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The Day the Earth Caught Fire

1961 · 98 min

A sweaty, black-and-white slow panic that creeps from newsroom banter into cosmic dread, leaving you uneasy and oddly moved.

Directed by
Val Guest
Genres
Science fiction, Drama
Starring
Janet Munro, Leo McKern, Edward Judd
Tagline
The INCREDIBLE becomes Real! The IMPOSSIBLE becomes Fact! The UNBELIEVABLE becomes True!
Overview
British reporters suspect an international cover-up of a global disaster in progress... and they're right. Hysterical panic has engulfed the world after the United States and the Soviet Union simultaneously detonate nuclear devices and have caused the orbit of the Earth to alter, sending it hurtling towards the sun.

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Stream in the UK
  • BFI Player
More options Data from JustWatch
Directed by
Val Guest
Genres
Science fiction, Drama
Starring
Janet Munro, Leo McKern, Edward Judd
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
  • tensestrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • satiricalstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • survival
  • media
  • corruption
  • love
  • fate
Places
  • big city
  • workplace
Era
contemporary
Audience
teen
Form
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence mild
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action4
Horror3
Humour4
Realism7
Romance4
Tension7
Darkness7
Complexity5
Emotional weight7

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Where to watch in the UK

Stream
  • BFI Player

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
science fiction, drama
Directed by
Val Guest
Written by
Wolf Mankowitz, Val Guest
Starring
Janet Munro, Leo McKern, Edward Judd, Michael Goodliffe, Bernard Braden, Reginald Beckwith, Gene Anderson, Renée Asherson
Music
Stanley Black
Cinematography
Harry Waxman
Runtime
98 min
Country
United Kingdom
Languages
English

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