On the surface, this little End-of-the-World number doesn't seem to have much to offer a viewer accustomed to modern science fiction films with budgets that are bigger by several orders of magnitude and state of the art computer and modeling graphics to sell the story. There seem to be a grand total of maybe 5 actual sets built for the movie.Most of the action is carried by stock footage scenes which are in turn linked by endless chunks of expository dialog.Most of the "live" scenes that carry the action involve people shouting into microphones or typing furiously on the "calculators". The characters are pure cardboard and character development is strictly by rote.And the whole thing is filmed in black and white.
On the other hand, if you view this 'naively', as if you hadn't already seen "Meteor", "Deep Impact", or "Armaggeddeon", it's possible to appreciate the abrupt change of the movie's story arc from "exciting space adventure" to "End of the World Suspense Thriller", as the seemingly happy escape of the astronaut from his malfunctioning "atomic rocket" leads to unexpected consequences. If you think about it, that was a pretty creative conception for the time. The Eurocentric aspect of the production also gives the movie a somewhat unusual feel, even if the romantic lead is supposed to be "American" (actually, he was Swiss!)
Most of the actors are pretty good at fleshing out their cardboard characters (with one or two exceptions - for instance the little boy obviously had no idea of what he was doing).The direction is workmanlike, and much of the live cinematography is really pretty good - moody lighting, stark chiaroscuro outlines, good compositions, etc.And the editors do a much better job of integrating the stock footage into the movie than many other examples of the genre (say, the original "Invasion USA") - the movie doesn't feel nearly as disconnected and airless as it might have in less skillful hands.
"The Day..." suffers a bit from a less-than-stellar dubbing into English - there are bits of awkward dialog and tin-eared readings that cost this movie at least one star in my judgment. But I've heard far worse, and the problems here aren't enough to ruin the movie watching.
I saw this movie as part of the "Nightmare Worlds" 50 movie compilation, and I would say it is easily the best of the 10 movies I've found time to watch so far.
On the other hand, if you view this 'naively', as if you hadn't already seen "Meteor", "Deep Impact", or "Armaggeddeon", it's possible to appreciate the abrupt change of the movie's story arc from "exciting space adventure" to "End of the World Suspense Thriller", as the seemingly happy escape of the astronaut from his malfunctioning "atomic rocket" leads to unexpected consequences. If you think about it, that was a pretty creative conception for the time. The Eurocentric aspect of the production also gives the movie a somewhat unusual feel, even if the romantic lead is supposed to be "American" (actually, he was Swiss!)
Most of the actors are pretty good at fleshing out their cardboard characters (with one or two exceptions - for instance the little boy obviously had no idea of what he was doing).The direction is workmanlike, and much of the live cinematography is really pretty good - moody lighting, stark chiaroscuro outlines, good compositions, etc.And the editors do a much better job of integrating the stock footage into the movie than many other examples of the genre (say, the original "Invasion USA") - the movie doesn't feel nearly as disconnected and airless as it might have in less skillful hands.
"The Day..." suffers a bit from a less-than-stellar dubbing into English - there are bits of awkward dialog and tin-eared readings that cost this movie at least one star in my judgment. But I've heard far worse, and the problems here aren't enough to ruin the movie watching.
I saw this movie as part of the "Nightmare Worlds" 50 movie compilation, and I would say it is easily the best of the 10 movies I've found time to watch so far.