The Night the World Exploded
Encyclopedia
The Night the World Exploded is a 1957 science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 film. The film was written by Jack Natteford
Jack Natteford
Jack Natteford was an American screenwriter. He wrote for over 140 films between 1921 and 1967. He was born in Wahoo, Nebraska and died in Los Angeles County, California.-Selected filmography:* Wild West...

 and Luci Ward and directed by Fred F. Sears
Fred F. Sears
Frederick Francis Sears was an American film actor and director. Though a marginalized figure in 1950s cinema, he created 52 feature films in a number of genres for Columbia Pictures from 1949 to 1957, before his death at the age of 44....

 for producer Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman was an American film producer and director. Born into a poor Jewish family, Katzman went to work as a stage laborer at the age of 13 in the fledgling East Coast film industry...

.

Plot

The film tells the story of a two-man, one-woman scientific team which has built a machine that can predict earthquakes. After predicting one will hit California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 within the next 24 hours to a uniformly skeptical state-level political and civil defense body, the earthquake does materialize and does immense damage to northern parts of the state. Now with the support and funding necessary from the reformed skeptics, the team works on further prediction and comes to the conclusion that a wave of earthquakes are pending in and around the southwestern United States. They trace the epicenter of the pending disaster to an area beneath the Carlsbad Caverns and descend to a hitherto unexplored level.

Here they find a strange ore which, when removed from contact with water, becomes highly explosive, and realize that this element, somehow working its way from deep in the Earth, is responsible for the earthquakes. Though the material is not analyzed for specific atomic traits, it is named Element 112 just because so far, 111 chemical elements had been discovered. A computer determines that in approximately one month, enough of Element 112 will emerge from the deep earth so as to cause the entire planet to explode. A desperate operation ensues worldwide to blast and trench the ground to let water in and cover Element 112, keeping it from drying out and expanding.

Cast

  • Kathryn Grant
    Kathryn Crosby
    Kathryn Crosby is an American actress and singer who also performed under the stage-name Kathryn Grant.-Early life and career:...

     as Laura Hutchinson
  • William Leslie as Dr. David Conway
  • Tristram Coffin as Dr. Ellis Morton
  • Raymond Greenleaf as Gov. Chaney
  • Charles Evans
    Charles Evans
    Sir Robert Charles Evans M.D., DSc, , was a British mountaineer, surgeon, and educator.Born in Liverpool, he was raised in Wales and became a fluent Welsh language speaker. Educated at Shrewsbury School and Oxford University, where he studied medicine, he qualified as a doctor in 1942 and joined...

     as Gen. Bortes
  • Frank J. Scannell as Sheriff Quinn
  • Marshall Reed
    Marshall Reed
    ----Marshall Reed was an American supporting actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1943 and 1978. He was born in Englewood, Colorado.-Career:...

     as The Generals aide
  • Fred Coby as Range Brown
  • Paul Savage
    Paul Savage
    Paul Savage is a Scottish musician and record producer, best known for being the drummer in the Scottish indie rock group The Delgados.-Early life:...

    as Ranger Gold
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