The 27th Day is a rather well-written science fiction movie, and it is a shame that it isn't shown on television more often (or more readily available on some home video format).

The plot is interesting in that this time Earth is beset by a passive-aggressive alien who give five people the means to destroy all human life on the planet (since the aliens themselves are non-violent and non-aggressive) so that they can move to this planet from their own dying world. The alien then informs the entire planet of the five's identities and chaos ensues as both the people and their governments have to come to terms with this new escalation in the Cold War.

The movie is well-acted and the story is fairly solid, though I didn't really care for the way one of the protagonists was able to alter the way the alien's devices worked to bring about an end to "enemies of freedom" everywhere. Beyond that minor flaw, I would definitely recommend watching this movie when you get the chance, genre fan or not.

(There are Spoilers) Cold war alien from space sci-fi thriller that has five people from different parts of the earth entrusted with the power of destroying the entire human race. Being abducted by an alien space ship the five earthlings L.A reported Jonathen Clark, Gene Barry, young British woman Eva Wingate,Valerie French, German scientist Prof. Klaus Bechner, George Voscovec, Chinese peasant Su Tan, Marie Tsien, and Red Army private Ivan Godofsky, Azemat Janti. These five are given these strange glass encased capsules by the Alien spaceman, Arnold Moss, that only they can open and activate.

Told by the Alien that they have just 27 days to either destroy themselves, by opening up and arming the capsules, or if they don't it would mean curtains for the aliens in their plan to make the earth their new home away from home which is to be destroyed by their sun, turning into a super-nova, in 35 days. The aliens who are dead set against violence of any kind don't have it in them to kill anyone much less wipe out the entire human race. In order to have the earth all to themselves the aliens know that the humans, from studying them over the centuries, are more then willing to do themselves in. With just a little push on their part, the aliens, in giving the human race the ultimate weapon of mass destruction, it will only kill human beings and leave everything else on earth alone and they'll be more then happy, by their not using the wisdom and common sense that nature or the lord gave them, to mindlessly self-destruct.

The Alien for some strange reason broadcast, on live TV, the reason for his coming to earth and even more puzzling the true reason for the destructive capsules that he gave the five humans. The Alien also gives out their names and addresses and making it almost curtain that they'll be marked men, and women, by everyone from neighborhood kooks to secretive and shadowy spy agencies as well as ego-maniacal power hungry world leaders. As you would expect all the people who received the capsules become targets of the very country's that they live in but are saved from either being killed or suffer severe mental or psychical damage since they, those who received the capsules, are the only ones who can open, with their individual minds, and use them.

With the 27th day soon upon them the two earth super powers, the USA & USSR, feeling that each of them are now in possession of this super-neutron bomb. With reporter Clark of the USA and Private Godofsky of the USSR, in possession of the capsuls it's now only a matter of time before the human race, with the help of the space aliens, blows or neutrons itself out of existence until the very wise and observant German scientist Prof. Bechner, one of the five earthlings who received them, notices something cryptically etched onto the capsules that the aliens who put it there hoped would be deciphered.

The 1957 movie "The 27th Day" is in many ways ahead of it's time in not being so over-the-top in trying to paint the former Soviet Union, the Evil Empire dubbed by the future President Ronald Wislon Reagan, as pure evil. Both Willing and able to go so far as killing every man woman and child on earth, including those within it's own borders, in it's mindless and mad rush to achieve world domination. We only have the power mad Soviet general Stefan Schnabl and his hand picked stooges trying to have the deadly capsules used to wipe out the entire Western Hemispher. It's the brave and good Red Army private Godofsky, also one of them, who turns out to be the real hero in the film by freely giving up his life by jumping to his death to prevent that from happening.

You get the strong feeling in watching "The 27th Day" that it's message is that it's only the power mad leaders on both sides of the Iron Curtain, not the majority of people of their respected country's, who are the one's more then willing to bring about Armageddon upon the world. These insane actions are order to fulfill their mad dreams of being the first person or world leader to conquer the entire planet

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.