No heroes blazing in to action, no American president saving the day at the last minute, just ordinary people gradually realising what the stupidly of man is capable of! The performances are strong across the board and Guest directs the film with a keen eye and a good pace. Peter, recently divorced, shows a particular interest in a beautiful government worker named Jeannie Craig (Janet Munro), and while their relationship doesn't instantly click, it isn't too long at all before they're carrying on together, their romance becoming increasingly more intense as the story goes on. This film together with the banned BBC The War Game, and the film On the Beach, just summed up what we all had to face at that particular time. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness. Title: The Day the Earth Caught Fire Summary: When the U.S. and Russia unwittingly test atomic bombs at the same time, it alters the nutation (axis of rotation) of the Earth. The stupid, crazy, irresponsible bastards! When I was in my young teens, my Parents took me to see this film. A natural amount of film grain appears and there are no noticeable issues with noise reduction, edge enhancement or sharpening. In it's time a classic classic film to have been able to see. Edward Judd makes for a good lead. Kino has also included the archival audio commentary by co-writer/producer/director Val Guest, moderated by Ted Newsom (who sadly passed away just a few short days before this review was written), that originally appeared on the old Anchor Bay DVD. When we're introduced to him, he makes his way from his apartment to the office, stepping carefully on his way through what was once London and which is now, at least partially, a wasteland. Brilliant British post-war nuclear apocalypse movie directed by Val Guest who had previously given us the two Quatermass movies. Use up arrow (for mozilla firefox browser alt+up arrow) and down arrow (for mozilla firefox browser alt+down arrow) to review and enter to select. Janet Munroe is underused as the love interest but this is the 1960s. Peter and the rest of the city's population do notice that the weather seems a bit odd, but they go on with their life. Below, more of my impressions, with some limited SPOILERS. A lot of real news footage is used alongside the drama parts. This makes the film stand out from the pack quite a bit already, but then there's the way that Jeannie Craig is portrayed in the film. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. As he does, we jump from the finale to the beginning, where Peter and the rest of London seem to be enjoying a typically rainy season. There's a bit of dirt noticeable in a few optical shots but otherwise the image is basically spotless, and the transfer is given a nice, strong bit rate here which helps to keep compression artifacts out of the way. With no distracting special effects, no gigantic mutant creatures, no troublesome flying saucers, and not even a hideously charred body, The Day the Earth Caught Fire was certainly out of sync with the rest of late '50s and early '60s science fiction cinema. They've finally done it. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site. What a brilliant and engrossing film. These items are dispatched from and sold by different sellers.