Film Review
Having scored an early notable success with
Brighton
Rock (1947), the Boulting brothers (John and Ray)
immediately consolidated their reputation as two of Britain's leading
film directors with this tense apocalyptic thriller. The arms
race was in its infancy when the film was made but the notion of
Mutually Assured Destruction had already permeated the public
consciousness and was one of the most hotly debated topics of the
day. The film was highly relevant at the time of its release and
- sadly - remains so until this day. To borrow one memorable
line, we are still sleepwalking towards nuclear obliteration, and
probably at a faster pace than ever before.
The distinctive
noir feel of
Brighton Rock carries over into
this film, and there are some striking similarities (in the scenes
where Willingdon is hiding out in London) with another classic Britnoir
thriller,
The Third Man (1949).
Cinematographer Gilbert Taylor appears to have been heavily
influenced by German expressionism and American
film noir. His work
achieves a darkly oppressive mood which lasts the entire duration of
the film and helps sustain the tension. Taylor is near the start
of his career here and would later work on some of the most important
British films of the next three decades. His credits include
Kubrick's similarly themed
Dr. Strangelove (1966),
The Omen (1976) and
Star
Wars (1977), as well as Roman Polanski's
Cul-de-sac
(1966) and the first Beatles film
A
Hard Day's Night (1964). He also worked on eight
episodes of the hit TV series
The
Avengers, no doubt to prove his versatility.
Seven Days to Noon also
benefits from an extremely well-crafted screenplay which makes the
moral arguments against WMD cogently without labouring the point; it
won an Oscar for screenwriters James Bernard and Paul Dehn. There
are no big name actors in the cast but, instead, a magnificent ensemble
of character actors whose performances contribute enormously to the
hard-edged realism of the piece. Special mention should go to
Barry Jones, who, as the man with a bomb in his Gladstone bag, presents
the moral dilemma faced by scientists the world over with a desperately
tragic mix of fanaticism and humanity. There are some notable
contributions from the likes of Olive Sloane and Joan Hickson, who
bring a smattering of humour into the proceedings to relieve the tension
from time to time (otherwise the film would be
unbearably grim).
As the film rolls towards its intense climax, we get to witness some of
the most chilling sequences of any British film. The mass
evacuation of London is the nightmare vision that we have had to live
with throughout the duration of the Cold War and seeing it here, played
out for real (as it were), can never fail to send a shiver down the
spine. Equally unsettling are the shots of the capital completely
deserted - utterly unreal and quite terrifying to anyone who has ever
lived in the metropolis. These images have been replayed many
times since in subsequent films (often with a sci-fi flavour) but somehow
they never quite manage to achieve the sense of impending Armageddon that
Seven Days to Noon offers us. This
truly is a vision from Hell.
© James Travers 2009
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
The Prime Minister of Great Britain receives a letter from a government
scientist, Professor Willingdon, setting out the terms of an
ultimatum. Willingdon was the man leading the development of an
atomic bomb, the UR-12, and has suddenly and inexplicably absconded
with one of these devastating weapons. Unless the British
government calls a halt to the production of these weapons, Willingdon
will detonate his bomb in central London, destroying the seat of
government and flattening most of the capital. Whilst
Superintendent Folland leads a hunt to locate the professor, the
military make hasty preparations for a mass evacuation...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.