TCM Pick O’ The Day: Tuesday, March 31st

8pm PST - The 27th Day (1957) – Aliens give five people from different nations the power to destroy their enemies. Cast: Gene Barry, Valerie French, George Voskovec, Arnold Moss Dir: William Asher BW-76 mins, TV-PG

What makes the “The 27th Day” unique from the more renowned 1950s sci-fi flicks is how the story takes a few wild philosophical turns you never expect, especially if you’re familiar at all with the genre. Everything starts out like “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” with one of those morally superior aliens coming to tsk-tsk mankind for our warlike ways as though the reasons behind the Cold War didn’t matter, but then ends in a surprising but emotionally satisfying fashion that avoids all that cynical moral relativism which is not only unjust but cliche. (more…)