Review of The Day the Earth Moved

While the special effects and "the Big One" is saved until the end, what works so well is THE STORY. THE STORY is the star, not the actors nor Special Effects, but the STORY! it's a human drama about the character of two people (surpringly, they're the characters portrayed by two actors who previously appeared in episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE (1959-1964), Jackie Cooper & William Windom), one who cares about total strangers who kept him unjustly and exploited him, and the owner of a town who is obsessed and committed to restoring a town that is past restoring and the loyal last remnants of that town who stand by him. The William Windom character reminds me of Lee J. Cobb character in 12 ANGRY MEN (1957), and in TWILIGHT ZONE, Jack Klugman in "Death Ship" & Lee Marvin in "Steel" who are unyielding to acknowledge truth, doubt, and futility. In all of this, I only have one question: why didn't they offer one phone call after they brought Jackie Cooper to remain a prisoner of the town and why didn't Jackie Cooper ASK to be allowed one phone call? Didn't they think his family, coworkers and friends would be worried about his sudden disappearance?? Maybe that's what happens when a tiny community is isolated from civilization: they lose their humanity and all the rules that go with it. In short: THE DAY THE EARTH MOVED is basically a morality play.