{"id":1075,"date":"2006-05-07T16:18:06","date_gmt":"2006-05-07T23:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1075"},"modified":"2021-01-08T17:06:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-09T00:06:45","slug":"day-the-earth-caught-fire-the-1961","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1075","title":{"rendered":"Day the Earth Caught Fire, The (1961)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;They&#8217;ve shifted the tilt of the earth.  The stupid, crazy, irresponsible bastards &#8212; they&#8217;ve finally done it!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Day-the-Earth-Caught-Fire-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Day-the-Earth-Caught-Fire-Poster-195x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-29000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Day-the-Earth-Caught-Fire-Poster-195x300.jpg 195w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Day-the-Earth-Caught-Fire-Poster-83x128.jpg 83w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Day-the-Earth-Caught-Fire-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA pair of British newsmen (Edward Judd and Leo McKern) &#8212; with help from an inside source (Janet Munro) &#8212; try to discover the truth behind the mysterious climate changes and natural disasters occurring on Earth.  <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Journalists<\/li>\n<li>Nuclear Holocaust<\/li>\n<li>Science Fiction<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary notes, this &#8220;provocative, first-rate&#8221; sci-fi film &#8212; directed by Val Guest &#8212; is a title that &#8220;adults will like at least as much as children&#8221;.  We are truly caught up in the curiosity, panic, and delirium that ensue as society gradually realizes it&#8217;s on a doomed, sweaty orbit towards the sun, with the &#8220;only possible way to reverse course&#8230; to explode more bombs&#8221;. He points out that the &#8220;picture deals with how people react to impending doom. In the oppressive heat, there is panic; violence; somber resignation to death; [and] deliriously happy Doomsday partying.&#8221; Other than its slightly misleading title, my only complaint with the film is the rapid-fire delivery of the newsroom dialogue &#8212; I&#8217;ve always had this problem with movies about journalists, who are among the smartest characters ever written, but who rarely slow down enough to let us savor their words.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Leo McKern, who solidly anchors the film<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/LeoMcKern2.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/LeoMcKern2.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1072\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Janet Munro as the sexy young &#8220;deep throat&#8221; and romantic interest<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/JanetMunro2.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/JanetMunro2.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1073\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Excellent use of both original and stock-footage special effects<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Natural Disaster2.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/Natural Disaster2.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1074\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Smart dialogue:<br \/>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;[There&#8217;ll be] a delightful smell in the universe of charcoaled mankind.&#8221; <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as one of a handful of early first-rate &#8220;nuclear holocaust&#8221; films.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Good Show<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0054790\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s248caught.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moriareviews.com\/sciencefiction\/day-the-earth-caught-fire-1961.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;They&#8217;ve shifted the tilt of the earth. The stupid, crazy, irresponsible bastards &#8212; they&#8217;ve finally done it!&#8221; Synopsis: A pair of British newsmen (Edward Judd and Leo McKern) &#8212; with help from an inside source (Janet Munro) &#8212; try to discover the truth behind the mysterious climate changes and natural disasters occurring on Earth. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Journalists Nuclear Holocaust Science Fiction Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: As Peary notes, this &#8220;provocative, first-rate&#8221; sci-fi film &#8212; directed by Val&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1075\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1075"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62345,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075\/revisions\/62345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}