The Day of the Triffids (film)

Last updated

The Day of the Triffids
Dayofthetriffids.jpg
U.S. theatrical release poster
by Joseph Smith [1]
Directed by Steve Sekely
Freddie Francis (Uncredited)
Written by Bernard Gordon
Philip Yordan
Produced byGeorge Pitcher
Philip Yordan
Bernard Glasser (uncredited)
Starring Howard Keel
Nicole Maurey
Janette Scott
Kieron Moore
Mervyn Johns
Cinematography Ted Moore
Edited bySpencer Reeve (sup.)
Music by Ron Goodwin
Johnny Douglas
Production
company
Security Pictures Ltd
Distributed by Rank Organisation
Release date
  • 25 April 1963 (1963-04-25)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Day of the Triffids is a 1963 British science fiction horror film in CinemaScope and Eastmancolor, produced by George Pitcher and Philip Yordan and directed by Steve Sekely. [2] It stars Howard Keel and Nicole Maurey and is loosely based on the 1951 novel of the same name by John Wyndham. The film was released in the UK by the Rank Organisation and in the US by Allied Artists.

Contents

Plot

A meteor shower blinds most people in the world and at the same time spreads triffid plant spores, which quickly become animated. Bill Masen, a merchant navy officer who has been in hospital overnight with his eyes bandaged, is unaffected and leaves the next day. While at a railway station he comes across an orphaned schoolgirl named Susan who, having spent the night in the luggage van of a train, is unaffected too. He helps her escape the groping crowds and they commandeer an abandoned car in order to reach his ship. On their way the car gets stuck in mud and while they look for stones to gain traction a mobile triffid ambushes them and they barely escape.

Meanwhile, scientist Tom Goodwin and his wife Karen have been isolated in a lighthouse and learn of the world emergency only over the radio. Karen alerts Tom to a triffid growing on a ledge; they leave the door open, it gets in and Tom has to battle it off. Though it appears dead, they discover that triffids can apparently regenerate themselves. The couple then barricade themselves in and set to work to discover some means of neutralising the plants.

After Masen and Susan finally make it to the dockyard, they only hear bad news from over the radio. They then cross by boat into France, where they come across Christine Durant at a roadblock. She guides them to a château, which is serving as a refuge for the blind. While looking for supplies at a grocery store with Mr Coker, a worker at the castle, they discover dozens of the plants and Coker is killed by one while they are returning to the chateau to warn the others. Later the place is invaded by escaped convicts and during the mayhem triffids move in and kill everyone except Bill, Susan and Christine, who manage to get away in the prison bus.

After discovering that Toulon is in flames, Masen next heads for the American naval base in Cádiz. On their way they encounter a blind couple, Luis de la Vega and his pregnant wife, Teresa, and help her deliver a baby boy. Luis tells Masen that the Cadiz base has been evacuated by submarine since those who were underwater didn't get blinded by the meteor shower. Masen gets de Vega's radio transmitter working just in time to hear the navy broadcasting a message about a final survivor pickup in Alicante the next day and a warning to beware of wandering bands of triffids.

The group decides to leave early in the morning and Masen electrifies the enclosing fence around the villa during the night as a precaution. When triffids arrive the current is too weak to hold them off for long and Masen has to improvise a flamethrower from a fuel truck to keep them off. He also realizes that the triffids are attracted to sound, so he decoys them next morning with a musical clown car while the others escape. He himself manages to attract the attention of a naval dinghy, which picks him up and takes him to the submarine.

Back at the lighthouse the triffids manage to break in and Tom and Karen retreat to the top of the stairs. In a last effort to hold them off Tom sprays them with a salt-water fire hose and the triffids begin to dissolve in a cloud of green smoke. Tom realizes that sea water is the answer they have been looking for all along and uses the hose to kill the rest of the triffids in the lighthouse.

At the end the narrator states that humanity has conquered the triffids by turning to the very thing that gave humans life in the beginning: sea water. Meanwhile the people from the submarine have disembarked and are heading up to a church to give thanks for their survival.

