The Day The Earth Caught Fire

One of the best of classic British Sci-Fi thrillers, The Day The Earth Caught Fire is remarkable for its time, as the topic of global warming caused by nuclear bombs is one that feels timeless and all the more chilling for it.

Made in 1963, the film begins with a rather unsettling scene (tinted in glowing orange-sepia) when journalist Peter Stenning (Edward Judd) walks through a street in a deserted London. Sweat is dripping from his pores, indicating heat and exhaustion. The story then continues in b/w though starts several months earlier, when Stenning had a promising career ahead of him as a journo for the Daily Express – cut short thanks to various personal problems (including a drinking problem). Given crappy assignments by his editor, it’s little wonder that Stenning hits the bottle even harder, only his loyal mate Bill Maguire (Leo McKern), a fellow Fleet Street reporter, stands by him.

Little is Stenning to know that soon, he will be on trail of a sensational story, though sensational for all the wrong reasons. When the US and the USSR detonate two nuclear bombs simultaneously in tests, it has an unforeseen effect on the worldwide weather. Not only that, but a visit at the British Met Office and a chance encounter with telephonist Jeannie (Janet Munro), who despite an initial run-in would later become his love interest, leads to a shocking discovery: the nuclear blasts have planet Earth knocked off its axis! Earth is thus moving closer to the sun, causing the temperatures to rise to almost unbearable degrees in Britain. A strange fog covers large parts of the country, and water evaporates rapidly. Meanwhile, in other parts of the world, biblical floods and severe ice storms plague mankind.

After an initial cover-up attempt by the government, Stenning and Jeannie leave no stone unturned to make the almighty Daily Express aware of the situation, and Stenning, via an article, leaks confidential information he received from her. The government is forced to acknowledge the situation and calls for strict emergency plans… rationing water and food, and installing public wash-houses for the citizens of London. As the situation is about to hit crisis point and Londoners begin to rebel against the restrictions, authorities the world over suggest that the only way to stop Earth heading further towards the sun is by detonating nuclear bombs in Siberia. Whilst the outcome cannot be predicted for certain, everyone hopes for the big miracle to happen. As the countdown begins, shockwaves around the globe set in. Meanwhile, the Daily Express has prepared two versions of the newspaper’s headline, with one reading ‘World Saved’ and the other reading ‘World Doomed’. A glimpse in the print room indicates that editorial staff is still waiting for the result of the blasts. In the final scene, the camera pans over St. Paul’s Cathedral and zooms in on the cross and apex of the cathedral’s dome – church bells ringing prophetically. It leaves the viewers to guess whether the detonations were successful or not…

The Day The Earth Caught Fire was made when a nuclear threat during the Cold War was very real. The BAFTA-winning screenplay (penned by Wolf Mankowitz and Val Guest) transmits a realistic atmosphere of looming doom and chaos, a sense of the apocalypse if you will. Filmed on real locations around London, like Fleet Street, Battersea, Chelsea and so forth, and with lots of very sweaty Extras desperately wishing for water, the vision of a burning city and a nation in the grip of terror is frighteningly real. And although the Daily Express office in the film is a set, it was copied to the detail from the real Daily Express HQ on Fleet Street, offering glimpses of a bygone era. On the aside, it is interesting to note that Edward Judd, who here plays journo Peter Stenning, played Dr. Vernon only two years later in the Sci-Fi Invasion and ended up in another movie scenario in which temperatures were on the rise!

As part of the BFI’s Sci-Fi: Days Of Fear And Wonder season, The Day The Earth Caught Fire is now available newly remastered on Blu-ray and DVD, with the following SPECIAL FEATURES:

Newly filmed 'Making of' featurette (25 mins)Trailer (3 mins)
• TV Spots x4 (3 mins)
• Radio Spots (audio only) (3 mins)
• Interview with Leo Mackern (SD) (9 mins)
• Audio Commentary with Val Guest (audio only)
• The Day the Earth Caught Fire: An Audio Appreciation by Graeme Hobbs (audio only) (9 mins)
• Stills Gallery
• The Guardian Lecture: Val Guest and Yolande Dolan interviewed by David Keeker at the NFT in 1998 (SD) (blu-ray only) (62 mins)
• Think Bike (1 min, 1978): Edward Judd urges car drivers to be aware of motorbikes. Think once.......think twice.......think bike!
• The H-bomb (David Villiers, 1956, 21 mins): civil defence information film demonstrating the damage that might be expected from a ten megaton bomb
• Operation Hurricane (Ronald Stark, 1952, 33 mins): a documentary exploring the work involved in, and the research behind Britain's first atomic bomb tests
• The Hole in the Ground (David Cobham, 1962, 30 mins): a dramatization of a nuclear attack demonstrating the operation of Britain's warning system for atomic war.