I discovered the movie while TV channel searching and probably arrived at a mid-point. I watched enough of this 1950s B&W cinema offering to be struck by the scene where a guinea pig person gets "vaporized." This poor soul is out on a raft in the ocean. He stands there gamely, even capable of a smile. He waves. He offered himself up for this position because of being in a terminal state. He is tested to see if "capsules" provided by space aliens have their purported power to instantly "unalive" people, to make them go "poof."
The poor soul out on the raft is so isolated and forlorn, yet he is game for all this. And he is "vaporized" with suddenness that causes his clothing to fall when he's gone. Maybe it's the falling clothing that made such an impression on me.
Many years passed and I could still remember the scene. Over that time I forget the name of the movie. This ever happen to you? The miracle of the Internet has offered search strategies that can solve such a situation. In fact, I came upon a thumbnail photo that showed the instant where the guinea pig volunteer had just disappeared and his clothing hadn't fallen yet! Whoever chose that as a thumbnail knew the power of the scene! My reaction was to be expected.
Beyond this scene, I must frankly admit that I'd have trouble sharing with you a brief synopsis of the movie, its real point as it were. I knew space aliens were involved and I knew they had delivered these "magic capsules" to some (apparently) randomly selected people. The capsules could do catastrophic things, wipe out whole populations. And the container for the capsules would only open with the thought waves of the people to whom they were given. All of these elements rather captivated me.
Thanks to the existence of the Internet in 2024, I found I could watch the movie beginning to end. So I most certainly did. And there was the pathetic soul out on the raft, just as I had remembered him.
The plot elements intrigued me even if I was not able to fully wrap my arms around the movie. Having watched the full movie now, I am better positioned to comprehend, to explain. But, with a confession! I will confess I needed to look up a plot synopsis online to get all the pieces put in place.
"The 27th Day" approaches its denouement or conclusion in a somewhat confusing way. A genius scientist can "re-program" the capsules, as it turns out, to achieve a laudatory ending. So in prime cinema fashion, the good guys win! Far out. But it is not nearly so simple. We're encouraged to understand that "the good guys" are the freedom-loving people of the Earth. There's ambiguity there you could drive a truck through.
We all love "freedom," right? Oh but my, it can be such a loaded term. Our ignorance on this front as a nation is what led to our misadventure/tragedy in Vietnam. Our leaders persuaded us to be scared as hell of the "domino theory," how communism might hop from one nation to another in that part of the world. Of course it was none of our business. We needed to lose about 58,000 of our precious souls as sacrifice to the anti-communism sacred cow.
Actually the worst of the Joe McCarthy hysteria had passed by the time "The 27th Day" came out. If the intent of the movie was to build up support for what he represented, it was a tragic miscalculation. McCarthy surely faded. "Have you no shame?" we heard directed at the man. But the U.S. remained vulnerable to the communist-fearing forces/rhetoric.
Hearkening back
And some of that vulnerability remains today? We hear Donald Trump equating the Democratic Patty with "communism," don't we? And don't such statements get traction with a certain portion of our population? Listen to talk radio much? The more educated people have moved on to satellite radio. So that leaves you-know-what. And it's amazing how predictable and redundant the Mark Levin-types have become. The attitude of these folks appears in line with the messages offered by "The 27th Day," the 1957 flick.
Fear of communism is such we might welcome the opportunity to have "vaporized" the "non-freedom loving" people of the Earth. The movie leaves dangling the question: would we vaporize the common masses of citizens of socialistic-leaning countries? Just their leaders? Shall we generalize about the "masses" who might positively accept their systems without being overtly political? Aren't most people like this? Do we want them killed?
"The 27th Day" does not make clear whether it's just the top leaders of the "bad boy" countries that we'd want to see vaporized. Paranoia in the face of the boogeyman "commies" was so intense. We ought to fear someone like Trump trying to invoke it again.
The most advanced countries in the world are a blend of free enterprise and socialism. They really are. Free enterprise is most essential for lifting people up. But a degree of collectivism is called for also. Conservative politicians and the talk radio ecosystem have such great fear of the latter. We must be vigilant lest we see a re-occurrence of the Vietnam war. I am 69 years old and have never gotten over the Vietnam war.
I see "The 27th Day" in its entirety now and the folly of the premise jumps out at me. The paranoia in the movie is disappointing. You might say the movie presents a mirage.
In many respects the movie is truly genius sci-fi. I would not be interested in re-discovering it if it were not. Try to think of an alternative ending.
Home in sci-fi
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| Gene Barry |
The actors do fine.
The producer was Helen Ainsworth, the director William Asher. Credit for the screenplay goes to John Mantley who wrote the book of the same name.
It turns out that the space aliens wanted to test our character. The U.S. faced such a test in the early 1960s with Vietnam and we failed miserably. What would JFK have done? We can forget everything that Lyndon Johnson did with civil rights, worthy as that was, because of Vietnam. I am 69 years old and am quite certain of that.
Unearthing old gems
There is another movie I saw as a kid where I forgot the name in subsequent years. Exploring the Internet gave a solution for this mystery. Eureka, the movie is "Cimarron" starring Glenn Ford. At present that movie is not available to watch for free online. I'll keep checking.
"Cimarron" is about the Oklahoma land rush. Again there is one scene that sticks in my head: where a handkerchief is literally dropped to begin the "rush!" Did it really happen that way?
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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