An alien gives five humans from different countries capsules that are essentially weapons of mass destruction. You see, the aliens want to move to Earth because their world is dying, but they don't want to kill all of humanity. Rather, they want us to kill ourselves! If the people don't commit genocide within 27 days, the aliens will politely leave. Cold War science fiction film with the usual alien threat of "get along or else." Not a special effects-heavy movie but, like the best sci-fi, it's more about ideas than spectacle. There's also not many recognizable faces in the cast besides Gene Barry and he was no A-lister. So there's really nothing working for or against the film but its script and that was interesting enough.
Dated perhaps but I could easily see this being reworked for today or any day in the future as I doubt things will ever change that much. Or maybe I'm just cynical. Anyway, on the surface this is a Red Scare film. Certain Types will whine about the anti-Communist message, but that didn't bother me. The two people from Red countries given capsules chose not to use them. One committed suicide and the other was tortured and eventually sacrificed himself to prevent his government from using the weapons. The most villainous character in the film is the Stalin stand-in. And, to be honest, I have to give the side-eye to anyone who has a problem with that. My only real gripes are with the pacing and the hokey ending. If you're into classic science fiction from the Golden Age, you should check this one out. It's not one of the best but it's worth a look.
Dated perhaps but I could easily see this being reworked for today or any day in the future as I doubt things will ever change that much. Or maybe I'm just cynical. Anyway, on the surface this is a Red Scare film. Certain Types will whine about the anti-Communist message, but that didn't bother me. The two people from Red countries given capsules chose not to use them. One committed suicide and the other was tortured and eventually sacrificed himself to prevent his government from using the weapons. The most villainous character in the film is the Stalin stand-in. And, to be honest, I have to give the side-eye to anyone who has a problem with that. My only real gripes are with the pacing and the hokey ending. If you're into classic science fiction from the Golden Age, you should check this one out. It's not one of the best but it's worth a look.