User reviews

I thought this was a pretty decent effort, given it had no budget and the cast was probably every friend the director had. Some of them even went on to actually have careers. In response to JoeB131, though, the word airliner was in use as early as 1908 and as for blood in movies, please check out "Wings" and "All Quiet on the Western Front," just to name two. Yes, by 1937, when this film was made, the Hayes Office had knocked a lot of the guts out of films, but this was an amateur production and not likely to be viewed by censors. Anyway, not a bad way to spend 49 minutes.

A frustrated pacifist plans on using his weather altering machines to punish warring nations. The film is an ambitious semi-amateur production by Richard Lyford, unseen for decades, which resurfaced in 2020 and started making the festival circuit rounds. For what it is, 'As the Earth Turns' is pretty good. The special effects are amateurish but still impressive (for what is essentially a home movie) and no one could question the effort the 20 year-old filmmaker put into the production. There is some speculation that the film is a 'fake' artifact that was recently produced - anything is possible on film these days but (IMO) this cinematic conspiracy theory seems unlikely. Definitely watchable but primarily of interest to film historians and sci-fi life-listers.

I am certainly open to discussion whether this film was really made in 1939. However, being a big fan of pre-1950's movies I would have to say there are certain aspects of the film that would make one suspicious. 1) The film "damage" almost looks like film overlay...it is fairly consistent in looks and comes at a regular intervals EXCEPT during action scenes when they disappear or slow down, 2) missing from the male actors hairstyles is pomade...extremely common usage in the 1930's, and 3) the most important clue is the cinematography and editing...unless the filmmaker was a genuine "visionary" the movie is edited more in the style of modern films...the length of each shot is extremely short, far too many closeups (even of feet...completely unusual), and the editing and cutting between the shots do not match up to what mainstream filmmakers were doing at the time.

If I have to trust my gut...I would have to say that it never felt like an old film to me.

Believing this is really from Richard Lyford, then an amateur in Washington state, I rate this an A- for effort.

The directing was ambitious but either it or the editing was lacking. Or both.

The special effects too often looked like something from Columbia.

The story was reminiscent of "Things To Come," perhaps, and had a similar premise to the much later "The Day the Earth Stool Still," and probably many other movies and books.

But whatever flaws might be noted, again I praise the effort.

Hundreds of miles away from Hollywood and its expertise and labs and stunt people, 20-year-old Richard Lyford created something pretty admirable. And he got enough attention for his body of work he was invited to Hollywood, worked for Disney, and earned an Academy Award.

I don't know why IMDb lists its date as 2019. That is bad mislabeling, very misleading. Yes, the finding and re-scoring are recent, but the creation was 1937 with the release in 1938.

TCM deserves our thanks for presenting this on Hallowe'en night of 2021, and I hope it will be shown again soon, and that there is enough advance notice everyone will get the chance to watch.

As a filmmaker around the age Richard was when he made this mini epic, and also a big fan of classic films from the golden age of cinema, I really enjoyed this! You can see how the films and world events at the time really inspired Lyford to make this film and the overall style is very reminiscent of those classic serials of the 1930's, such as "Flash Gordon" and "Dick Tracy". From the great dramatic acting to the charming special effects, this is definitely a worth while watch! I won't spoil anything but the ending really caught me off guard and was a really nice surprise! I love watching 'homemade epics' and to see one from this era is a rare treasure!

I must say it is quite a remarkable little film. Very impressive. I can't quite decide if it is a low budget professional film, or a high budget amateur film. Either way, it is clear that it was a work of passion. The attention to detail was impressive. The filmmaker knew his trade. Interweaving the models with the full size was done very well. Editing was superb. Camera work and effects were well done. I can only imagine what it could have been if it had the proper backing.

Oh, and the score was good, too. Actually, it was superb. The sign of a good score is one that becomes another character of the story, and they did that very well. It was just the right amount of understatement, clearly it was meant purposely not draw attention to itself. Bravo.

Bringing this old film to the attention of the public was a work unto itself, and well worth the effort. This is something to be truly proud of.

Clearly, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" got its inspiration from Mr. Lyford.

A mysterious figure known only as PAX (Richard Lyford) begins sending messages to the world, threatening catastrophic events if war is not abolished. When PAX's threats are ignored, strange environmental disasters strike.

AS THE EARTH TURNS is a restored film from 1937. Mr. Lynch wrote, produced, directed, and edited this opus, all independent of Hollywood. His use of miniatures and special effects are novel and effective, especially considering the lack of any real funding for the project. The "train wreck", ""flooding", and "earthquake" sequences are fairly well-realized. The characters are perfectly stereotypical, with PAX being the most animated. Mr. Lyford plays him with gusto!

Is it cheeezy? Sure, but that's to be expected with a production such as this. Just enjoy it for what it is: A fun movie for lovers of rescued "lost" films...