Cast

Reception

Theatrical advertisement from 1963 as double feature with Horrors of the Black Zoo The Day of the Triffids & Horrors of the Black Zoo - Theatre ad - 15 Nov 1963.png
Theatrical advertisement from 1963 as double feature with Horrors of the Black Zoo

Although the film retained some basic plot elements from Wyndham's novel, it is 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". [3] Unlike in the novel the triffids arrive from a meteor shower, some of the action is moved to France and Spain, and an important character, Josella Playton, is deleted. [4] Most seriously, the screenplay supplies a simplistic solution to the triffid problem: salt water dissolves them and "the world was saved". [5]

Simon Clark, author of The Night of the Triffids , stated in an 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. [6]

Halliwell's Film Guide claimed the film was a "rough and ready adaptation of a famous sci-fi novel, sometimes blunderingly effective and with moments of good trick work". [7]

At the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 79% based on 19 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 6.4/10. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wyndham</span> English science fiction writer (1903–1969)

John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names, such as John Beynon and Lucas Parkes. Some of his works were set in post-apocalyptic landscapes. His best known works include The Day of the Triffids (1951), filmed in 1962, and The Midwich Cuckoos (1957), which was filmed in 1960 as Village of the Damned, in 1995 under the same title, and again in 2022 in Sky Max under its original title.

<i>The Day of the Triffids</i> 1951 novel by John Wyndham

The Day of the Triffids is a 1951 post-apocalyptic novel by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. After most people in the world are blinded by an apparent meteor shower, an aggressive species of plant starts killing people. Although Wyndham had already published other novels using other pen name combinations drawn from his real name, this was the first novel published as "John Wyndham".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triffid</span> Fictional plant

The triffid is a fictional tall, mobile, carnivorous plant species, created by John Wyndham in his 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids, which has since been adapted for film and television. The word "triffid" has become a common reference in British English to describe large, invasive or menacing-looking plants.

<i>Spanking the Monkey</i> 1994 American film

Spanking the Monkey is a 1994 American black comedy film written and directed by David O. Russell. It was filmed in Pawling, New York.

<i>King Ralph</i> 1991 US comedy film by David S. Ward

King Ralph is a 1991 American comedy film written and directed by David S. Ward and starring John Goodman, Peter O'Toole, and John Hurt. The film is about an American who becomes the unlikely King of the United Kingdom after an electrical accident wipes out the British Royal Family.

<i>The Night of the Triffids</i> 2001 novel by Simon Clark

The Night of the Triffids is a science fiction novel by British writer Simon Clark, published in 2001. It is a sequel to John Wyndham's 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids. Clark has been commended for his success at mimicking Wyndham's style, but most reviewers have not rated his creation as highly as the original work. Clark's book is written in the first person and narrated by David Masen, the son of Wyndham's protagonist.

<i>Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie</i> 1996 American film

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie is a 1996 American science fiction comedy film and a film adaptation of the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000, produced and set between the series' sixth and seventh seasons. It was distributed by Universal Pictures and Gramercy Pictures and produced by Best Brains.

<i>Little Dorrit</i> (1987 film) 1987 British film

Little Dorrit is a 1987 film adaptation of the 1857 novel Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens. It was written and directed by Christine Edzard, and produced by John Brabourne and Richard B. Goodwin. The music by Giuseppe Verdi was arranged by Michael Sanvoisin.

<i>Eye of the Needle</i> (film) 1981 film by Richard Marquand

Eye of the Needle is a 1981 British spy film directed by Richard Marquand, and starring Donald Sutherland and Kate Nelligan. Written by Stanley Mann, it is based on the 1978 novel of the same title by Ken Follett.

<i>The Day of the Triffids</i> (1981 TV series) 1981 British television drama series

The Day of the Triffids is a British science fiction drama serial which was first aired by BBC Television in 1981. An adaptation by Douglas Livingstone of the 1951 novel by John Wyndham, the six half-hour episodes were produced by David Maloney and directed by Ken Hannam, with original music by Christopher Gunning.

<i>The Manitou</i> 1978 American horror film

The Manitou is a 1978 American supernatural body horror film produced and directed by William Girdler. It stars Tony Curtis, Michael Ansara and Susan Strasberg. It is based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Graham Masterton, which was inspired by the concept of manitou in Native American theology, believed to be a spiritual and fundamental life force by members of the Algonquian peoples.

