The Day of the Triffids

1962

Retro Science Fiction

Britain

Produced by George Pitcher, Philip Yordan

Directed by Steve Sekely

Distributed by Beyond Entertainment

Web: http://www.forceentertainment.com.au

Reviewer: Bob Estreich

This was not the first film of John Wyndham’s classic novel, but it is easily one of the worst. The writers of the screenplay made a thorough mess of Wyndham’s carefully developed plot and managed to leave out most of the development of tension as the Triffids took over the world. In the end, of course, a happy ending was almost arrived at – science saves the day as was usual in this period of moviemaking.

It is actually a fairly good example of the films of the time. In the post-war euphoria it was appropriate that an American should play a major part in a British film. This could help with sales in the U.S. American moviegoers seem to have preferred the straight action/drama genre, rather than the carefully crafted buildup of suspense that the British had perfected, so this explains the butchery of Wyndham’s novel. Liberties were taken in the script so the action would just keep on coming.

For those who are unfamiliar with the plot, a meteorite shower has struck Earth. It was loaded with spores of a strange new plant that was carnivorous and able to move itself around. It carried a poison-loaded whip-like device that it used to kill its prey. It would have been fairly easy to avoid, since it was over six feet tall and slow-moving, but a side effect of the meteorite shower was that most of the population was blinded by the glare. The old saying says “every dog must have his day”, and with the best source of food blinded, now the triffids will have theirs. Bill Mason, a sailor, is in hospital with his eyes bandaged during the shower. On awakening the next morning he finds everyone blinded but him. The film then goes into the tragedies that would occur if such an event happened – planes would crash, ships founder, many people would be killed in accidents, and technology generally would revert to the Dark Ages. The only hope for survival is to join up with other sighted humans and try to reestablish civilization. Along the way Bill meets up with others who must deal with the crisis in their own way. He picks up a couple of stray people and finds himself now responsible for a family. Can they reach safety (in the form of a submarine) that will take them to some refugee center?

The quality of the DVD is very poor. The picture is contrasty and very soft, and the sound is fuzzy. I suspect it was simply taken off an old videotape copy with no attempt at a cleanup or digital remastering. The lurid cover however is hilarious with the multi-tentacled triffid carrying a struggling, briefly clad young lady. It has nothing to do with the plot, but is perfectly in keeping with the vintage of the film.

The film is a bit of fun and a good example of retro SF, but if you want to see how if should be done I recommend the BBC’s magnificent 1981 TV series, also released on DVD in 2005 by BBC Worldwide. This sticks accurately to the plot, is better acted and filmed, and does real credit to the Triffids and to Wyndham’s story. It has become the cult film that this earlier version could never be.

This review will appear in Volume 2 No.3 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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