The 27th Day

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.

Five Earthlings from different countries (including Gene Barry of "War of the Worlds" and lovely English actress Valerie French) are kidnapped by a Klaatu-like alien who gives each of them a palm-sized transparent case containing three silver capsules. The capsules have the power to make millions of humans vanish, without harming animals or causing destruction.

The alien's race desperately needs the planet Earth, but they are morally opposed to conquering it, so they give the war-pron Earthlings the ability to finish themselves off without devastating the planet in a nuclear war.

Don't expect any special effects except for two brief clips from "Earth versus the Flying Saucers", one space scene from "The Day the Earth Stood Still", and a small-scale test of the alien weapon. But the interior of the spacecraft is nicely done. This is an intelligent and uplifting movie, done on a small budget, although it's a bit too talky and actionless for some taste. John Mantley wrote both the screenplay and the original novel. In the novel the capsules had a somewhat more far-reaching (and disturbing) effect on humans than they do in the film. [Originally co-billed with "20 Million Miles to Earth"]

I liked this movie. It was your typical lets see if human beings act like they have any sense if given the power to act otherwise because if they mess up the Aliens will destroy us movie. But what was different was the solution. What the alien really wanted us to do. And that is what puts this movie above the usual movies in this genre. What I didn't like is the cop out roles they gave the 2 females. I am not going to tell what they did but I was highly disappointed. Why even have the two females in the movie if they were going to do what they did. I guess they needed a love interest for Barry. The actor who played the evil Soviet was very good. He was very scary. Barry played his usual laid back self. Don't expect special effect. This is more of a morals story then a Sci Fi movie IMO.

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.