val Guest, the producer, director and writer of this movie tried for nearly a decade to get this movie made. After the Bikini island test in 1950 he started thinking about making a movie about bombs. The studio's did not like the idea. He finally got it made in 1961 after agreeing to use one of his other movies (Expresso Bongo) as collateral.
-The most notable actor in this movie is Leo McKern. McKern (Bill Maguire). McKern appeared in hundreds of stage and film roles throughout his career.
-The brief topless scenes of Janet Munro were obviously removed for the American version of this movie.
-Val Guest was awarded the BAFTA award from Best British Screenplay for this film.
-You see actor Peter Blythe early on communicating with Peter Stenning. You might remember him as one of the young troublemakers in 'Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)'.
-There is very little music in the movie. Most of it is near the end when the kids are rioting.
-The female barkeep was Edward Judd's (Peter Stenning) real life wife.
-Arthur Chrstiansen, who plays the Daily Express editor, was it's real life editor for many years. He had recently retired but was brought on as a consultant for this movie.
WHY IS THIS MOVIE RATED 'X'?: The British 'X' certificate means something very different from the American version of the rating. Today, the 'X' rating is the equivalent of 'NC-17'(This was due to both negative connotations of the 'X' rating being thought of as the same as the 'XXX' rating and the inability to copywrite the 'X' rating). The 'X Certificate' was given to movies that were thought to have material inappropriate for children. The British didn't have much issue with nudity but had an issue with violence. American attitudes were almost the polar opposite, whereas violence was OK, but nudity was a no-no. The 'X' certificate would probably be more equivalent today of 'PG-13' or 'R'.
In the case of this movie, the X certificate was given solely for the very brief topless scenes with Janet Munro. Val Guest stated as much. He felt that the 'X Certificate' was not warranted but was told it was because of the topless scenes. I am not sure why he didn't just delete them since the American version of the movie did not include those scenes. Sometimes the 'X Certificate' was encouraged as in the case of 'The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)', it was stressed in the title name, but in this case Guest says he did not want the rating.
WHO WAS VAL GUEST?: Val Guest, the director and writer of 'The Day the Earth Caught Fire', was best known for his films for Hammer Productions. He made 14 movies for them. Many of his films for Hammer were made before the studio became famous for horror. His television production of 'The Quatermass Xperiment(1955)' led to Hammer films changing their direction to science fiction and horror. Guest would leave Hammer and start his own production company in the early 60's. He retired from making films in the early 80's. Guess passed away at the age of 94 in 2006.
WHAT HAPPENED TO EDWARD JUDD?: The lead actor, Edward Judd (Peter Stenning), was 'discovered' by the director Val Guest. He gave him his first leading role in this movie. Judd became notorious for being very difficult to work with. Guest, says that he wasn't much of a problem in his production. He says that the real problem with Judd was that he lacked confidence. After this movie, Columbia gave him a contract but it was not renewed. Judd starred in 'First Men in the Moon (1964)' and 'Island of Terror (1966)' After these starring roles he was relegated to being mainly a character actor for the remainder of his career. He stopped acting after the 1980's. He also did voice-over work for commercials. He passed away in 2009.
WHO WAS THAT POLICE OFFICER?: If you look carefully, you will see Michael Caine at the very beginning of his acting career. He plays an officer near the end of the movie who is directing traffic. He has a brief discussion with Peter Stenning.
WHAT EXACTLY IS A BOFFIN?: You hear this term used several times in the movie. This is answered in the commentary. Of course you could just 'Google' it. Basically it is another term for a scientific 'nerd'. It is probably the same thing as a military man calling a scientist an 'egghead'.
THIS REMINDS ME OF ANOTHER MOVIE... :
-This movie very strongly reminded me of 'On the Beach' made just two years prior. The way everyone goes about their business as the world is about to possibly end is very reminiscent (at least for me) of that movie. The end of the world love story is somewhat similar as well. In both you have a lonely female who has had failed relationships and a male who is separated from this family (though different reasons).
- The kids rioting (or behaving carefree) at the end is a scene that has been used a bunch of times in dystopian future movies made in the future.
-The church bells ringing at the end reminded me of the bells ringing in 'Things to Come' from 1936.
The bells might have been (or more likely) inspired by 'War of the Worlds'. The bells ringing was added by Universal.
- The idea of 'jarring' the Earth into a different orbit was used the following year in the Japanese production company, Toho, in their production of 'Gorath'. In that movie, the world builds giant rocket boosters in Antarctica in order to push Earth off of a collision course with a rogue planet. I'm not sure if this idea influenced Toho. It was only a short tame later but Toho was known for very short production schedules.
-While I'm sure it has no connection, the comment made by Bill Maguire, "The stupid, crazy, irresponsible bastards, they've finally done it." reminded me of the end of 'Planet of the Apes'. Charlton Heston says "they finally, really did it".
