THE 27th DAY
US, 1957, 75 minutes, Black and white.
Gene Barry, Valerie French, Arnold Moss, George Voskovec.
Directed by William Asher.
The 27th. Day is a surprisingly successful, modest science fiction thriller from the mid-'50s. With its B-budget, its limited sets and stars, it nevertheless has quite some impact.
In the atmosphere of the cold war, the film highlights faith in America as well as the ambition and the arms race of the USSR. However, the film is optimistic. Its basic hypothesis is that an alien (with memories of Orson Welles, The War of the Worlds) offers humankind the means to destroy itself without destroying the world; Will they do so? They have 27 days to test out their destructive propensities. Five people (American, British, Russian, German, Chinese) representing the world (three men, two women) have the power of such destruction. Part of the fable is seeing what each does - and each is self-sacrificing. The film sketches the reactions of each quite well. Once it moves into the international sphere it becomes more routine. The final appeal to the alien by the United Nations is full of idealism and hope - but, of course unfortunately, unrealistic. Worth seeing - and, probably, ahead of its time.
1. The popularity of small budget science fiction in the 50s? Entertainment? Message? For the 50s? Later?
2. Small budget: black and white photography, modest effects, international atmosphere? American locations? The conventions of the small-scale thriller? Cast? Score?
3. The atmosphere of the '50s? The cold war? The arms race and the United States and the Soviet Union? Nuclear memories, nuclear fears? The popularity of these fears for science fiction? Echoes of The War of the Worlds and invaders from other planets? Science fiction themes with more serious relevance? The film stirring its audience? Challenging individuals as regards their conscience and behaviour? The final optimism?
4. The choice of international representatives: British, American, Chinese, Russian, German? Men and women? Their range of responsibilities? How typical? Audiences easily able to identify with them?
5. The impact of the basic hypothesis: the alien and the dying of the alien's planet, the need for expansion in another world? The mysterious gathering of the five? Their disappearances from their ordinary situations? The explanation of the galactic situation? The moral code of the aliens - unable to destroy intelligent beings? Yet able to give the power to humans? Pessimism about the human response? The capsules, the way they worked, consequences? The irony of the ending with the deaths of 'the enemies of freedom' and the Soviet example? The United Nations appeal? The 27th day and the alien's acceptance of the invitation - for a close encounter of the third kind?
6. The immediate responses of the five representatives: Eve at the beach, her throwing the capsule into the English Channel? (Yet her boyfriend and people suspicious?) The Chinese girl praying and killing herself? The Russian soldier and his return to sentry duty, his being taken by the authorities, his decision not to tell the truth, to plead ignorance, his being tortured, given a truth drug, willing to give himself in death to prevent the destruction? The cynical American journalist going into hiding? With Eve? The German professor going on his international trip, setting up the accident in the street and retiring to hospital anonymously, collaborating with the American investigation, his own interest in experimentation?
7. The theme of weapons: capsules, ultimate weapons in a nuclear world? The reaction of the press, propaganda? The comments on the arms race? United Nations and the promise of hospitality to the alien?
8. The film's picture of China in the initial Mao period? Communism? The individual and her religious beliefs? Self-sacrifice and rendering the weapon useless?
9. The contrast with the Soviet Union: the soldier, the attitude of authorities, double talk, torture, use of truth drugs? Wanting the United States forces to withdraw from Europe - and achieving their aim with the threat of using the capsule? Questions of deterrence and first strike?
10. The German with the scientific background? His scientific interest in how the capsules work? The U.S. government officials and their pleas? The Pentagon? The risks? The experimentation, Jonathan giving his capsules? The hieroglyphics and their analysis? The professor's decision to test? The test with, the other German professor willing to give his life and his life being taken?
11. Jonathan and Eve: Jonathan doing the right thing despite his cynicism, Eve and her fear? Had she forfeited responsibility by throwing the capsules away? Their hiding, coping - with the touch of comedy (in the vein of It Happened One Night, clashes, falling in love? Giving themselves up? Involvement, risk?
12. The range of reaction throughout the world? Fear, the killing of the man resembling Jonathan, panic, ill-will?
13. Nuclear themes: the arms race, questions of deterrence? Goodwill? The Soviet Union's attitude about first strike destroying all other weapons? (History saying that all democrats are appeasers?) The theme that the aliens have in tensified human choices? Humans like children with atomic bombs? The decision to attack at the last moment because of the impossibility of retaliation?
14. The possibilities for the popular thriller to entertain popular audiences as well as provoke responses?
