The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
British reporters suspect an international cover-up of a global disaster in progress... and they're right. Hysterical panic has engulfed the world after the United States and the Soviet Union simultaneously detonate nuclear devices and have caused the orbit of the Earth to alter, sending it hurtling towards the sun.
- Val Guest
- Philip Shipway
- Terry Lens
- Bernard Williams
- Pamela Carlton
- Val Guest
- Wolf Mankowitz
Rating: 6.797/10 by 148 users
Alternative Title:
O Dia em Que a Terra se Incendiou - BR
Den sidste paddehat - DK
Maailmanloppu - FI
Världens undergång - SE
Le Jour où la Terre prit feu - FR
Der Tag, an dem die Erde Feuer fing - DE
Όταν η Γη πήρε φωτιά - GR
A nap, amikor a Föld lángra lobbant - HU
...e la Terra prese fuoco - IT
El día que la Tierra se incendió - MX
Dagen jorden ble satt i brann - NO
El día en que la Tierra se incendió - PA
El día que la Tierra se incendió - PE
Dzień, w którym Ziemia stanęła w ogniu - PL
O Mundo em Chamas - PT
Ziua in care a fost incendiat Pamantul - RO
День, когда загорелась Земля - RU
Jordens sista dag - SE
E la terra prese fuoco - IT
Country:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 38 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $0
Plot Keyword: newspaper, london, england, sun, heat, earth, global warming, end of the world, disaster, disaster movie
Newspaper editor "Bill" (Leo McKern) is trying to keep his team focused on churning out the Daily Express whilst the Russians and the Americans are detonating nuclear devices all over the shop. When two of them explode simultaneously and knock the Earth out of it's orbit, things really do start to heat up and his reporter "Stenning" (Edward Judd) and feisty switchboard worker "Jeannie" (Janet Munro) have to try to get to the bottom of things. Just imagine the red tape involved as the government officials put up all sorts of barricades to him finding out anything - possibly because they don't really know a great deal more themselves. What now ensues is a mixture of romance coupled with some increasingly exasperating investigative journalism as we appear to be heading straight into the path of the sun. Might there be a way to arrest this inevitability? More bombs perhaps? We'll have to tune into the Prime Ministerial broadcast at 9pm... Made when the cold war was alive and well, this is quite an interesting story that when you strip it back offers us quite a potent look at the futility of nuclear weapons. The drama here doesn't politicise anything, but it does use the buzzing dynamic of the newsroom to present us with a story of mankind's own stupidity and bloody-mindedness. There's a solid supporting cast and a welcome bit of sarcasm in the dialogue and it's at the better end of the apocalyptic drama genre.
_The Day the Earth Caught Fire_ may be a product of the Cold War era, however, its portrayal of climate chaos and human hubris resonates with today's alarming realities. The film's depiction of the creeping disasters unfolding around us in slow motion feels less like a work of fiction and more like a stark cautionary tale we've chosen to ignore—a searing reminder of the fragility of our planet.
