The 27Th Day

An anticommunist propaganda piece, THE 27TH DAY was well understood by its post-Sputnik audience. Moss is an alien from a dying planet whose people want to immigrate to Earth. He gives five humans from five different countries special killing capsules. It is against the ethics of Moss' people to kill intelligent life, but Earthlings, he observes, seem set on destroying themselves. The capsules he hands out will instantly kill when opened but become useless after 27 days or the death of their bearer. French destroys her batch by tossing it into the ocean and Tsien's is rendered to dust when she commits suicide. Moss broadcasts the name of his five bearers to the wor...