Dr. David Conway (William Leslie), with the assistance of Laura "Hutch" Hutchinson (Kathryn Grant), is in a race to stop a series of earthquakes that threaten the entire world. It seems that a newly discovered element, Element 112, expands and explodes when dry and mixed with nitrogen. And, because of mining and oil exploration, Element 112 is making its way to the Earth's surface.By no means is The Night the World Exploded a great film, but I found it reasonably entertaining. It's slow, lacks big-budget special effects, and the lead is a bit dry, but it's got something about it that worked for me. The sci-fi elements are presented believably enough to be effective. And there's some nice slow-burn suspense that's built throughout that worked on me. Other aspects that helped the film include a perky female lead in Kathryn Grant, real life disaster footage nicely blended into the film, and a short runtime.I called William Leslie "dry", but it's not just him, it's his character also. I know his Dr Conway is a driven professional, but come on - how could not not see Hutch has feelings for him? It's not until the world is about to end that he pays any notice to her. What a dolt!

Incredibly boring outing about a scientist that invents a device to predict earthquakes and it is anticipating the big one. Initially unable to arouse the support of the government to alert the public, he and his team are later enlisted on a mission to determine what is causing the quakes. Lots and lots of dull, redundant dialog occasionally interrupted with stock footage of earthquakes and earthquake damage. Bad science and lousy analytical technique are on display followed by the standard call to all nations to unite to save the planet. Typical 50s sexist stuff abounds as Grant tries her best to fit in. This is just a bad waste of time.

With a sci-fi movie from this era, it's not really fair to compare it to sci-fi movies from modern days. But I had to admit to myself that a more modern take on this movie's idea would probably run a lot better. Actually, the movie gets to a pretty good start, leaping right into the story and setting up the situation in less time than even some modern movies might take. However, after the promising beginning, things start to slowly go downhill - with emphasis on the word "slow". Though the movie is only about 63 minutes long, it feels much longer. One reason is that there is too much talk and not enough action or tension. The low budget is probably the reason for this, and while they try to liven things up with ample stock footage, it makes the whole enterprise feel cheaper than it actually was. I've seen a lot worse sci-fi movies from this era, but in the end the only people who would probably appreciate this movie would be die hard fans of old school science fiction cinema.

Entertaining typical 50's sci-fi low budget offering with slightly above average plot line for the time.However, particularly amusing are scenes in the military command aircraft which used card tables and folding chairs in front of mock-up aircraft porthole windows.