I'll give this film credit. It's slightly better than the 1968 Doris Day comedy "Where Were You When the Lights Went Out", but that's not a difficult thing to do. This is based on the actual 1977 blackout that hit in the middle of summer, turning it into a combination potential Disaster Movie and crime drama as for nutcases go on a rampage and terrorize the small ensemble seen in this film. It's the mixture of old Hollywood with the sons of old Hollywood, James Mitchum and Robert Carradine representing the later and Ray Milland and June Allyson representing the former. You get to see what's going on inside the Con Edison power plant as lightning storms begin to strike the wiring and the lights go off as if it was 4th of July on the Hudson.
The characters are extremely cliched and the writing laughable. A good majority of the test doesn't even get character names, and the flashes of them on the screen don't really give you an opportunity to get you really care about them. It's also very cheaply made with blurry photography and poor sound, the type of film that probably didn't get many showings. It's a curiosity, like a sudden car accident you pass on a major highway that you know you shouldn't watch but can't help. I will say though that the lightning effects over the dark city are pretty though it's dangerous, especially when they show patients on life-support as they do with Allyson and her husband. Once again, Ray Milland plays a cranky millionaire businessman, facing another lost weekend. Belinda Montgomery and Jean-Pierre Aumont also get to put this film on their resume, one which probably made them wish that their agents phone hadn't been working or on its own blackout when they got the call.
The characters are extremely cliched and the writing laughable. A good majority of the test doesn't even get character names, and the flashes of them on the screen don't really give you an opportunity to get you really care about them. It's also very cheaply made with blurry photography and poor sound, the type of film that probably didn't get many showings. It's a curiosity, like a sudden car accident you pass on a major highway that you know you shouldn't watch but can't help. I will say though that the lightning effects over the dark city are pretty though it's dangerous, especially when they show patients on life-support as they do with Allyson and her husband. Once again, Ray Milland plays a cranky millionaire businessman, facing another lost weekend. Belinda Montgomery and Jean-Pierre Aumont also get to put this film on their resume, one which probably made them wish that their agents phone hadn't been working or on its own blackout when they got the call.