Day the World Ended (1955)

I really enjoyed this a lot more than I had anticipated. Early Corman films are great fun to watch, as he's just bursting with ideas and is filled with reckless abandon. The film would make an intriguing twin-bill with Vincent Price's 'Last Man on Earth' for a fine night's viewing of post-apocalyptic mayhem...

Former sailor and father, "Jim" (Paul Birch) and his daughter "Lori" (Louise Maddison) are all set to hunker down and sit out the aftermath of a nuclear attack when two folks arrive at their door. He is all for ignoring it - they have limited resources - but she's a bit of a reckless goody-goody and so admits "Tony" (Mike Connors) and his girlfriend "Ruby" (Adele Jergens). Turns out he's a bit of a gangster, she's his moll and he also has a wandering eye. Luckily, "Rick" (Richard Denning) shows up with a man on death's door and a craving for raw meat! Though there is some good news as the radioactivity seems to be abating, but "Lori" - when she's not fending off the unwanted attentions of "Tony" - is starting to hear a voice. Something is trying to communicate with her. Maybe it's the ghost of the writer who died of boredom whilst writing the script? There's a great deal of it, and that really drags the pace of this into the doldrums. The story itself shows mankind in none too kind a light, but that's the way it has been contrived. Quite why "Tony" and his bejewelled gal would have been anywhere near this remote lakeside house is anyone's guess. The denouement, though never in doubt, merely confirmed what I thought about "Lori" all along - a charm free and rather impulsive character who, well... It's not really sci-fi, more a low budget romantic thriller that you'll never remember watching.