I'll start with the spoilers: there are no night scenes in this film and the catastrophe promised by the title is averted. Dr Laura 'Hutch' Hutchinson (Kathryn Grant) at one point suggests that the fissures appearing in the Earth's crust are "almost as if the Earth were striking back at us for the way we've robbed her of her natural resources"; making this an early "green" film. Eight years later in 'Crack in the World' (1965) a mining project results in the Earth splitting into two, but 'The Night the World Exploded' knows its limits (Miss Grant's stylish outfits look like the most expensive items in the budget) and most of the destruction is confined to stock footage (which includes film of the bombing of Pearl Harbor).
Fortunately it has a fairly intelligent script and a capable and sincere cast to do it justice; and director Fred Sears again creates bricks without straw. The film probably cost what 'The Day After Tomorrow' spent on catering, but what little money that actually went on special effects has been judiciously spent, and the genuine generator room used for the climax is quite impressive. I'm sure the script is full of scientific clunkers, but most of the talk sounds intelligent enough. I personally know a bit about the Periodic Table, so I'll confine myself to pointing out that in 1957 the total number of known chemical elements then stood at 101. That the next element in line to be discovered is #112 (which was named Copernicium) would mean that this film is set in 1996.
Fortunately it has a fairly intelligent script and a capable and sincere cast to do it justice; and director Fred Sears again creates bricks without straw. The film probably cost what 'The Day After Tomorrow' spent on catering, but what little money that actually went on special effects has been judiciously spent, and the genuine generator room used for the climax is quite impressive. I'm sure the script is full of scientific clunkers, but most of the talk sounds intelligent enough. I personally know a bit about the Periodic Table, so I'll confine myself to pointing out that in 1957 the total number of known chemical elements then stood at 101. That the next element in line to be discovered is #112 (which was named Copernicium) would mean that this film is set in 1996.