(*Actually 1962.) Oscar-winning leading man (mid-‘30s thru mid-‘50s), Ray Milland proved resourceful and game as the industry shed old-studio ways and he tumbled off the A-list. First at Republic Pictures, acting & directing small-scale commercial fare off underdeveloped scripts, then turning to exploitation pics at American International Pictures, where he found himself sequentially ‘attached’ to FROGS, X-RAY EYES, and crocheting ex-footballer Rosie Grier. Here, he directs & stars as the head of a nuclear family trying to outrun nuclear holocaust. Thanks to an early start on a countryside vacation, Milland, wife Jean Hagen, kids Frankie Avalon & Mary Mitchel are lucky to miss the first nuclear blasts back home as their trip turns into a survivalist adventure against the odds and a suddenly lawless populace. It’s every man for himself and every women in jeopardy as The Millands fight, hunt, hoard, hide and eventually kill or adopt when strangers call for help or supplies. Milland’s character is intriguingly off-putting, jarring in his single-minded pursuit of any advantage to help the clan. And if budget restrictions and Milland’s rather basic film technique hold the film down, it's still an interesting time capsule of the ‘Duck & Cover’ era.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Maybe a score that had more than Les Baxter’s jazz-licks and a few scare-cues could have lifted the drama. Or dialogue less mockable than daughter Mitchel whining after annihilation by some mystery enemy (foreign power?, alien force?), blithely asking ‘What’s the matter with everyone?’
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