The 27th Day
Encyclopedia
The 27th Day is a 1957 science fiction film
from Columbia Pictures
. It was directed by William Asher
, produced by Helen Ainsworth
, and the screenplay was written by John Mantley
, who also wrote the original novel. The cast includes Gene Barry
and Valerie French
.
This was a low budget film with little action and few special effects, with the shot of the alien spacecraft being reused footage of the flying saucer from Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers
. Instead the story focuses on dialogue.
Su Tan, German physicist
Klaus Bechner, and Soviet
soldier Ivan Godofsky – are plucked from their everyday lives and transported to a spacecraft. There they are confronted by a humanoid
calling himself "The Alien", who explains that he is the representative from a world orbiting a sun about to go nova
. Needing a new world within the next 35 days yet prohibited by their moral code from killing intelligent life, he provides each of the five with sets of three capsules, each capable of destroying all human life within a 3,000-mile diameter, with the expectation that humans will use the capsules to obliterate themselves, leaving the planet free for alien colonization. The capsules are distributed in containers that can only be opened by the thought waves of the person to whom they were given, but the capsules themselves can be used by anyone over the next 27 days, after which they will be rendered inert.
Returned to Earth, Eve throws her capsules into the English Channel and books a flight to Clark's hometown of Los Angeles. Su Tan chooses to commit suicide, causing her capsules to self-destruct
. The others go about their daily tasks undisturbed until the next day, when The Alien commandeers all electronic communications and reveals the existence of the capsules to the world. Overhearing the broadcast while on a trip to the United States. Bechner is hit by a car while crossing the street and is taken to the hospital with a concussion, while Godofsky is detained by his superiors. Arriving in Los Angeles, Eve is met at the airport by a now-disguised Clark, who takes her to a closed race track
where they can hide undetected. Godofsky is interviewed by a general who, dissatisfied with the private's vague orders, orders him subjected to interrogation to discover the truth.
In the days that follow, panic over the situation grows. Repeated beatings leave Godofsky in a state of shock, while a recovering Beckner also refuses to reveal the details of the Alien's plan. After two Communist agents
posing as doctors nearly succeed in assassinating Beckner and an innocent man who looked like Clark is killed by a mob, Clark and Eve reveal themselves and are taken into custody. Through the application of sodium pentothal
to an ailing Godofsky, the Soviet leadership discover the Alien's plan and gain access to his capsules. The resulting announcement fuels global anxiety, and prompt the other three to cooperate with the U.S. government. Confronted with a Soviet ultimatum to withdraw all military forces back to the United States, the government tests one of Beckner's capsules to verify the threat. This is tried on a dying volunteer who is on a raft in an empty part of the ocean. After the test subject is vaporized, the U.S. begins withdrawing its forces from throughout the world.
On board a destroyer
as a deterrent against the launch of the Soviet capsules, Beckner, Clark, and Eve discuss their concerns that the Soviets will launch them at the last minute, thus avoiding retaliation. Determined to find another way, Beckner studies the remaining capsules and discovers a mathematical code imprinted on them. As the Soviet general prepares to deploy the capsules, Godofsky attacks him, causing the general to drop the capsules from his balcony onto the ground below. As the general rushes outside to retrieve them, Beckner simultaneously launches both his remaining capsules and the ones from Clark's container, having deciphered the code and discovered that the capsules are programmable. The capsules blanket the world with a high-pitched noise that kills every "known enemy of human freedom". In the aftermath, a united humanity invites the aliens to coexist peacefully with them on the Earth. It turns out to have all been a test. The Alien's sun is stable and he invites the people of Earth to join the Galactic Federation, which they immediately do.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
from Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
. It was directed by William Asher
William Asher
William Asher is an American television and film producer, film director, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prolific early directors in the budding television industry, producing or directing over two dozen of the leading television series.With television in its infancy, he introduced the...
, produced by Helen Ainsworth
Helen Ainsworth
Helen Ainsworth , also known as Cupid Ainsworth, was a stage and motion picture actress. She went to Hollywood in the 1920s as an agent, and she helped a number of actors attain stardom: Guy Madison, Marilyn Monroe, Rhonda Fleming, Carol Channing and Howard Keel, among others.-Actress:* The Lady Is...
, and the screenplay was written by John Mantley
John Mantley
John Truman Mantley was a Canadian theatrical actor, writer, director, screenwriter and producer of the long-running television series, Gunsmoke, and was Mary Pickford's cousin.-Family:Mantley had a sister, eleven years older than himself, who taught dancing well into her eighties...
, who also wrote the original novel. The cast includes Gene Barry
Gene Barry
Gene Barry was an American stage, screen, and television actor. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films The Atomic City and The War of The Worlds and for his portrayal of the title character in the TV series Bat Masterson, among many roles.-Personal life:Barry was born...
and Valerie French
Valerie French (actress)
Valerie French was a British film actress and later stage actress beginning in the 1950s.-Career:Born Valerie Harrison in London, England, French entered into film acting in her early 20s, with her first film appearance being in the 1954 film Maddalena...
.
This was a low budget film with little action and few special effects, with the shot of the alien spacecraft being reused footage of the flying saucer from Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is an American black and white science fiction film, directed by Fred F. Sears and released by Columbia Pictures. The film is also known as Invasion of the Flying Saucers. It was ostensibly suggested by the non-fiction work Flying Saucers from Outer Space by Donald...
