The Day the Earth Caught Fire opens in New York City in 1961. The BAFTA-winning British nuclear apocalypse film by Val Guest is a talkative, but taut thriller shot mostly in London, and leaving audiences with an ambiguous ending during a time of rising nuclear tensions a year before the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was a hit and remains well-regarded.
This Day in Halloween: BAFTA-winning British nuclear apocalypse film "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" opens in New York City in 1961. / Illustration by Kyo Johnson
