Film Review
John Wyndham classic sci-fi novel
The
Day of the Triffids is pretty savagely massacred in this
lacklustre B-movie adaptation, which dispenses with the drama, tension
and subtle Cold War allegory of Wyndham's novel and instead contents
itself with cheap thrills of the kind that relegate it to the bargain
basement of 1950s-style sci-fi flicks. Although the film has been
ridiculed for its special effects, these are actually not bad for the
time and are far from being the film's weakest point. What ruins the
film is not the special effects or the slightly hysterical over-acting
or the woefully lacklustre mise-en-scène, but a screenplay so
dire that any resemblance to a novel by John Wyndham is purely
coincidental.
Unlike the previous Wyndham adaptation
Village of the Damned (1960),
which is generally well-regarded, this one shows little respect for its
source novel and is simply content to take the basic ideas and work
them into a trashy disaster movie. Worse, the writers also had
the audacity to solder on a facile, moralising happy ending that is
more likely to induce a severe bout of projectile vomiting than any
quantity of undercooked kebabs. Given how abysmal the screenplay
is, it is surprising that the film holds up as well as it does.
The film was directed by Steve Sekely, a renowned Hungarian filmmaker
who failed to make much of an impact after moving to the West to escape
anti-Semitic brutality in his own country. Freddie Francis,
famous for his horror offerings for Hammer and Amicus, was hired at the
eleventh hour to direct a few additional scenes when the film's
producers felt it was too short. Fortunately for his career,
Francis was not credited for his work on the film.
Although considered a classic among some sci-fi enthusiasts, the 1962
version of
The Day of the Triffids
is a pretty indigestible feast, in which the nature of the threat is
completely undermined by the totally unconvincing characterisation and
some execrably bad storytelling. Compared with the
excellent 1981 BBC TV adaptation (which boasted some impressive
effects, a great script and superlative performances from John Duttine
and Maurice Colbourne), it is shallow, clunky and harrowingly
unexciting - British sci-fi at its near-worst.
© James Travers 2011
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
One night, the sky is lit up by the dazzling spectacle of meteorites
burning up in the atmosphere. The following morning, Bill Masen,
an American naval officer, wakes up in hospital after an eye operation
to find that everyone around him has lost his sight. Bill soon
realises that this is a global phenomenon - the blazing meteorites of
the night before have rendered almost the entire human population
blind. Then Bill becomes aware of an even greater
threat. A new species of carnivorous plant, the Triffid, has gone
on a killer rampage, hunting and devouring the defenceless
humans. A couple stranded on an island try to find a way to
destroy the Triffids, but their attempts prove futile. It really
does look as if this is the end for mankind...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.