THE 27TH DAY (1957)

THE 27TH DAY (1957)

Tagline: Five people given the power to destroy nations! What will they do? What would you do?

(Sci-fi, Thriller, Tricky Aliens) [G]

Note – This movie was not given an MPAA rating, but it would probably be a G.

As soon as I heard of the ultimatum, I subjected myself to a fatal overdose of gamma radiation.

In this one right off the bat, 5 people are taken into space from various nations. Once they get into space an alien gives them 5 objects that contain capsules capable of destroying all human life within a 3,000- mile radius. Each person can open the object they are given with their mind and once it’s open anyone can activate the capsules. Each of them is given 27 days to make a decision on what to do with the objects because after that they will be harmless. The alien's moral code forbids them from attacking the earth, but they need the earth’s resources. To make things more complicated, the aliens announce on a worldwide TV broadcast that they have given 5 people on earth this power, and a massive manhunt is conducted to find them. What horrors await us? Will suspicion, distrust, and hate win the day? 

I am on a mission to try and watch as many 1950s sci-fi movies that I can get a hold of or find on a streaming service. This was one of those movies though that a few people had said was a depressing downer of a film and I never run to those. I really didn’t find this movie to be a downer at all. It is sadly probably realistic, but there are also enough glimmers of hope here to make this a thought-provoking and challenging film. 

This flick gets a lot accomplished on a low budget. One of the scenes is even just footage straight-up borrowed from EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS. The acting is quite good all the way around but both of the females in the group of 5 end up being given the short end of the stick in regards to how they could impact the storyline.  Valerie French plays Eve Wingate and she does a good job in the role getting plenty of dialog, but her character could have been so much more with a better script. We also get a bit of Maria McClay who plays Su Tan. I would have liked to see more of the plot involving her since she is one of the 5 who gets an object from the alien but let’s just say, she wasn’t even in the credits for the movie. Bloody Hell. 

Regarding the rest of the cast, Gene Barry gets the role of Jonathan Clark and does well in this, but ultimately factors less into the final plot than I had expected. Barry is best known for his role in THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. Arnold Moss plays the “The Alien” in this and is spot on with his directness and lack of emotion for the role. George Voskovec does a great job as Prof. Klaus Bechner who factors way more into everything in this movie than I thought he would. Paul Birch also gets a role in this as the Admiral. I recognized Birch because he’s been in several sci-fi movies including QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE, THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES, and a few others. German actor Stefan Schnabel also does a great job playing a Soviet General in this. 

Overall this is a pretty solid movie with decent pacing that keeps you wondering the entire time. I think some people liked the ending better than I did, but it’s not bad by any means. I guess I was more caught off guard than anything and that can be fun sometimes. 

I have to give this one a 5 out of 7. It was a cool story, but when I break this thing down, I would have liked to have seen better a better plot for both the lead females in the movie. If you watch this thing it will be pretty obvious what my complaint is. A few subtle changes could have made this a 6 or a 7.
 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF ROMSON PRODUCTIONS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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