6.1/10
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The Day of the Triffids (1963)

After an unusual meteor shower leaves most of the human population blind, a merchant navy officer must find a way to conquer tall, aggressive plants which are feeding on people and animals.

Directors:

, (uncredited)

Writers:

(screenplay), (front for Bernard Gordon) | 1 more credit »
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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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Alison Leggatt ...
Geoffrey Matthews ...
Janina Faye ...
Susan - Child on the Train
Gilgi Hauser ...
John Tate ...
Captain - SS Midland
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Bettina (as Carol Ann Ford)
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Colette Wilde ...
Nurse Jamieson (as Collette Wilde)
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Storyline

A shower of meteorites produces a glow that blinds anyone that looks at it. As it was such a beautiful sight, most people were watching, and as a consequence, 99% of the population go blind. In the original novel, this chaos results in the escape of some Triffids: experimental plants that are capable of moving themselves around and attacking people. In the film version, however, the Triffids are not experimental plants. Instead they are space aliens whose spores have arrived in an earlier meteor shower. Written by Murray Chapman <[email protected]>, edited by Triffid Fan

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

The triffids are coming! The triffids are growing! The triffids are killing! See more »

Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Certificate:

See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

25 April 1963 (UK)  »

Also Known As:

De Triffids komen  »

Box Office

Budget:

$750,000 (estimated)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(Westrex Recording System)

Color:

(Eastmancolor) (uncredited)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

In an interview, producer Bernard Glasser said that in order to satisfy a British government requirement that productions shot in British have a certain percentage of British executives, George Pitcher, a retired film executive, was hired as basically a "frontman"; although credited as producer, he had no actual authority over the production. See more »

Goofs

At the villa in Spain, when the triffids are attempting to get through the electric fence, the action goes from bright sunlight to darkness to evening and back again. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: [narrating voice over] In nature's scheme of things, there are certain plants which are carnivorous, or eating plants. The Venus Fly Trap is one of the best known of these plants. A fly drawn to the plant by its sweet syrup, brushes against triggered bristles. Just how these plants digest their pray has yet to be explained. There is much still to learn about these fascinating eating plants. This is a newcomer: Triffidus Celestus, brought to earth on the meteorite during the Day of ...
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Matinee (1993) See more »

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User Reviews

"And I even got hot, when I saw Janette Scott, fight the triffid that spits poison and kills..."
15 November 2001 | by (Longmont, Colorado) – See all my reviews

Another film-role immortalised in the line above, from the soundtrack of The Rocky Horror Show! Bit of a misnomer actually, SHE didn't fight the triffid, Kieron Moore did! All poor Janette did was to stand there shoving her hand in her mouth and screaming!

Well here's another sci-fi flick seems to have struck a sour note with many viewers. Yeah, there HAVE been many liberties taken with John Wyndham's original tale, doesn't mean though "Hey, three strikes you're out! Derided and laughed-at, much like RAISE THE TITANIC, many aspects of this film are clearly socially responsible and relevant today. How would YOU handle yourself in the situation Howard Keel finds himself in after the majority of the world's population is blinded by the light emanated from a meteor shower? The film was made for a 1960's outlook and acceptance, not new millennium desensitised and pseudo-enlightened audiences. Maybe the triffids WERE men in suits, they were damn good ones though. The fx where the triffids were seeking to gain entry to the lighthouse I thought were exceptionally good for their age. OK, so the film DOES also offer what is probably the WORST train pile up ever filmed (you never actually see it!) but give the makers a break. What did you EXPECT them to do? close Charing Cross station and have an eight coach steam train from Watford ram the buffers at 100 mph?

Many wonderful images from this film stick in the mind. That great scene where Mervyn Johns and Howard Keel stand on the edge of the quarry, watching the triffid spores becoming airborne. The triffid, as it lashes the back window of the Humber as Keel shepherds the little girl to safety. The stock-standard British stiff upper lip when the blinded crew of the airplane know they are doomed. The panorama of burning triffids when Keel rigs up the elctric fence then has to torch them before they break through. Even now so many years since I saw it, I can still hear that ice-cream truck as the triffids are led in pied-piper fashion away to their ultimate fate.

I can forgive 'Tommythek' his less than relevant comments. He at least admits to being "illiterate" and functioning at the lowest level. Others though are stupefyingly brittle and short-sighted. THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS is top sci-fi entertainment, not quite a fully-fledged classic I agree, but I'll watch it anyday before I ever sit through CAST AWAY again!


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