{"id":24216,"date":"2012-02-21T10:59:32","date_gmt":"2012-02-21T17:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=24216"},"modified":"2023-09-16T10:11:34","modified_gmt":"2023-09-16T17:11:34","slug":"day-the-world-ended-1955","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=24216","title":{"rendered":"Day the World Ended (1955)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;There are two forms of life fighting for survival in this valley, and only one of them can win; it&#8217;s got to be us.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Poster-189x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"189\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-24220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Poster-189x300.jpg 189w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Poster-80x128.jpg 80w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Poster.jpg 379w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 189px) 100vw, 189px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAfter atomic warfare leaves most of the world dead, a rancher (Paul Birch), his grown daughter (Lori Nelson), a geologist (Richard Denning), a con (Mike Connors) and his moll (Adele Jurgens), a miner (Raymond Hatton) with a donkey, and an atomically scarred victim (Paul Dubov) struggle to survive while battling against unseen mutant forces.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mutant Monsters<\/li>\n<li>Nuclear Holocaust<\/li>\n<li>Ranchers<\/li>\n<li>Roger Corman Films<\/li>\n<li>Science Fiction<\/li>\n<li>Survival<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary labels this post-apocalyptic survival tale &#8220;the first and best of Roger Corman&#8217;s fifties sci-fi films&#8221;, but I don&#8217;t quite agree with his second assertion; Corman&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=15211\"><em>Not of This Earth<\/em> (1957)<\/a> &#8212; about alien vampiric forces invading Southern California &#8212; holds my vote as his most creative and enjoyable outing in this genre. Nonetheless, <em>Day the World Ended<\/em> &#8212; which Peary posits is essentially &#8220;a combination of <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=36850\"><em>Key Largo<\/em><\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=769\"><em>Five<\/em><\/a>&#8221; &#8212; does have &#8220;a couple of scary scenes, good atmosphere, and a smart ending&#8221;. It&#8217;s especially interesting, as always, to see how Corman is able to make judicious use of his ultra-low budget: here, he effectively utilizes fog, shadows, and sound effects to forebode threatening forces, while pitting a conveniently motley crew of survivors against one another in claustrophobic quarters. Once the mutant monster (Paul Blaisdell) actually appears on-screen, the tone of the film suddenly turns undeniably silly:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Monster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Monster-1024x570.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"356\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-58015\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Monster-1024x570.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Monster-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Monster-128x71.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Monster-768x428.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Monster-1536x855.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Monster-485x270.png 485w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Monster-1038x576.png 1038w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Monster.png 1593w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>but Corman&#8217;s cast of reliable B-actors continue to take the situation so seriously that we&#8217;re willing to suspend our giggles and our disbelief. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> You may recognize handsome good-guy lead Richard Denning from <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16897\"><em>The Creature From the Black Lagoon<\/em> (1954)<\/a> &#8212; a more &#8220;reputable&#8221; B-level variation on a similar theme. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An effectively told low-budget tale<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Shadow.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Shadow-1024x573.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"358\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-24221\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Shadow-1024x573.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Shadow-128x71.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Shadow-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Day-the-World-Ended-Shadow.png 1591w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though fans of nuclear survival flicks (or Roger Corman&#8217;s films) will surely want to check it out. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0049128\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s1983day.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/moria.co.nz\/sciencefiction\/day-the-world-ended-1955.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;There are two forms of life fighting for survival in this valley, and only one of them can win; it&#8217;s got to be us.&#8221; Synopsis: After atomic warfare leaves most of the world dead, a rancher (Paul Birch), his grown daughter (Lori Nelson), a geologist (Richard Denning), a con (Mike Connors) and his moll (Adele Jurgens), a miner (Raymond Hatton) with a donkey, and an atomically scarred victim (Paul Dubov) struggle to survive while battling against unseen mutant forces. Genres,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=24216\"> 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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24216","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=24216"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91665,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24216\/revisions\/91665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}