An atomic war has seemingly destroyed most, if not all, of human civilization, leaving the Earth contaminated with radioactive fallout. The apparent single exception is an isolated box canyon, surrounded by lead-bearing cliffs, in which former U.S. Navy Commander Jim Maddison lives with his daughter Louise in a home that he has stockpiled with supplies in anticipation of such an apocalypse. Louise is engaged to be married, but her fiancé is missing. Into this natural bomb shelter stumble survivors, who by chance were inside the canyon when the atomic war occurred. After initially refusing to admit them, Jim relents when his daughter appeals to his humanity. Among the survivors are a geologist, Rick, who happens to specialize in uranium mining, and a small-time hood, Tony with his "moll" Ruby, who were on their way to San Francisco. There are two struggles for survival: the first is a simple question of whether the radioactive fallout will dissipate, and if so, if it will do so before the rain comes to wash out what is in the atmosphere to fall to Earth, contaminating the shelter. The second threat comes in the form of a hideous atomic mutated monster, which seems bent on killing anything it comes across, but only consuming those creatures contaminated by fallout. A less obvious but no less dangerous threat is the hidden menace of Tony. Although seemingly charming and helpful, his true character and intentions are that he wants the other men out of the way, so that he can have both women for himself. All three dangers coincide as the mutated monster kidnaps Louise. It then releases her into a small lake, where it is obviously afraid to enter. Rick appears and attacks the creature, but it runs away as it begins to rain. Following the creature as it is being destroyed by the rain, they come to realize that the creature is Louise's missing fiancé. Tony, having stabbed Ruby to death after she realized that he wants to be with the younger Louise, then steals Jim's pistol. He quietly waits to ambush Rick when he returns with Louise. As Tony takes aim, Jim produces a second pistol and shoots Tony dead. Jim has been slowly expiring from radiation poisoning. He reveals that the rain is radiation-free and will wash away all of the remaining contamination, making the world safe to venture out into again. As he dies, Jim also reveals that he has heard voices of other survivors on the radio. After the rain, Rick and Louise, now the final two survivors, walk hand-in-hand out of the canyon.
Cast
Richard Denning as Rick
Lori Nelson as Louise Maddison
Adele Jergens as Ruby
Mike Connors as Tony Lamont
Paul Birch as Jim Maddison
Raymond Hatton as Pete
Paul Dubov as Radek
Jonathan Haze as Contaminated Man
Paul Blaisdell as Mutant
Roger Corman as Nelson, Louise's fiancé in framed photograph
Chet Huntley as Narrator
Production
It was the second film by Golden State for the American Releasing Corp, the first being Apache Woman. It had been announced in November 1954 before ARC had made any movies. James H. Nicholson of ARC thought up the title, then commissioned Lou Rusoff to write a script. Alex Gordon later recalled:
To be on the safe side, Nicholson wanted Roger Corman to produce and direct. But he did throw me a bone as executive producer for Golden State Productions, because I was doing an awful lot on that picture. Not only did I get virtually the entire cast, except forPaul Birch, Jonathan Haze and Paul Dubov — Corman’s regulars — ^but I also did any number of ’other things, down to being the office boy , and everything else! I figured I should get something there, so Nicholson said, “Well, you can be executive producer on Apache Woman and Day the World Ended.
Filming started September 8, 1955. The film's monster was made from foam rubber, claws from a magic shop, and toe nails carved from white pine. Paul Blaisdell created and portrayed the monster in the film. Due to Blaisdell's height, he had limited visibility while in the costume. This caused problems when he had to carry Nelson, and almost caused Blaisdell to drown when the costume began to fill with water during filming. Day the World Ended was the fourth film directed by Corman, and his first in the science fiction/horror genre. The film was shot over 10 days on a budget of $96,234.49. Denning was paid $7,500, plus a percentage. Alex Gordon said Corman tended to not direct actors at this stage of the career. "Lori Nelson particularly needed help ; she was used to getting it at Universal," said Gordon. "One day she was kind of saying, “Gee, Roger won’t tell me anything. I’m doing it the best I can, but he’s not directing me..." But there was no crisis or anything."
Release
The film was released in December 1955 with The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues. The pairing proved popular with audiences, due in part to some savvy marketing by Nicholson. In January 1956, the films were released simultaneously in 250 New England theaters grossing $45,000 from just 2 Boston theaters in its first week. Within two months of release, both films had earned $400,000. In February 1956Variety reported the film as costing $65,000 and said it had earned more than $400,000 and was on track to make $1 million.
Reception
At the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 3 out of 5 critics gave the film a positive review, but it only holds an audience approval score of 40%. It holds a low 5.4 out of 10 at the Internet Movie Database, based on reviews by 1,200 users. TV Guide gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, finding it "silly but fun".
Remake
The film was remade in 1967 by Larry Buchanan, under the title In the Year 2889, the dialogue being repeated almost entirely verbatim.
