Rent The Day of the Triffids (1962)

British Sci-fi. - The Day of the Triffids review by Steve

Low budget science fiction loosely based on John Wyndham's acclaimed best seller. This adaptation throws out most of the novel. It retain the basic premise of mankind blinded in a meteor storm then preyed upon by ambulant, man-eating plants. And the memorable opening episode of the sighted hero (Howard Keel) walking over a deserted Westminster Bridge.

Wyndham's cold war subtext is all gone, and his contemporary politics. And most of the scenes about the collapse of social order. There is a new subplot of married biologists (Janette Scott and Kieron Moore) living in a lighthouse searching for the means to fight back. Conservative values win out as Keel accumulates a family and the survivors surprisingly assemble to thank god.

Anyone who watches films to enjoy twenty-first century special effects will be disappointed. Poor monsters prevail. But those who can suspend disbelief will find an entertaining post apocalypse tale enhanced by rich colour* and CinemaScope, and sincere performances by all the cast. Keel is a phlegmatic, dependable lead. And he doesn't sing...

Choices are limited by financial realities, but the story of Keel's journey south from a wrecked London to a colony of survivors in Spain resonates with a deep melancholy. It's an end-of-the-world film made when those fears were commonplace. While there's not much Wyndham on screen, what remains is one of the better UK science fiction films of the period.

*beware poor prints.

Not one of the best - The Day of the Triffids review by GP

I give this two stars only because it is in the tradition of British Sci-Fi / Horror movies of the 50's and early sixties. However, it bears little resemblance to the John Wyndham novel (as far as I remember it) other than featuring a meteor shower and Triffids. In this film the Triffids play the role of the gruesome monster and their appearance is accompanied by lots of female screaming and male horrified but stoic faces.

Added to this is the fact that the DVD seems to have been copied straight from a VHS release. To make up for the fact that the resolution is so poor they put a black "border" at the top and bottom of the screen so that the fim actually occupies less than 50% of the available TV display. This makes the much smaller display look sort of OK, at least with an upscaling DVD player. However if, like me, you increase the size of the display to almost occupy the full TV screen then you will see just how truly awful the resolution is. So it is a choice between postage stamp display of blocky graphics!

All that said, if you like the genre, then it is not a dreadful film and I at least watched it to the end.