The 27th Day

THE 27th DAY replaces the cliched threat of aliens blasting us lasers with the chilling fact that a handful of earth people have the power to destroy the world. Of course, one is an upright American citizen, the ohter is a robotic Russian soldier, etc, etc. It gives a wonderful view of how these people would be feared, treated and simply how they would react. My only squabble with the film is that the filmmakers didn't hide their low budget well enough. An example there is a scene where movie characters address the United Nations. The close up of the characters is done in a well lit studio, the cutaways of the UN assembly are handheld and grainy.

Gene Barry and Valarie French are wonderful leads. Look for Roger Corman regulars Paul Birch (NOT OF THIS EARTH) and Mel Welles (Gravis Mushnick from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS) in cameos.

1957's "The 27th Day' remains a seldom seen Columbia effort made on an obviously low budget without much in the way of special effects. Five people from different nations are chosen at random by a being from another world who identifies himself only as The Alien (Arnold Moss), his world dying but seeking to colonize the earth to survive. As their species abhors violence they need reassurance that mankind can put a stop to their self destructive tendencies, and to that end each of the five is given a small container with three capsules each, capable of wiping out all human life within a 3000 mile radius (the bombardment of radiation has no effect on plants or animals). Granting them the power of life and death, The Alien releases his captives unharmed, the five all facing difficult challenges ahead for they have only 27 days to use these tiny weapons before they are automatically deactivated. The Chinese girl, plucked from a burning village and without hope, takes her own life thus rendering her capsules useless. The Russian soldier is tortured by his superiors to reveal his secrets, the Soviet leader (Stefan Schnabel) eager to force the West to withdraw from Europe and Asia or face obliteration. German professor Klaus Bechner (George Voskovec) flies to Los Angeles for an important conference, only to hear a devastating worldwide broadcast by The Alien revealing the names of all five people in possession of the deadly capsules, injured by a speeding car and having his capsules confiscated by the United States government during his convalescence. Residing in Los Angeles is hot shot reporter Jonathan Clark (Gene Barry), swiftly going into hiding at a nearby race track after reuniting with English Rose Eve Wingate (Valerie French), the only recipient who immediately threw her capsules away into the ocean. Learning that an innocent man thought to be Clark was killed by a panicked mob, the pair decide to give themselves up to find a solution with Prof. Bechner's invaluable assistance, only 12 days left. The viewer is put in the position of wondering what to do in such a situation, and in the hands of comedy specialist William Asher things remain on a commendably serious level (Asher graduated from features to television, at the helm for BEWITCHED, starring his then-wife Elizabeth Montgomery). The ending is a bit too convenient to be credible but at this point adult sci fi was relatively rare, a welcome change from the more juvenile antics of something like "The Giant Claw." Good roles for reliable players like Paul Birch as the Admiral, Mel Welles as a Russian Marshal, and Paul Frees (seen as well as heard) as a newscaster, but Arnold Moss steals the film. A ubiquitous presence on television who did relatively few features, Moss is instantly recognizable by his Shakespearean voice, best remembered as Anton Karidian in STAR TREK's "The Conscience of the King."

The underlying premiss of this film is quite interesting. Five people are kidnapped by a vastly superior alien race and each given a potentially toxic capsule. These capsules can only be opened upon the command of the owner, but if they ever are then mankind is doomed to eradication. The five are from different nations and all walks of life and once the alien announces to the assembled world the identities of the group, their lives become frantic and unsafe - a predicament they must endure for twenty-seven days if they are to save the population from certain death! Arnold Moss does his best "Klaatu" impersonation as the visitor and William Asher offers us a considered story about how ordinary people - and their governments - might react in such weighty circumstances. Gene Barry leads a rather unimpressive cast, however, and that really lets this decent story down somewhat. He wasn't very good at the best of times, and here neither he nor Valerie French's "Eve" do justice to the intrigue of the plot. The ending, even after a few viewings, is a bit disappointing - but the whole concept makes this well worth watching.

One of those 1950s sci-fi movies that plays out as a kind of morality play. Five people from all over the planet are taken on a UFO and provided with a mega-weapon as a kind of experiment to find out if mankind will destroy itself in a month. When they're returned, each adopts a different method to cope with their newfound powers. Inevitably this soon adopts a Cold War bent and builds to a climax with incredible - not to mention eyebrow-raising - implications. This reminded me of a TWILIGHT ZONE story.

27th Day, The (1957)

*** (out of 4)

There were dozens and dozens of science fiction movies released throughout the 1950's and for everyone like THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL you got at least ten "Z" movies like PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. The movie here seems to be forgotten even by the biggest sci-fi fans. I had personally never heard of the film, which is saying quite a bit because of the amount I read on various message boards. When sci-fi films were mentioned this one here never came up and that's a shame because it's a real gem. The film has an alien from a dying planet giving capsules to five people. These capsules have the power to destroy life on Earth, which would give the aliens a place to move. The humans can determine their fate but sure enough there are some bad people who want to use the capsules for their own gain even though they don't fully understand their power. During the decade people in this country were afraid of aliens from space and anything dealing with the Cold War so this movie combines both and makes a very entertaining movie out of it. There's really not too much "action" that goes on here and the monsters don't have four eyes or green bodies. Instead the monsters are pretty much certain humans who want to do bad in the world. The way the film makes this capsules so important and powerful was a nice move but so is the pay off at the end. The very final thing in the movie is a tad bit too preachy but the message is still there. Gene Barry, Valerie French, George Voskovec and Stefan Schnabel add nice performances as well. When people think of sci-fi from the 1950's it's doubtful they'll think of this movie but it's a real shame because here's a gem that needs to be rediscovered.