Search - The Day the World Ended on DVD

Content Advisory: Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1956 Format: DVD SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Studio: Direct Video Members Wishing: 2 Genres: Science Fiction, Horror, Sci-Fi Disaster Film, Creature Film

The Day the World Ended was filmmaker Roger Corman's modest entree into the realm of science fiction. The film begins at "The End"--or rather, the years following an all-out atomic war. A group of survivors find refuge in a well-protected valley owned by Maddison (Paul Birch) and his daughter Louise (Lori Nelson). Conflicts of a romantic nature erupt among Louise and her two erstwhile suitors, gun-wielding Tony (Touch--later Mike--Connors) and geologist Rick (Richard Denning), but these are shunted aside when it develops that the valley is infested with mutated, radioactive animals. Before long, a few similarly mutated human beings begin wandering into view (one of these is played by Jonathan Haze, the future star of Corman's Little Shop of Horrors). Carefully staying within its limited budget, The Day the World Ended is a well-crafted, thought-provoking apocalyptic fable. The film was inadequately remade in 1966 as Year 2889. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Richard Denning - Rick
Lori Nelson - Louise Maddison
Adele Jergens - Ruby
Paul Birch - Maddison
Jonathan Haze - Contaminated Man

The Day the World Ended (1956) was one film on which director/producer Roger Corman was out in front of the curve -- an intense, claustrophobic drama involving survivors of a nuclear holocaust, it echoed Arch Oboler's earlier Five with the racial angle removed and the action pointed in a much more sexually overheated direction, and introduced a horror element in the form of some surprisingly effective onscreen mutations. The secret behind the movie, in the latter department, was special makeup and costume designer Paul Blaisdell, who, coupled with Corman's direction and the presence of Paul Birch, Richard Denning, and Mike Connors (then known as Touch Connor), gave the 80,000-dollar movie chills worth about 150,000 dollars and the suspense of a 200,000-dollar movie. The Direct Video Region 2 disc -- playable in Europe, the Middle East, and Japan, or on properly set-up computers or all-region machines anywhere -- is a welcome release, but also a little frustrating, in that the movie was shot in SuperScope and the opening credits preserve the authentic SuperScope aspect ratio (about 2.0:1), but as soon as the action begins, the picture converts to full-screen (1.33:1). That said, the source material looks about as good as this movie ever has, clean and reasonably sharp throughout, with Ronald Stein's music also presented in good audio resolution. The contrasts are consistent throughout, and the movie looks as good as it's ever likely to. Some allowances have been made for the feature's slightly longer-than-usual running time -- nine chapters instead of eight have been allocated. Otherwise, this release has the same Samuel Arkoff movie postcard package that comes in the other parts of the DVD series, and has the same audio discussion with Arkoff from an appearance in London. The trailers for nine of the movies are also included on the disc. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide