Review – Seven Days to Noon

Though nuclear terrorism isn’t exactly a novel concept in the 21st century, it’s tantalizingly ahead of its time in this British production from 1950. A scientist working on England’s A-bomb program becomes disgusted with the immorality of the endeavor. He steals a briefcase nuke (another bit of radical thinking at the time) and threatens to blow up London in a week if the government won’t agree to disarm. But it isn’t just the concept that’s novel. We also lack a clear-cut bad guy. The mad scientist is sympathetic in a way – his heart clearly in the right place even if his head isn’t – and his pursuers are English genteel rather than Jack Bauer rabid. Even the small touches are great, particularly the eerie searches through an evacuated London. Overall this is way better than many subsequent, more sophisticated productions. Buy the disc (assuming it's available on disc; I watched this on TCM)