. Instead the story focuses on dialogue.
Plot summary
Five people – Englishwoman Evelyn Wingate, American reporter Jonathan Clark, Chinese peasantPeasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
Su Tan, German physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
Klaus Bechner, and Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
soldier Ivan Godofsky – are plucked from their everyday lives and transported to a spacecraft. There they are confronted by a humanoid
Humanoid
A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it...
calling himself "The Alien", who explains that he is the representative from a world orbiting a sun about to go nova
Nova
A nova is a cataclysmic nuclear explosion in a star caused by the accretion of hydrogen on to the surface of a white dwarf star, which ignites and starts nuclear fusion in a runaway manner...
. Needing a new world within the next 35 days yet prohibited by their moral code from killing intelligent life, he provides each of the five with sets of three capsules, each capable of destroying all human life within a 3,000-mile diameter, with the expectation that humans will use the capsules to obliterate themselves, leaving the planet free for alien colonization. The capsules are distributed in containers that can only be opened by the thought waves of the person to whom they were given, but the capsules themselves can be used by anyone over the next 27 days, after which they will be rendered inert.
Returned to Earth, Eve throws her capsules into the English Channel and books a flight to Clark's hometown of Los Angeles. Su Tan chooses to commit suicide, causing her capsules to self-destruct
Self-destruct
A self-destruct is a mechanism which causes a device to destroy itself under a predefined set of circumstances.Self-destruct mechanisms are also found on devices and systems where malfunction could endanger large numbers of people...
. The others go about their daily tasks undisturbed until the next day, when The Alien commandeers all electronic communications and reveals the existence of the capsules to the world. Overhearing the broadcast while on a trip to the United States. Bechner is hit by a car while crossing the street and is taken to the hospital with a concussion, while Godofsky is detained by his superiors. Arriving in Los Angeles, Eve is met at the airport by a now-disguised Clark, who takes her to a closed race track
Race track
A race track is a purpose-built facility for racing of animals , automobiles, motorcycles or athletes. A race track may also feature grandstands or concourses. Some motorsport tracks are called speedways.A racetrack is a permanent facility or building...
where they can hide undetected. Godofsky is interviewed by a general who, dissatisfied with the private's vague orders, orders him subjected to interrogation to discover the truth.
In the days that follow, panic over the situation grows. Repeated beatings leave Godofsky in a state of shock, while a recovering Beckner also refuses to reveal the details of the Alien's plan. After two Communist agents
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
posing as doctors nearly succeed in assassinating Beckner and an innocent man who looked like Clark is killed by a mob, Clark and Eve reveal themselves and are taken into custody. Through the application of sodium pentothal
Sodium thiopental
Sodium thiopental, better known as Sodium Pentothal , thiopental, thiopentone sodium, or Trapanal , is a rapid-onset short-acting barbiturate general anaesthetic...
to an ailing Godofsky, the Soviet leadership discover the Alien's plan and gain access to his capsules. The resulting announcement fuels global anxiety, and prompt the other three to cooperate with the U.S. government. Confronted with a Soviet ultimatum to withdraw all military forces back to the United States, the government tests one of Beckner's capsules to verify the threat. This is tried on a dying volunteer who is on a raft in an empty part of the ocean. After the test subject is vaporized, the U.S. begins withdrawing its forces from throughout the world.
On board a destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
as a deterrent against the launch of the Soviet capsules, Beckner, Clark, and Eve discuss their concerns that the Soviets will launch them at the last minute, thus avoiding retaliation. Determined to find another way, Beckner studies the remaining capsules and discovers a mathematical code imprinted on them. As the Soviet general prepares to deploy the capsules, Godofsky attacks him, causing the general to drop the capsules from his balcony onto the ground below. As the general rushes outside to retrieve them, Beckner simultaneously launches both his remaining capsules and the ones from Clark's container, having deciphered the code and discovered that the capsules are programmable. The capsules blanket the world with a high-pitched noise that kills every "known enemy of human freedom". In the aftermath, a united humanity invites the aliens to coexist peacefully with them on the Earth. It turns out to have all been a test. The Alien's sun is stable and he invites the people of Earth to join the Galactic Federation, which they immediately do.
Cast
- Gene BarryGene BarryGene Barry was an American stage, screen, and television actor. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films The Atomic City and The War of The Worlds and for his portrayal of the title character in the TV series Bat Masterson, among many roles.-Personal life:Barry was born...
as Jonathan Clark - Valerie FrenchValerie French (actress)Valerie French was a British film actress and later stage actress beginning in the 1950s.-Career:Born Valerie Harrison in London, England, French entered into film acting in her early 20s, with her first film appearance being in the 1954 film Maddalena...
as Evelyn "Eve" Wingate - George Voskovec as Professor Klaus Bechner
- Azemat Janti as Ivan Godofsky
- Arnold MossArnold MossArnold Moss was an American character actor.His son is songwriter Jeff Moss....
as The Alien - Stefan SchnabelStefan SchnabelStefan Schnabel was an actor best remembered for having portrayed Dr. Stephen Jackson for sixteen years on the CBS soap opera The Guiding Light, on which he appeared from 1965 to 1981...
as The Soviet General - Paul FreesPaul FreesPaul Frees was an American voice actor and character actor.-Biography:He was born Solomon Hersh Frees in Chicago...
as Ward Mason, Newscaster (uncredited) - Marie Tsien as Su Tan (uncredited)