-Of course, the flashback sequence, like so many other movies, may or may not have been influenced by 'Citizen Kane'. Also it's noted in the commentary that the two different newspapers idea was used in 'Citizen Kane'. Val Guest says that he was unaware of that and not influenced by it.
THE TRAGIC END OF JANET MUNRO: Janet Munro (Jeannie Craig) had been starring in Disney movies (as well as 'The Trollenberg Terror' aka 'The Crawling Eye' (1958)) and badly wanted out of her 'good girl' image. She had no issue with the nude scenes and Guest says that she wanted him to change her image. She married actor Ian Hendry and had two kids with him. According to Guest, she became a bad alcoholic because of him, or at least she wasn't an alcoholic until she met him. Hendry himself was an alcoholic. Her health deteriorated and she died at the very young age of 38.
PLOT/SUMMARY:
COMMENTS: The movie opens with newspaper reporter for the Daily Express, Peter Stenning, walking down a deserted street into the building of his employment. He begins to dictate a story that has begun 90 days previously.
Stenning, is almost out of a job. He has become an alcoholic, possibly as a result of his failing marriage and inability to see his son. His co-worker and friend, Bill Maguire has been pulling his weight for him. Stenning meets Jeannie Craig, an employee at a government weather office, while researching a story about the strange weather that has been occurring. Their has been unnatural fog and the temperature has been well above normal.
With the help of Jeannie, Stenning learns that two simultaneous atomic bomb tests by the United States and Soviet Union has altered the Earth's tilt by 11 degrees. Shortly, thereafter, it is learned that the Earth is also heading in a death spiral toward the Sun. There is no more than 4 months left before the end. The government begins rationing water as the temperature rises and the rivers dry up.
A last ditch effort is hatched by the entire world. They agree to ignite all of the world's nuclear weapons in an effort to change the Earth's orbit. The printing room stands by with two different headlines... one proclaiming Earth saved and one proclaiming the Earth's end.
BELLS OR NO BELLS?: The director and writer, Val Guest, says that the bells ringing at the end was added by Universal. He intended for the movie to end ambiguously. Whether or not this is a good thing depends on your point of view. I think that many film historians would have preferred them not to be in the movie. The bells take away from the ending scene of the two newspapers with different headlines. This also changes the director's vision. Of course, it is well known, that movies that don't have happy endings do not fare very well in the box office. I'll use Kevin McCarthy's comments about 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. That movie had a framing story added to give the movie a probable happy ending as well. McCarthy says that he preferred the original ending but recognizes that the movie would not have done as well with that ending.
In hindsight, if I were to be given the chance to do it all over, I'd probably add a 'hopeful' but not definitive ending. Perhaps the main star feels a gust of cool wind but is not sure if it is the deteriorating weather bringing a gust from the North Pole or if the Earth's orbit has changed.
WHAT ARE SUNSPOTS ANYWAY?: The movie makes a point of blaming sunspots at the beginning of the movie as the reason for some of the unusual occurrences. So I went and looked it up. Here's what I found...
-The ancient Greeks are the first to have observed them and put it into writing.
-Sunspots are areas on the surface of the sun that have a reduced surface temperature. The temperature of sunspots is between 2700-4200 degrees Celsius. The surrounding material in the sun is right around 5500 degrees Celsius.
-They are caused by increased magnetism or magnetic flux.
-They last from a few days up to a few months
-Obviously they can't be viewed with the naked eye but you can see them with telescopes and/or the naked eye if you use strong filters.
-Sunspots are also responsible for solar flares.
I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE ONE PERSON I COULD TRUST... : Wait, what? Jeannie Craig confides with a newspaper man about state secrets? She says she had to tell someone. She must have been very lonely indeed. She tells him secrets that could land her in jail despite the fact that he is down on his luck and badly needs a story. I just think this part of the story could have been handled better. All they really had to do was leave out the line about her trusting Peter Stenning.
POSITIVES:
-The depiction of the newsroom is the main highlight of this movie. Val Guest painstakingly recreated the newsroom. Even though it looks as if it is a real one, for most of the movie, it is not. Guest did use the real 'Daily Express' building for some scenes but most of it was a set.
-Even though I prefer happy endings, the ambiguous ending helps this movie. The shot near the end of the two newspaper covers with different endings is 'classic'. It lets the viewer decide the ending but if you like happy endings, the church bells ringing gives you the impression that everything works out. These bells were not part of Val Guest's vision. They were added by Universal to give the move the impression of a happy ending.
-The special effects were not that advanced, even for the time but they somehow work. I thought the fog effects looked creepy.
-I think the colored tinting at the beginning and end works well.
-I love all the footage of the amusement park and Daily Express building as well as other area's shot on location.
