VividSimon Simply Perfect

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

SimonJack More than one movie was made along the lines of this plot – a scientist decides to turn a deadly weapon against the government or society. I recall at least two others, and each of those lead characters had slightly different reasons. "Seven Days to Noon" may have been the first among the number of films of this nature. But, whether it is or not, this is one tremendous movie. The mystery and intrigue are not something that slowly must be unraveled in this film. They soon become clear. Rather, this movie is made to perfection in the way that it builds suspense and takes the audience along for the ride as Scotland Yard purses the culprit. Will they find Professor Willingdon in time? Will they be able to stop his destruction of a huge area of London radiating (no pun intended) out from the seat of government at Westminster Palace?The plot is superb and one can see why the film won the Oscar for best writing of a motion picture story. But the details of camera work, direction, shooting and other technical aspects are all superb in this film. The acting is top notch as well. The film also shows a well- ordered plan for evacuating London with a few days' notice. In true British stiff upper lip fashion, no one panics. One is tempted to imagine a similar film being made in Los Angeles that likely would show hordes of fleeing, screaming people. This is a very fine movie of suspense, human drama, and detailed police work. The script isn't filled with memorable lines, but I did catch one. Scotland Yard Superintendent Folland (Andre Morell) and the professor's assistant, Stephen Lane (Hugh Cross) are riding in a police car, talking about the professor. Folland says, "Repressing of fear is like trying to hold down the lid of a boiling kettle. Something's got to give eventually."The film also gives a look at some lesser-known but very good performers from early English filmdom. Olive Sloane is very good as Goldie. A younger Joan Hickson is very good as the chain-smoking, nervous landlady, Mrs. Peckett. Audiences everywhere would know her later for her portrayal in many films as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. And, Ronald Adam plays the prime minister here – a type of role he filled in many of his later films and in TV series. This is a fine first-rate production that most people should enjoy.

mark.waltz Not one man, not even one group or organization, should have access to so much power that could destroy an entire city. That is the plot of this early cold war thriller of nuclear power threatened to blow up London by a disillusioned professor. This intense nail-biting clock ticker is just what the doctor ordered to warn audiences of what could happen, and ironically is what has happened. This is terrorism at its scariest before the word "terrorist" was a frequently used word in our vocabulary, because the culprit is threatening to destroy their own countrymen. Sound familiar?Real time photography of Londoners going about their daily tasks is interspersed with the filmed drama, adding much tension to the already frightening theme. The story intersperses the quest to find the bomb and defuse it before its too late, evacuate the entire city (an empty London is a scary looking London!), and the personal dramas of those involved, including the professor's own family.The dramatic structure is aided by an excellent screenplay, crisp photography and an appropriately tense musical score. The cast of excellent British actors seem so natural in their performances that they seem not to be acting, but reacting to the horrors of the story which they are dramatizing. Particularly excellent are Barry Jones as the nervous professor and Joan Hickson as the flirtatious landlady who rents a room to him and becomes an unwilling participant in his quest for mass destruction.

Roger Burke I could be wrong but I think this movie, which I saw when it appeared at local cinemas in 1951, was the very first serious production about the possibility of lone-wolf nuclear terrorism. These days, we probably get a new spin on that concept almost every year at the cinema.So, this film is distinctive for that and many other reasons, not the least of which is the semi-documentary style of the narrative which shows, in exquisite detail, the preparations required to evacuate a modern metropolis in the face of nuclear threat. Obviously, the co-operation of the entire city of London was needed to put it all on film.The title, moreover, is distinctive in that it reverses the biblical myth of the creation of the world in seven days. In this story, the antagonist – an emotionally disturbed nuclear scientist – is dead set upon destroying his world in seven days.It's distinctive also in that it takes us into the mind of the said deranged scientist, Professor Willingdon (Barry Jones), showing how he thinks and how he cleverly evades detection from authorities by his local knowledge, his demeanor with people he meets and by taking advantage of opportunities as they arise. So, it's a lesson in the art of remaining on the run to do your worst.The Boulting brothers use all the best tricks of shadow, low lighting, narrow streets and darkness to great effect. Incidentally, not only are some of the Boulting camera techniques up and down staircases vaguely reminiscent of how Hitchcock used the Bate's staircase in Psycho (1960), but also the introductory, frenetically paced sound track at the start of SDTN certainly caused me an "Ah-ha!" moment when I recalled the opening sound track of Psycho. There is, after all, no greater flattery than copying...Finally, the movie is well-paced over all, with just the appropriate amount of light relief occasionally; most of the time, though, the plot proceeds at a relentless pace as befits an excellent thriller, keeping the viewer glued to the screen. However, it's all done with superb British aplomb and without the need for car chases, crashes, shootings (there is only one shooting) and such like. Along the way, of course, we are given the benefit of the writer's opinions – through the script of course – about nuclear war, nuclear proliferation, the Cold War, national security and so forth; one must expect it, given the times when the film was made.The cast is uniformly good, even excellent, especially Barry Jones. Not to be ignored is Andre Morrell as Special Branch Supt. Folland, a cool, perfect foil to the emotionally troubled Willingdon. Watch for a young – and thin – Geoffrey Keen as a patron in a pub. Special mention goes to Olive Sloane as Goldie who unwittingly becomes Willingdon's companion during his efforts to evade capture. Significantly, and appropriately, Goldie has the last line of the story when – while sitting on her suitcase in the middle of Westminster Bridge and as the All Clear wails across London – she asks her little dog: "What will we do now?"She, of course, decides to walk back home. Today, we, of course, are still wondering what to do about the twin curses of nuclear bombs and nuclear proliferation.Give this ground-breaking, timeless story eight out of ten. Highly recommended.February 18, 2012.

writers_reign Despite a long and active career, which included amongst other things supplying the off-screen 'voice' of Lord Haw Haw in Twelve O'Clock High and creating the role of Socrates in the Broadway production of Maxwell Anderson's Barefoot In Athens, Barry Jones was relatively unknown to cinema-goers in 1950 which made him an ideal choice for Professor Willingdon who, well-shod in London, intends to detonate a nuclear device in its centre unless the Prime Minister agrees to issue a statement prepared by Willingdon. This is one of those British films that DO stand up half a century later which is not, of course, the same as saying they are without flaws - for one thing we never see Willingdon until he has stolen the nuclear device, left home, wife and daughter and made his way to London. What we feel the loss of is a sense of seeing him being slowly driven from brilliant scientist and nondescript family man to someone prepared to unleash devastation on a great capital city. Joan Hickson and Olive Sloan are both solid in support as is Andre Morrell, charged with the task of finding Willingdon but others characters, Willingdon's daughter, his colleague and son-in-law-in-waiting are cheapest cardboard cutouts. Overall the pace is the thing that keeps it interesting, that and the period 'feel' of a lost London. Definitely worth a look.