MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Prichards12345 Director Val Guest made some good stuff in his time. He did not deserve to end his career stooging for Cannon and Ball that's for sure! I really like his directorial style; he seems to have decided a documentary-style approach was the best way to present outre material; and what worked so well in his Quatermass movies works equally well here.What a refreshing change to have believable characters compared to the one dimensional stereo-types we get today. Having just watched SPECTRE, where the screen writers appear to never have met a real human, it was so good to watch this: well rounded, flawed guys trying to make sense of the momentous events.Edward Judd usually played slightly disagreeable types (at least in most of the movies I've seen him in) and this is no exception. He plays a journalist at the Daily Express who stumbles upon a story that the world is about to end due to twin nuclear missile tests forcing the earth from its orbit, and he does it very well. Slacking off as he's depressed over the failure of his marriage and only able to see his kid for a few hours once a week, hitting the bottle a bit too much, full of sarcastic rejoinders and bitterness, I found him totally convincing, much like the movie, in fact.Leo Mckern is also a stand out as Judd's colleague, who frequently covers for him and despite his acerbic nature is actually soft-hearted. Janet Munro has some quite sexy scenes as Judd's love interest, her near toplessness is surely the only reason I can think of for the film's original X certificate. Munro is very good, too.There is also plenty of historical interest as the film was actually shot in part at the real Daily Express print offices. Indeed, the paper's then editor, Arthur Christensen, also has a role in the movie!It's only real fault is the beatnik riot towards the end. This is just bloody silly and was injected only to add some false drama to the end. This movie didn't need it.The film is superb. Hollywood please don't remake it. I don't want Tom Cruise saving the world, or teenagers uncovering adult conspiracy theories amidst ten thousand special effects shots.

Peter Wright I caught this film one afternoon back in the early 1980's and was completely blown away. To say it's ahead of its time is an understatement. It is the ultimate disaster movie but with style. Pete Stenning is the ultimate anti hero. A divorced reporter with nowhere to go who stumbles on a story of world obliteration. Edward Judd plays the role of Pete Stenning with panache. At its heart is Fleet Street where the centre of the London press was situated. Now sadly gone its a reminder of how newspaper reporting used to be that is one of simply reporting the news...no page 3 here. OK some of the production value is dated but the heart of the film is still very strong.

oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx I had to watch this one a couple of times to get my feelings straight on it. It's ostensibly a sci-fi thriller about the Earth being in peril from extreme weather conditions, and a reporter's attempts to find out what's going on behind the official government line. It works well as sci-fi, with good model work and excellent matte paintings depicting London undergoing extreme weather conditions. It's also nice to see a sci-fi film that isn't afraid of being clever, where words like nutation aren't banned.But really I see it as the story of a man who has started to take two steps back for every one step forwards in life. He's distracted by his problems and so coasting at work, putting his job in peril, and he's lost his wife and child to a wealthy man. The peril of the Earth moves in tandem with the peril of his existence, as an external manifestation of his stricken soul. The film is really about saving Peter Stenning. It's a lot easier to look at it this way when distanced in time from Christmas Island and the Tsar Bomba test.What's great about this movie is that it shows the value of friendship. Stenning's given life support by an older hack in the press-room, Bill Maguire, in return for nothing. In these days of self-interest when Kant is a mere ghost on a palimpsest, it does me good to see an example of altruism. Moreso because I've had a similar situation at work, where I was in a sort of existential agony, and one of the older guys who has his own scars helped to put me back on the straight and narrow. He poured a lot of effort into this, and only out of kindness.Hooray for The Day The Earth Caught Fire.

screenman Gosh - remember when Britain produced really great movies? 'The Day The Earth Caught Fire' is without question a classic of the sci-fi genre. If you can get your head around the scientifically preposterous lead that mighty Earth can be knocked over by 2 piddling little nuclear bombs, when the Chixulub asteroid of 65 million years ago didn't even make it flinch; then the rest is plain-sailing.The central character, Stenning, is played with amazing panache by Edward Judd for his first starring role. He's a big, handsome bloke in the classic British way, and brings a commanding, masculine presence that's not unlike youthful Richard Burton. But Stenning is a mess. He's an almost-washed-up good guy fractured by divorce and separation from a son who (as is so often the case) is being used as revenge collateral by his ex-wife. Evidently an established bruiser as a journalist, he is also a very talented writer, but who's talents are almost eclipsed by bitterness and frustration. He is teetering on the edge of alcoholism and dismissal. Actually he reminds me of the Mike Hammer portrayal in 'Kiss Me Deadly' - very much the anti-hero, but with just enough virtue left for redemption. Being big and obnoxious, like so many bad guys, he is irresistible to real women.Stenning is just about kept from falling over by Leo McKern's science correspondent. McKern surely needs no introduction, and brings a solid lump of gravitas to any role he plays. Here, he's a kind of indulgent pre-Rumpole uncle figure and a joy to watch and hear.Third of the central triumvirate is 'the girl' played with feisty zeal by Janet Munro. She will be Stenning's redeemer - if they survive.These three are core to many sound British character players that include cameos from Bernard Braden and a juvenile Micheal Caine.Climate effects are kept simple, which makes them all the more stark and harrowing. Production hasn't been dumbed-down by the usual miniature-work, buckets or water thrown over dolls' houses. At the same time, stock newsreel of equal quality has been seamlessly grafted in. The spell is never broken by crass editing.But the real topper here is the script. Val Guest has brought us a sharp and witty dialogue that never lets up. It is surely the cleverest script of any sci-fi movie ever, and compares with those of the very best film-noir.Also unusual, and more plausible, is the fact that the story unfolds from the standpoint of the media. Traditionally, Movies of this kind are presented from the view of political, scientific or military experts - who, in truth, and as the movie makes clear, would actually tell us nothing if they could.This movie is what 'The Day After Tomorrow' should have been if Hollywood hadn't sold out to blockbuster special-effects and schmaltz. As it stands, despite its modest budget and lack of jaw-dropping CGI, 'The Day The Earth Caught Fire' is superior in every way.Perhaps the most telling aspect of the adult content in this production is the fact that, despite its vintage, and despite an absence of any explicit sex, or graphic violence, it still carries the same '15' rating as the Coens' much more recent and far more bloodthirsty 'No Country For Old Men'. Very highly recommended both as a thriller and human drama.