Der 27. Tag

Poster tagline: MIGHTIEST SHOCKER THE SCREEN EVER HAD THE GUTS TO MAKE!!! 27 THRILLS A MINUTE!!! Nobody could resist this in the American science fiction of the time, but the posters, as usual, exaggerate. This is not about shock and unbearable tension. In fact, it doesn't even play on special effects (unless you count the two second shots of the flying saucer), just a fairly smartly constructed story with a less smart climax. This film is almost forgotten among sci-fi fans today, but a bit unfairly so. Like the much better known The Day the Earth Stood Still, it reflects the Cold War era, when a classic political chess game was being played between the "good" Americans, who only care about peace, and the Russian commie bastards, who only cared about wiping out the entire United States. Cinematically, it’s no cheap B-movie, the settings change frequently, and the visuals are rich in locations. The film as a whole relies only on dialogue, so it would work well as a stage play (it's a adaptation of a novel by its author, who also wrote the screenplay), and only one small gunfight brings a little bit of excitement. I found the concept of putting the fate of humanity in the hands of five earthlings interesting, especially in terms of how they deal with this reality, each in their own way. In the second half, there’s the classic game of "bad" and "good" (read USA and USSR), which may bore a seasoned viewer. Anyway, it's nice to see how relatively big a role Jiří Voskovec got, including the final speech, a sort of warning appeal to humanity that closes the film. (31.08.2014)