DAY THE WORLD ENDED

Mike Connors and Adele Jergens

DAY THE WORLD ENDED (1955). Produced and directed by Roger Corman. In SuperScope. Colorized version. 

The world has been mostly destroyed in an atomic war. In a sheltered valley, scientist Jim Madison (Paul Birch) and his daughter, Louise (Lori Nelson of Hot Rod Girl), horde food supplies and mourn the apparent death of Louise's fiance. Over Madison's objections, several people converge on the house: gun-toting crook Tony (Mike Connors); his hard-boiled if slightly soft-in-the-middle moll, Ruby (Adele Jergens); the old prospector Pete (Raymond Hatton of Girls in Prison) and his beloved donkey; handsome geologist Rick (Richard Denning of Assignment Redhead); and Radek (Paul Dubov), a man so contaminated by radiation that he's transforming into a mutant who prefers raw meat. Meanwhile, hovering around the house is a fully-transformed mutation who might have some connection to Louise even as Tony makes a play for Louise, Ruby seethes, and Rick does what he can to protect the frightened young lady from rape.

Day the World Ended is an absorbing melodrama which has some surprisingly adept performances -- even Nelson is better than usual -- and a creepy atmosphere. The monster (Paul Blaisdell) somewhat resembles one of the Zanti Misfits that later turned up on The Outer Limits. The characters could be categorized as types, but Lou Russoff's screenplay adds some dimension to them. It's interesting that the hood Tony never touches alcohol, and ill-fated Ruby is so devoted to her man even though she knows he's a total crumb-bun. Several years before Night of the Living Dead, this movie has man-eating ghouls, although in this case it's the living eating the dead instead of the other way around. As usual there's an interesting score by Ronald Stein. 

Verdict: Low-budget yet intriguing end of the world (more or less) story with Corman's customary cheap flair. ***.