This blog was begun Tuesday evening March 24 and completed the following day :
I went with Youtube Public Domain again tonight and came up with another good one, "The 27th Day"(1957), starring Gene Barry and Valerie French. An Alien pays a visit to five people from different countures : An English woman lounging on a beach, an American newspaper reporter working in his office, a German physicist on his way to the airport, a Chinese lady living in Communist turmoil, and a Russian soldier stationed near Moscow. Each person he visits is hypnotised, and when they "come to" they are all together aboard the Alien's spaceship. He's an articulate gentleman, human looking and wearing a spacesuit not unlike that of The Ruler from "Plan 9 From Outer Space". This film will prove to be a tad more thoughtful than that masterpiece, though maybe not quite as much fun.
The Alien, as he prefers to be called, presents each person with a small container in the shape of a pill box. Then he rolls out his spiel : His planet is dying (and isn't this always the case in these movies?). His people need another world to move to or they're gonna be toast; Earth would be perfect, however, they know that humans would never accept an Alien presence. Though they are technologically superior (and isn't that always the case?), their strict moral code prohibits them from wiping us out to take the planet for their own.
Therefore, The Alien has gathered these five people together to allow them to make the choice whether the human race, and the Alien civilization, should live or die. The boxes he has given them each contain three capsules (about the size of a Vitamin E pill). He explains that his scientists have developed a weapon far superior to anything humanity has come up with. The capsules contain highly concentrated radiation, enough to wipe out all human life in a 1500 mile radius. When multiplied by a factor of 15 (three capsules times five boxes), there is enough to kill every person on Earth. The Alien then goes on a tirade about the destructive nature of humanity, how they've been fighting since time began and how it's led to the logical conclusion of the H-Bomb. "You are now set to destroy yourselves, but your weapon will also destroy your planet. That we cannot allow, because we need it. Therefore, with these capsules we are giving you a choice. Each box can only be opened by the thought processes of the person to whom it has been given. Each of you can open your own box, and no one else. You must think it open; no amount of physical force will suffice. If you decide to open your boxes, the three capsules inside will be at your disposal. You can designate each one for a specific longitude and latitude. The choice will be up to you whether to kill off your entire race, and thereby leave the planet to us, or whether to leave your boxes unopened, in which case we will perish. In any event, we will not intervene. The choice is now yours as to which civilization will continue".
Now, that's a pretty big responsibility to have laid down upon those folks, don't you think? Especially when all five concerned were merely minding their own business just moments before.
C'mon, Mr. Alien! Aren't you being just a tad heavy handed?
Not in his mind, he isn't. He's dead serious, and the next thing the five humans know, they are each back in the locations from whence they were taken. No time has passed because in the Alien's ship they were flying at light speed. The only difference is that now, each one has the box he or she was presented with. For the Chinese girl it is all too overwhelming. Her village is under siege from the Red Army. Her hut is on fire and she barely has time to think, so she runs over to a local shrine and begins praying to Buddah. Then she falls over dead, her prayer perhaps being answered (the reason for her death is never made clear but is alluded to as suicide).
In Germany, the physicist cancels his flight at the airport to return immediately to his university. He plans to study the capsules to see if they can be invalidated, made harmless. He is brilliant and world-renowned, which presents a problem when he publicizes his trip with The Alien and his unfortunate "gift" of the capsules. Soon he will have spies in his midst, doing everything they can to get ahold of them. And of course, the spies will come from.......
Russia, where the soldier has now been summoned and sequestered. By now, you see, The Alien has gotten word of the German physicist's disarmament effort, and has taken over the broadcast capability of all the world's radio and TV stations. Now he's making a planet-wide speech, once again ranting against human violence, while proclaiming the power of his capsules. He's a bit of a hypocrite, wouldn't you say? But worse for his remaining four subjects, he's ratting them out by name and address! What a total jerk. Now everyone in the world knows who they are, which is gonna cause chaos. A silver lining for the Chinese girl is that she won't be around to face it, but the Russian soldier is immediately called to an Imposing Marble Office in The Kremlin, where sits a grim-visaged Man in Uniform who resembles Joseph Stalin (sans moustache).
"Vhat do you know about these cap-schyooles"?!, he demands.
The soldier, being a Heroic Figure, feigns ignorance, claiming he can't remember anything about the Alien encounter. He knows that Stalin can't open the box; only he can, with his thoughts. But if he explains that, he will be tortured into doing so. So he plays dumb and Stalin tortures him anyway. In addition, Uncle Joe also sends his spies to Germany to try and kidnap the physicist.
This leaves only the American reporter and the English beach lady free and at large, but their names have been mentioned too, and it won't be long until they've been hounded into confinement. The English woman quickly realises this. She books a flight to Los Angeles, looks up the reporter and calls him at his office. "All we've got is each other"!, she pleads. The next thing you know, they are hiding out at Hollywood Park, a famous horse racing track (recently torn down to make way for the Rams new stadium). It's an ingenious idea to hide there, as the track is closed for the off-season. The two set up shop in a horse barn, and for a while the movie switches into "domestic drama" mode, as Barry and French discuss what would happen if they became the only two people left on Earth.
I'm not gonna tell you every hook, line and sinker as I did with "Indestructible Man" yesterday, because I wanna do a CSUN walk and then some dusting inside my Tiny Apartment. But, I will say that Barry and French will eventually have to leave their hideout. The German physicist will work tirelessly to find a way to disable the capsules, and the brave Russian soldier will.........ahh, that I can't tell you.
One thing I forgot to mention has to do with the movie's title : you see, if the five subjects can keep from opening their boxes, or being forced to open them, for twenty seven days, the radiation inside the capsules will expire and the human race will be saved. In turn, The Alien and his civilisation will die. So there are a number of possible outcomes, and a twist that you'll never see coming. There isn't a lot of action in "The 27th Day", much of the dialogue is doomsday-based philosophy, and in that respect it resembles an extended episode of "The Twilight Zone". For saucer movie fans, though, there are some good special effects and "military hardware" scenes toward the end. Once again you have some cool L.A. locations, especially Hollywood Park, and once again you have a near perfect print shot in glorious black and white. "The 27th Day" wasn't quite the All Out Blast we had with "Indestructible Man", but it was a good 'un nonetheless. Last night I was gonna give it Two Solid Thumbs Up, but today upon reflection I think it was better than that, so let's up it a grade and give it Two Big Thumbs. For what it lacks in energy it makes up for in original ideas. Give it a watch and let's keep going with the Public Domain flicks for now.
Elizabeth, I hope you are hanging in there. I liked your photo of the snowdrops and I'm glad you are finally getting some Spring weather. It's still overcast and cold here (four layers were required last night, haha). It's supposed to rain again tomorrow (enough already) but after that we're finally gonna get a run of sunshine, or so they say. I can't wait to see those beautiful blue skies again. Man, I've never seen 'em like that, just so deep and blue. So that's one positive aspect of this crisis. I've gotta get my drawing pencils out, my Prismacolors. So far I've found it tough to concentrate because of the constant unsettling news, but as this thing continues I wanna get creative as you are doing. Keep posting whenever you can, it always makes my day. :):)
That's all for the moment. Stay safe and well. I'll see you on FB and back here tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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