The 27th Day

An alien ship picks up five different people from the five super powers of the world. There he gives each a device that only they can open. Each device contains three vials that have the power to annihilate every human being on Earth. The aliens are a dying race from a dying planet, and even though they can and will not destroy mankind on earth, they will speed up the process of seeing whether mankind will destroy itself. How long is the experiment of seeing whether these five will survive and live without opening the vials? 27 days. This is a thought-provoking film about the nature of man more than anything. The underlying point behind the film is that mankind needs to rise from its child-like state of fighting and killing itself over seemingly petty issues. The aliens act merely as referees watching and waiting to see if the Soviet Union will destroy North America or vice versa. Now, the film definitely has an anti-communist slant(not that there is anything wrong with that)but admonishes all negativity, power hunger, and perniciousness in humankind worldwide. Director Will Asher does a fine job setting up the pace of the story and creating tension. The script, even though very weak in some areas, is quite interesting and full of thoughtful insights. Gene Barry plays the American representative and is good as a cynic. The rest of the cast is also very good with George Voskovec as a German scientist and Stephan Schnabel as a Soviet general standing out. Arnold Moss is the alien and he certainly makes his screen presence memorable. A good film. After watching I kept wondering what I would do if given the same circumstances, and I must confess I am so very happy that that burden lies not on my shoulders! Take some time to see The 27th Day and enjoy!

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.

Grossly undervalued, under-marketed and overlooked piece of Scifi. Intellectually right up there with THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and presenting in some ways many of the inter-racial and socially irresponsible foibles that human-kind finds so entrenched. Made at a time of the escalating Cold War, the film unashamedly picks its sides but hey, its an American production!

I saw the film on its initial release when I was just 12, I could hardly then lay claim to knowledge of all things political, but I KNEW a good film when I saw one. In the viewings since (and it is shown way too infrequently on cable) I have come to admire its message and inherent brilliance.

An alien civilisation whose planet is pretty much the next dead thing (WAR OF THE WORLDS, THIS ISLAND EARTH, etc) looks to speed up destruction of the human condition by giving a representative of each of the five super-powers the ability to eradicate life in totality. For the purpose, an alien drops in with a few vials of 'wipe-out' and hands them out to the chosen five before retiring to the referee's corner to watch the game.

Gene Barry, who played it so cool in WAR OF THE WORLDS is the US agent with the chiselled chin and all the right accreditation. The supporting cast are all good and with hands-on direction, about the only thing to let it down are the micro-cosmic budget-restrictions. It remains though a classic film of the genre and is deserving of a much higher profile than that it currently enjoys. Probably due for a remake about this time.

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."

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.