Classic Horrors Club

The 27^th Day (1957) is a thinking man’s alien invasion movie, full of almost more big philosophical ideas than its 75-minute running time can hold. However, that’s the perfect running time to not notice what could be some pretty big flaws. Even now I must think about it carefully before I write about its plot points. There’s one in particular that I still don’t understand.

An alien from a dying world, who calls himself, “The Alien” (Arnold Moss), beams five people from different parts of the world to his spaceship (the UFO from Earth vs. the Flying Saucer, 1956.) While onboard he tells them that his planet will be destroyed in 35 days and gives each of them a deadly weapon in the form of three capsules in a plastic case that only their thought waves can open.

These weapons will destroy all humankind but leave the rest of Earth intact. The alien species lives by a strict moral code that does not allow them to kill intelligent life. However, if the intelligent life kills intelligent life, it’s on them, and the aliens can move to their Earth. If they can survive 27 days without killing each other, the aliens will simply accept their fate and die when their sun goes nova.

I immediately thought, “What would I do if I held that much power in my pocket?” But here’s where it gets a little head-scratching. It might not matter what I would do because there are four other people that could destroy the world instead of me. Or does it take all fifteen capsules being exposed to our environment to cause mankind to become extinct? Each one covers a 3,000-mile radius.

Eve Wingate (Valerie French) from England immediately knows what to do. She throws her plastic case in the ocean. Then, I’m not sure why, she rushes to Los Angeles to be with another capsule-holder, Jonathan Clark (Gene Barry.) Asian Su Tan (Maria McClay) lays hers at the feet of a Buddha and commits suicide. Her capsules deteriorate because if any of the five people die, their capsules become inactive.

American Jonathan Clark and German scientist Prof. Klaus Bechner (George Voskovec) connect in Los Angeles and when Eve arrives, the three become our heroes. So, two out of five plastic cases remain in the hands of the “good guys.” But the remaining case was given to a Russian soldier. He’s actually a good guy, too, but when he’s caught trying to desert, he’s apprehended and The Soviet General (Stefan Schnabel) is the definite bad guy.

But… if no one else on Earth knows about the situation, it could all be a non-issue. Nope, The Alien makes a worldwide broadcast revealing all. Now the bad guy can hold the rest of the world hostage with the soldier’s capsules… if they can keep the soldier alive. And if there aren’t enough capsules to cover the globe, it is the Atomic Age and I bet the good old U.S. of A. would respond to Russia’s threat with “the bomb.”

The turn of events sends Jonathan and Eve hiding in a stable where The 27^th Day manages to squeeze in a romantic plot point when he tells her:

A lot of my convictions have begun to wear pretty thin in the last few days. For instance I had a very strong conviction that there wasn’t a woman alive who could make me fall in love.

Everything I’ve revealed is the set-up, like a joke without the punch line. I’ll leave you to see how the rest unfolds. I’m not sure what I thought about it. Yes, I enjoyed watching it, but I feel like it just wasn’t as impactful as the subject matter could have been. A lot of people express a lot of opinions, but the movie doesn’t take a stance on any of them. That’s fine, but that leaves the job to us, and I’m not sure I have all the information I need to make my decision.