Langrishe, Go Down, the novel by Aidan Higgins (1966), was adapted for the screen by Harold Pinter, directed by David Jones, filmed for BBC Television in association with Raidió Teilifís Éireann, and first broadcast in September 1978 as a 90-minute BBC2's Play of the Week. On 17 July, 2002, Langrishe, Go Down was re-released as a theatrical 16mm feature film, after being shown in The Spaces Between the Words: A Tribute to Harold Pinter, by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, as part of the Harold Pinter Festival of the Lincoln Center Festival 2001, held at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, in New York City, from 21 to 31 July 2001.

<i>The Day of the Triffids</i> (2009 TV series) 2009 British television drama series

The Day of the Triffids is a drama made in 2009. It is a loose adaptation of John Wyndham's 1951 novel of the same title. The novel had been adapted in 1962 as a theatrical film and by the BBC in a 1981 series.

<i>Frankenstein</i> (2015 film) 2015 American film

Frankenstein is a 2015 American science fiction horror film written and directed by Bernard Rose. It is a modernised adaptation of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The film is told from the monster's point of view, as he is created, escapes into the modern world, and learns about the dark side of humanity.

<i>Spielberg</i> (film) 2017 documentary film

Spielberg is a 2017 American documentary film directed by Susan Lacy, and is centered on the career of film director Steven Spielberg. It premiered at the 2017 New York Film Festival and aired on HBO on October 7, 2017.

<i>Cherry</i> (2021 film) 2021 American crime drama film

Cherry is a 2021 American crime drama film directed by Anthony and Joe Russo from a screenplay by Angela Russo-Otstot and Jessica Goldberg, based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Nico Walker. It stars Tom Holland as the titular character, alongside Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor, and Jeff Wahlberg. The film follows the life of Cherry, from a college student to a PTSD-afflicted veteran who robs banks to pay for his and his wife's drug addiction.

<i>Twist</i> (2021 film) 2021 crime drama film

Twist is a 2021 British crime drama film directed by Martin Owen and co-produced by Noel Clarke and Jason Maza, who also stars in the film. The film, an adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1838 novel Oliver Twist, stars Rafferty Law, Michael Caine, Noel Clarke, Lena Headey, Rita Ora and Sophie Simnett. Twist was released on Sky Cinema on 29 January 2021 and was met with negative reception from critics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of blindness</span>

The theme of blindness has been explored by many different cultures throughout history, with blind characters appearing in stories from ancient Greek mythology and Judeo-Christian religious texts. In the modern era, blindness has featured in numerous works of literature and poetry by authors such as William Shakespeare, William Blake, and H. G. Wells, and has also been a recurring trope in film and other visual media.

<i>The Seed</i> (2021 film) 2021 British horror film

The Seed is the 2021 science fiction body horror feature film directorial debut of Sam Walker, who also wrote the script. The movie premiered in the United States at Beyond Fest, after which it was released to Shudder as one of its original films. The film received mixed to positive reviews.

References

  1. See the description of the original artwork that was auctioned in 2012: "The Day of the Triffids (Allied Artists, 1962). Joseph Smith Original Movie Poster Art (22" X 27.25")". Dallas, Texas: Heritage Auctions. Retrieved 23 October 2017.. This artwork has also been attributed to Reynold Brown. Brown's own records indicate that he worked on the campaign for The Day of the Triffids: "Movie Campaigns, A Listing". Archived from the original on 23 April 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2013. The narrative accompanying the sale of the original artwork in 2012 by Heritage Auctions looks to be conclusive, and supports the attribution to Smith.
  2. "The Day of the Triffids". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  3. "John Wyndham". The Guardian. London. 22 July 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  4. "Day of the Triffids". January 2000.
  5. "DVD Savant Revival Screening Review: The Day of the Triffids (1963)".
  6. "Simon Clark interview". zone-sf.com. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  7. Halliwell's Film Guide, 13th edition - ISBN   0-00-638868-X.
  8. "The Day of the Triffids (1963) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Flixer. Retrieved 2 April 2018.

Bibliography