NEGATIVES:
-I thought the scene with the teenagers rioting was out of place at the end. I think this scene should have been used earlier in the movie. I also didn't like the fact that the kids were just wasting the water for no reason. Yeah, I know they were stupid teenagers but still... What was Jeannie doing taking a bath if water was that scarce?
-Janet Munro smiles way too much in this movie. Her smiling doesn't fit the mood. Especially since she has had issues with men previously.
-At times, things looked a bit too post-apocalyptic. This despite the fact that everyone was still around. Of course, it can be claimed that many left the city to head to cooler climates.
- I didn't really like how the water shortage was handled. I doubt if water was that scarce that people would line up just to waste water taking a shower or bath. That water would be horded. Also, Britain is surrounded by an ocean. Couldn't they just use salt water to bathe?
- Just a point about the commentary. Even though the commentator, Richard Harland Smith doesn't dwell on the subject. He still makes his political views known in his commentary about 'The Daily Express'. He calls it a conservative newspaper and they supported 'Brexit', followed by "make of that what you will". I find it depressing that in many of the commentaries of the past few years of these old science fiction and horror movies that the commentators will comment repeatedly about their progressivism. "Women have very little to do..." "No strong female protagonist'" "(fill in the blank) didn't get many roles in that era"., etc., etc. I realize that there are people that this stuff is important to, but the commentators should recognize that a very large part of their audience purchases these old movie releases for exactly the reason that there is no political correctness in these movies. Those that this stuff does matter to, are already well aware of it and the world has been reminded 'ad naseum' in the past few years. Anyway...
OTHER COMMENTS/CONCLUSIONS:
-This is one of my favorite 60's science fiction movies. Val Guest made many of my favorite movies from the 50's and 60's. They include the 'Quatermass Xperiment (1955)', 'Quatermass 2 (1957)' and 'The Abominable Snowman of the Himalaya's' (1957).
-I thought it odd that the kid fell down the elevator shaft. At this time, we are nearing the end of the Hays Code era and their were changes to the American version of this movie.
-In general, I am not a fan of movies that start at or near the end and flashback. This is just a personal preference. The only time I don't mind it is when nothing is given away at the beginning.
-I thought that a few of the scenes were unnecessary. For instance, the scene at the park where they help the lost girl. I see no reason for this scene other than for Stenning to tell Craig that he has a child.
RECOMMENDATIONS: If you are a fan of this movie, a fan of classic science fiction or a fan of 'end of the world' movies, you will probably want this release. I highly recommend it. If you are looking for a picture upgrade and commentaries, you will find this release to be a terrific addition to your collection.
RATINGS:
Plot: 7/10 or 3 1/2 stars - Movie is a bit slow but interesting.
Picture: 10/10 or 5 stars - Just excellent.
Extra's: 8/10 or 4 stars - Two commentaries, could have used a documentary.
Effects: 5/10 or 2 1/2 stars - The SFX are not that great but effective.
Historical Significance: 10/10 or 5 stars - Lots of nice scenery and scenes from a real newsroom printing room.
Overall: 9/10 or 4 1/2 stars which I round to 5 stars
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From the manufacturer
Kino Lorber Studio Classics is dedicated to bringing you the best of Hollywood’s successes, critical and commercial. All from best available sources, many on DVD or Blu-ray for the very first time.
Superb movie, with one flaw in an otherwise excellent Blu-ray release
4.5 or 5 star film, with a 3.5 or 4 star Blu-ray release.This is a review of the Region B, UK Blu-ray release of The Day the Earth Caught Fire. It is a 1 disc set, but has all of the extras from the two-disc DVD. The release includes the original monaural soundtrack, and original aspect ratio of 2.35:1.The picture is beautifully rendered - pristine, and I discern no graininess, particles, hairs, or specs.The film's opening sequence is tinted to give the image a seared appearance, which lends authenticity to both tone and setting, with respect to the plot.It then shifts to pure black and white, as most of the remainder of the film takes place in flashback. In the final sequence, it reverts to the seared tinting as we come full circle with the opening.Therein lies the only disappointment with this release, and why, despite a beautiful picture, superb sound, and otherwise excellent image, this is not a 5-star Blu-ray release. In the original film The tinting is brick red, as testified to in the extras included on this very release. In fact, there are sequences and images in the extras which clearly show this red tinting. In this release, though, which appears to be an official restoration, the tinting is yellow instead of red. This is a baffling mistake, especially given the fact that a red-tinted version of the film is obviously available and could have been used on this Blu-ray.Nonetheless, The Day the Earth Caught Fire deserves to be more than just a cult classic. It is one of the most compelling Cold War science fiction movies of the 60s, and offers an interesting contrast to the space race and fantasy scifi being released around the world in the same decade.
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