Main Cast: Howard Keel, Kieron Moore, Janette Scott, Nicole Maurey, Mervyn Johns
Release Year: 1963
Country: UK
Run Time: 94 minutes
Plot
Adapted from the novel by John Wyndham, this intelligent British monster movie begins with a meteor shower so intensely bright that it blinds the majority of the world's population, rendering them vulnerable to attack from hordes of carnivorous plants known as "Triffidus Celestus" grown from meteor-borne spores. As the plant-monsters continue to multiply and seek human prey, the remaining sighted people join forces to combat the veggie invaders. One such survivor, an American seaman (Howard Keel) whose eyes were bandaged during the meteorite impact, battles his way through the Triffid ranks. Meanwhile, a couple (Kieron Moore and Janette Scott are trapped in a lighthouse. Good production values make this low-budget effort look more expensive than it probably was; the uncredited assistance of Freddie Francis -- who directed several scenes with a second unit -- also helps. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Review
Although it takes entirely too many liberties with the excellent novel upon which it is based, The Day of the Triffids is generally an entertaining sci-fi romp. It has many of the classic (some might say clichéd) elements often associated with the genre -- an alien invasion, stalwart hero, rag-tag band of allies, and a race against time to save the entire planet. If Triffids doesn't offer many original variations on these elements, it still uses them to its advantage to create a Saturday afternoon-style adventure that is effective enough that most viewers will forgive it for its triteness (and for its slow pacing and episodic nature). The happy ending stretches credulity a bit far, and the triffids themselves are, it must be admitted, somewhat cheesy -- but that actually adds a bit to the fun, as does much of the standard-issue dialogue. And there are some very good moments, such as the doctor's revelation that he is now blind and a sequence in which a triffid attacks a car. Howard Keel makes a pretty good lead, using his best leading-man posturing and his authoritative voice to good effect. Janette Scott does well within the limitations of the role, and Mervyn Johns has some memorable moments. Triffids falls short of being a good sci-fi film, but it's quite entertaining. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Janina Faye - Susan; Alison Leggatt - Mrs. Coker; Ewan Roberts - Dr. Soames; Colette Wilde - Nurse Jamieson; Carole Ann Ford - Bettina; Geoffrey Matthews - Luis de la Vega; Gilgi Hauser - Teresa de la Vega; Katya Douglas - Mary; Victor Brooks - Poiret; Arthur Gross; Thomas Gallagher - Burly Man; Sydney Vivian - Ticket Agent; Gary Hope - Pilot; John Simpson - Blind man; Alexander Knox; John Tate; Ian Wilson
Credit
Cedric Dawe - Art Director, Steve Sekely - Director, Spencer Reeve - Editor, Philip Yordan - Executive Producer, Eileen Warwick - Hair Styles, Bernard Glasser - Line Producer, Johnny Douglas - Composer (Music Score), Ron Goodwin - Composer (Music Score), Paul Rabiger - Makeup, Ted Moore - Cinematographer, George Pitcher - Producer, Wally Veevers - Special Effects, Matt McCarty - Sound Editor, Bernard Gordon - Screenwriter, Philip Yordan - Screenwriter, John Wyndham - Book Author
The Day of the Triffids is a 1962 British film adaptation of the science fiction novel of the same name by John Wyndham. It was directed by Steve Sekely, and Howard Keel played the central character, Bill Masen.[1] The movie was filmed in colour with monaural sound and ran for 93 minutes.
Triffids are strange fictional plants, capable of rudimentary animal-like behavior: they are able to uproot themselves and walk, possess a deadly whip-like poisonous sting, and may even have the ability to communicate with each other. On screen they vaguely resemble gigantic asparagus shoots.
Bill Masen begins the story in hospital, with his eyes bandaged. He discovers that while he has been blindfolded, an unusual meteor shower has blinded most people on Earth. Masen finds people in London struggling to stay alive in the face of their new, instantly-acquired affliction, some cooperating, some fighting: after just a few days society is collapsing.
Relationship to novel
The film retained some basic plot elements from Wyndham's novel, but it was not a particularly faithful adaptation. "It strays significantly and unnecessarily from the book and is less well regarded than the BBC's intelligent (if dated) 1981 TV serial."[2] Unlike the novel, the Triffids arrive as spores in an earlier meteor shower, and some of the action is moved to Spain. Most seriously, it supplies a simplistic solution to the Triffid problem: salt water dissolves them, and "the world was saved". This alternate ending appears to be closer to the ending of The War of the Worlds than Wyndham's novel, as the invading aliens succumb to a common product of Earth (as the Martians died of bacteria) and both end with a religious tone (quite unlike Wyndham). This ending was also used to similar effect in M. Night Shyamalan's Signs.
Reception
Simon Clark, author of The Night of the Triffids stated on interview: "The film version is enjoyable, luring the effective looking Triffids away with music from an ice-cream van and some other good action scenes. The Triffids' death-by-seawater climax is weak and contrived though. But it would still rank in my all-time top 100 films."[3]
References in popular culture
It is this version of the film to which the song "Science Fiction Double Feature", from The Rocky Horror Show, refers, in the line: "And I really got hot when I saw Janette Scott fight a triffid that spits poison and kills..." A Triffid appears as one of the aliens in Area 52 in Looney Tunes: Back in Action. A Triffid also appears aboard the spacecraft as one of the plants harvested by the aliens in E.T.. [4]
References
^ Hunter, I. Q. (2002). British Science Fiction Cinema. Routledge. pp. 80–81. ISBN 0203009770.
