The 27th Day (1957)

Five individuals from five nations, including the "Superpowers," USA, USSR, and China, suddenly find themselves on an alien spacecraft. An alien gives each a container holding capsules. No ... See full summary »

Director:

William Asher

Writers:

John Mantley (screenplay), John Mantley (novel),

Stars:

Gene Barry, Valerie French, George Voskovec

Cast

Cast overview:
Gene Barry	...	Jonathan Clark
Valerie French	...	Eve Wingate
George Voskovec	...	Prof. Klaus Bechner
Arnold Moss	...	The Alien
Stefan Schnabel	...	The Soviet General
Ralph Clanton	...	Mr. Ingram
Friedrich von Ledebur	...	Dr. Karl Neuhaus (as Frederick Ledebur)
Paul Birch	...	Admiral
Azemat Janti	...	Ivan Godofsky

Storyline

Five individuals from five nations, including the "Superpowers," USA, USSR, and China, suddenly find themselves on an alien spacecraft. An alien gives each a container holding capsules. No power on earth can open a given container except a mental command from the person to whom it is given. Each person has been provided with the power of life and death. Any of these individuals has the capability to instantaneously launch the capsules to whatever coordinates he/she chooses, and each capsule will then eradicate all human life within a 3,000-mile radius of its designated location.

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Plot Keywords:

alien | cold war | alien abduction | united nations | race track | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

July 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Den 27:e dagen

Company Credits

Production Co:

Romson Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The glimpse we are given of the spacecraft reveals it to be from another Columbia release, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. The scene was also used in an episode of The Twilight Zone.

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Goofs

When the doctor is standing in the life raft waiting for the bomb to detonate he is standing perfectly still. If the raft was actually in the ocean there would be be movement.

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Quotes

Jonathan Clark: People hate because they fear, and they fear anything they don't understand... which is almost everything.

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Connections

Featured in Monsterama Sci-Fi Late Night Creature Feature Show Vol. 1 (1996)

User Reviews

The 27th Day - An Unseen Gem

This rarely seen 1950's Gem shown right smack in the middle of the COLD war was one I truly enjoyed and such a great addition to my SCI FI collection. Gene Barry again is excellent - so enjoyed him in WAR OF THE WORLD'S, his character this time is one who holds the power of the world in his hands - a tiny capsule capable of destroying the world or saving it - this movie didn't have to rely on special effects, just planting the thought these capsules given to these five people could destroy all life on Earth and man must make the right decision or otherwise mankind is doomed! Good story and cast and I ONLY hope that in 2007 - 50 years past its birth - they release this fine movie to DVD and restore it ! UPDATE: Jan 1st 2007 - TCM showed this movie without commercials and unedited. I hope those who never saw it got a chance to enjoy this rarely shown little SCI FI gem.