The Day Called X (1957)
December 8, 1957Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Currently The Day Called X is available for streaming online, rent, buy or watch for free on: Tubi TV
Streaming in:🇺🇸 United States
This Movie Is About.
Cast & Crew.
Terry Schrunk
Himself (Mayor of Portland)
Glenn Ford
Narrator
Harry Rasky
Director
Lester Cooper
Writer
George Hause
Sound Director
Joseph Carpenter
Lighting Supervisor
Frederick Dietrich
Cinematographer
Bernard Birnbaum
Editor
Details.
Wiki.
The Day Called 'X' is a dramatized CBS documentary film set in Portland, Oregon, in which the entire city is evacuated in anticipation of a nuclear air raid, after Soviet bombers had been detected by radar stations to the north; it details the activation of the city's civil defense protocols and leads up to the moment before the attack (the ending is left intentionally unknown). The operations were run from the Kelly Butte Bunker, which was the emergency operations center at that time. It was filmed in September 1957 and aired December 8 of that year. Apart from presenter/narrator Glenn Ford, none of the people shown are actors. They are locals of Portland shown in their real jobs, including Mayor Terry Schrunk.
Its local re-broadcast in 2004 and appearance in the on-line Prelinger Archives attracted interest among local history buffs due to its extensive outside shots of the city, and the use of non-actor participants (local officials and broadcasters). Whenever one of these individuals is heard uttering warnings or statements regarding attack, the words "AN ATTACK IS NOT TAKING PLACE" are superimposed over the picture.On September 27, 1955, Portland actually conducted an exercise evacuation of downtown called "Operation Greenlight", and the film is often misattributed to that year. Ford's narration, however, does make direct reference to the 1955 exercise.