The Night the World Exploded

The Night the World Exploded
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Fred F. Sears
Produced by	Sam Katzman
Written by	Jack Natteford Luci Ward
Starring	Kathryn Grant William Leslie Tristram Coffin
Music by	Ross DiMaggio
Cinematography	Benjamin H. Kline Irving Lippman
Edited by	Paul Borofsky Al Clark
Production company	Clover Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	June 1957 (1957-06)
Running time	64 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Night the World Exploded is a 1957 science fiction film. The film was written by Jack Natteford and Luci Ward and directed by Fred F. Sears for producer Sam Katzman. Both Katzman and Sears were great exponents of the low-budget B film genre. The film was theatrically released on a double bill with The Giant Claw.

The scientific team of Dr. David Conway (William Leslie), Dr. Ellis Morton (Tristram Coffin) and Laura Hutchinson (Kathryn Grant) has built a machine that can predict earthquakes. After predicting one will hit California within the next 24 hours to a uniformly skeptical Gov. Cheney (Raymond Greenleaf) and state-level political and civil defense officials, 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 predictions 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. Although 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 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.

The Night the World Exploded went into production with shooting locations at the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico; the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California; and the Databton Corporation Building in Pasadena, California. Principal photography took place from November 8–20, 1956.