British reporters suspect an international cover-up of a global disaster in progress... and they're right. Hysterical panic has engulfed the world after the United States and the Soviet Union simultaneously detonate nuclear devices and have caused the orbit of the Earth to alter, sending it hurtling towards the sun.
Writing
Newsroom banter so sharp it cuts through the heat
Direction
Guest shot London streets like a fever dream
Cinematography
Dyaliscope makes apocalypse gorgeously claustrophobic
Director
Val Guest
Janet Munro
Jeannie Craig
Leo McKern
Bill Maguire
Edward Judd
Peter Stenning
Michael Goodliffe
Jacko Jackson the Night Editor
Bernard Braden
Davis the News Editor
Reginald Beckwith
Harry
Gene Anderson
May
Renée Asherson
Angela
Austin Trevor
Sir John Kelly (uncredited)
Geoffrey Chater
Pat Holroyd (uncredited)
Marianne Stone
Miss Evans (uncredited)
Edward Underdown
Dick Sanderson (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during the hottest UK summer on record (1961), audiences literally sweated through the same heat the characters endured.
Guest insisted on no music score—only natural sound and silence—making it one of cinema's most unsettlingly quiet apocalypses.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
US
GB
