{"id":33438,"date":"2014-04-23T10:48:11","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T17:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=33438"},"modified":"2021-01-06T17:58:27","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T00:58:27","slug":"27th-day-the-1957","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=33438","title":{"rendered":"27th Day, The (1957)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;We cannot hope for disaster &#8212; we merely expect it.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Poster-155x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"155\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-33440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Poster-155x300.jpg 155w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Poster-66x128.jpg 66w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Poster-529x1024.jpg 529w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Poster.jpg 1522w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 155px) 100vw, 155px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAn alien (Arnold Moss) whose species is seeking a new planet to inhabit gathers five diverse humans &#8212; a British woman (Valerie French), an American journalist (Gene Barry), a German scientist (George Voskovec), a Soviet soldier (Azemat Janti), and a Chinese peasant (Marie Tsiena) &#8212; and hands them each a container of capsules designed to destroy all human existence. Will Earthlings be able to prevent themselves from mutual self-destruction, or will humanity prevail?\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>Aliens<\/li>\n<li>Cold War<\/li>\n<li>Science Fiction<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nThis taut sci-fi parable remains a smartly scripted B-level thriller, one which effectively explores humans&#8217; potential for both beneficial collaboration and destructive antagonism. After being introduced to the basic premise of the situation &#8212; each capsule-owning human is the sole person capable (through mind power) of opening the container, which will deactivate upon their death &#8212; we eagerly watch as tensions mount, and the 27 days allotted for this alien-inspired life-or-death experiment tick away. Screenwriter John Mantley boldly kills off one of the five capsule-owners right away, then shifts swiftly between the other protagonists&#8217; scenarios, neatly weaving their stories together into a climactic showdown against time and one another. Sure, there&#8217;s an obligatory romance (between French and Barry), and the final solution comes across as a tad too convenient &#8212; but the majority of this ride is well worth it.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Interestingly, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s3348day.html\">DVD Savant<\/a> is nearly vitriolic in his distaste for this film, which he claims possesses a &#8220;rather embarrassingly bone-headed anti-Commie statement&#8221;; I disagree. Sure, the Soviet dictator (Stefan Schnabel) is portrayed as an autocratic, Stalin-esque villain, but it&#8217;s made abundantly clear that Janti is being bullied and manipulated, and that his compatriots are equally innocent &#8212; so isn&#8217;t this actually a remarkably sane and humane perspective on Cold War realities?      <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Effective B-level sets<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Sets1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Sets1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-33441\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Sets1.png 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Sets1-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Sets1-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Sets2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Sets2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-33439\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Sets2.png 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Sets2-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/27th-Day-Sets2-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>A compelling script:<br \/>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;People hate because they fear, and they fear anything they don&#8217;t understand &#8212; which is almost everything.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a finely crafted B-level thriller. <\/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:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0050085\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=3907&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s3348day.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/reviews\/46500\/-27th-day-the\/\">DVD Talk Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;We cannot hope for disaster &#8212; we merely expect it.&#8221; Synopsis: An alien (Arnold Moss) whose species is seeking a new planet to inhabit gathers five diverse humans &#8212; a British woman (Valerie French), an American journalist (Gene Barry), a German scientist (George Voskovec), a Soviet soldier (Azemat Janti), and a Chinese peasant (Marie Tsiena) &#8212; and hands them each a container of capsules designed to destroy all human existence. Will Earthlings be able to prevent themselves from mutual self-destruction,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=33438\"> 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-33438","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\/33438","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=33438"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61967,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33438\/revisions\/61967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}