Review of The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961) by Stuart%20 P — 08 Nov 2017

Only in the final three minutes does Val Guest's dull and talky Armageddon movie achieve poetry. Which is a real shame, given the subject matter's potential: the end of the world as seen from a Fleet Street press room.

Here, everyone talks at each other without listening, and Edward Judd bulldozes his way charmlessly. Writer-director Guest films everything flatly and even the inserted library shots of firefights and ice storms fail to arouse much interest.

And I haven't even touched on the dreadful performance by real-life Express editor, Arthur Christiansen.