The Night the World Exploded (1957)

PC3's Horror and Exploitation Movie Scale of Awesomeness!

Before I start in on the movie itself, take a gander at the IMDB page of director Fred F. Sears. This dude was directing four to five movies per year, while acting in many others. Some of the titles sound great: Ghost of the China Sea, The World Was His Jury, The Giant Claw, and Rumble on the Docks, just to name a few. The dude was a workhorse. Maybe that’s why he died at age forty-four . . .

Now to The Night the World Exploded. If this film is any indicator, it’s not hard to see how Mr. Sears was able to direct so many films over a short period of time. I didn’t dig deep enough to establish whether he and Roger Corman ever crossed paths, but they’re definitely cut from a similar cloth. The Night the World Exploded is short, at sixty-five minutes, and cheaply made.

Yet, the cheapness works.

IMDB actually offers a detailed description of the film, so I’ll add it here: “Dr. Conway has perfected a machine which he believes will predict earthquakes, and has determined that one will strike California within 24 hours. He and his patron, Dr. Morton, attempt to convince the Governor but he cannot bring himself to declare an emergency when there is no proof the machine works - which, within 24 hours, it is proven to do. More significantly, Conway is getting readings which indicate a series of additional, pending quakes around the world, which also begin to occur; and more still seem to be on the way. With his assistant "Hutch", to whose love for him he seems oblivious, Conway takes his equipment to the deepest point of Carlsbad Caverns, in hopes that being closer to the center of the earth will help discern the cause of the earthquake epidemic. It does, when they inadvertently discover a new element which lies dormant in watery pools deep within the earth but, when in contact with air, becomes violently explosive. Forces unknown appear to be pushing this element surface-ward around the globe, and a computer analysis determines that enough will be exposed to explode the entire world within a little more than 28 days...”

What makes the movie work is that the filmmakers use tons of real-life disaster footage, spliced in with the rest of the film. There are scenes from World War Two and the aftermaths of lord knows how many natural disasters. It makes The Night the World Exploded look like a big budget movie when it’s totally not.

It’s also about as cliché of a 50s sci-fi flick you can find. Especially in regards to the Dr. Conway character, played by William Leslie. He’s your typical leading man of the era—tough, handsome, and apparently so damn smart that he appears to go from being a seismologist, to a geologist, to a meteorologist, to an expert in military emergency response. It’s silly. The whole movie is silly.

Oh, also, this exploding rock they find is dubbed Element 112. Well, that didn’t age well. There are now 118 elements. Number 112 on the periodic table is copernicium.

PC3’s Horror and Exploitation Movie Scale of Awesomeness!

Gore - 0

Special Effects - 2

Nudity/Sexuality - 0

Wow Factor - 3

Acting - 5

Fear Factor - 0

Story/Plot/Originality - 4

Cinematography/Atmosphere - 6

Sound/Music - 4

Fun Factor - 5

The Night the World Exploded received a 29 PHEMSA. Rough score, but not bad considering it’s neither horror nor exploitation. It’s not a complete waste of time. The over-the-top visions of most 50s horror and sci-fi films are worth the price of admission. Especially when there is no price of admission. You can watch it on Amazon for free.