The Night the World Exploded

Well, I like this movie, and I don't care what the critics say. It's a low-budget "Monolith Monsters" in reverse, sort of. Unlike the Monoliths that grow explosively when wet, the rocks in NTWE explode when dry.

Yes, the props and sets are cheesy sometimes (the "Pressure Photometer" could use a few squirts of oil), but it's an interesting concept that makes an attempt to offer halfway logical scientific reasons for its premise, unlike the pure nonsense of more contemporary movies like "Independence Day", in which any appearance of logical reasoning is thrown out the window.

Unfortunately, there appears to have never been a studio release of this movie, either on VHS or DVD. Currently, one can find both formats on ebay, but they all seem to be copies of the same TV broadcast.

If you agree with me that this is a movie worth watching, post a reply on the Message Board (there's a link near the bottom of the NTWE main page) and let me know that I'm not alone.

A 50's Sci Fi. Is it good? No. It's not good. There's far better sci fi even back in the 50's. It's a pretty short movie too. Short on length. Short on Story. Short on character development. Yeah I know I am stingy. 4/10.

And IMDB has now made it so a review has to have 600 characters before it can be entered. I really don't expect that to last very long because people are sure to complain about it. But until that happens I guess we have to expect reviews to be long winded and sometimes about absolutely nothing to do with the show in question.

It's really not even worth the time reviewing some of them.

If you're looking at the reviews for Night the World Exploded, you are probably already a hopeless 50's sci-fi addict. But it's OK, you're in good company.

This is actually a pretty engaging film that may hold up to some repeated viewings. Although the props and sets are not as good as they could be, they still support a very interesting story with good production values and some very good B movie acting.

I would actually recommend this film above The Unknown Terror and Flame Barrier. These two are probably better films with bigger budgets but have a very boring script with little to no action.

Also, if you're into 'End of the World' flicks, don't miss Crack In The World - one of the best!!

Entertaining typical 50's sci-fi low budget offering with slightly above average plot line for the time.

However, particularly amusing are scenes in the military command aircraft which used card tables and folding chairs in front of mock-up aircraft porthole windows.

Dr David Conway shows his assistant Laura " Hutch " Hutchinson a new machine that predicts Earthquakes . This machine predicts a large quake is about to hit California in 24 hours and it does . Things go from bad to worse as a series of violent quakes tilt the world of its axis by three degrees and Dr Conway finds its caused by a new found element called " one twelve " which is a highly unstable element that expands and explodes when it becomes dry

This is nothing more than a sci-fi B movie and viewed for what it is it isn't at all bad . It's done in a documentary type way and a massive non prize for guessing this is due to the practicalities of not having a big budget rather than any stylistic imagination of director Fred Sears who does managed to make the most of what little he's got and everything races along at a tight , brisk pace . What tends to bring things is that there is a romantic subplot between Conway and his assistant Hutch who is supposed to be a ballsy independent female but as soon as there's the slightest sign of danger turns in to a blubbering girly girl in need of rescue by the male lead . Considering the period it was made in where the world was split in to two superpower camps both of whom viewed each other with mutual suspicion it's nice to see a film where the international scientific community put aside the politics of the state and work together . Some people might be put off by the lack of outlandish plot devices like aliens and the science never seems entirely credible but I've seen a lot of SF B movies from this era and this is far from being one of the worst