Seven Days to Noon

London has "Seven Days to Noon" before it faces destruction in this 1950 cold war film starring Barry Jones, Hugh Lane, Olive Sloane, and Joan Hickson. Jones plays Professor Willingdon, an overwrought scientist whose work in the atomic field has gotten to him; he feels his life's work is being used for evil rather for good. He sends a letter to the Prime Minister warning that if the government doesn't stop making nuclear weapons, he is going to blow up London the following Sunday. Willingdon then disappears from his job and family and hides out in London with an atom bomb in a suitcase.

Stories about the possible destruction of humanity are never out of style, and, though low-budget, "Seven Days to Noon" is no exception. Though the end (at least for this viewer) was never in doubt, the film holds interest, with good acting, good pacing, and suspense.

Two character actresses are standouts: Olive Sloane as a woman taken hostage by the scientist, and Joan Hickson, known today for playing Miss Marple on Masterpiece Theatre, as a landlady who is suspicious of him. Jones is very good as the disturbed Willingdon.

Very good, recommended.