The Day of the Triffids (1962 film)
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The Day of the Triffids is a 1962 British film adaptation of the science fiction novel of the same name by John Wyndham.
It was directed by Steve Sekely, and Howard Keel played the role of the book's narrator, Bill Masen. The movie was filmed in color with monaural sound and ran for 93 minutes.
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[edit] Plot summary
Triffids are strange fictional plants, capable of rudimentary animal-like behavior: they are able to uproot themselves and walk, possess a deadly whip-like poisonous sting, and may even have the ability to communicate with each other.
The protagonist, Bill Masen, begins the story in hospital, with his eyes bandaged after having been stung by a Triffid. He discovers that while he has been blindfolded, an unusual meteor shower has blinded most people on Earth. Masen finds people in London struggling to stay alive in the face of their new, instantly-acquired affliction, some cooperating, some fighting: after just a few days society is collapsing.
[edit] Departure from novel
Although the film retained some basic plot elements, it was not a particularly faithful adaptation. Here, the Triffid arrive as spores in an earlier meteor shower, and some of the action is moved to Spain. Most seriously, it supplies a simplistic solution to the Triffid problem: salt water dissolves them, and "the world was saved" from these plants which, as they were rendered on-screen, vaguely resembled gigantic asparagus shoots.
[edit] Trivia
It is this version of the film to which the song "Science Fiction Double Feature", from The Rocky Horror Show, refers, in the line: "And I really got hot when I saw Janette Scott fight a triffid that spits poison and kills..."
[edit] External link
| John Wyndham |
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| Bibliography |
| Novels: |
| Foul Play Suspected · The Secret People · Planet Plane · The Day of the Triffids · The Kraken Wakes · The Chrysalids · The Midwich Cuckoos · The Outward Urge · Trouble with Lichen · Chocky · Web |
| Collections: |
| Jizzle · The Seeds of Time · Tales of Gooseflesh and Laughter · Consider Her Ways and Others · The Infinite Moment · Sleepers of Mars · The Best of John Wyndham · Wanderers of Time · Exiles on Asperus · No Place like Earth |
| Filmography |
| Feature films: The Day of the Triffids (1962 film) · Village of the Damned (1960 film) · Village of the Damned (1995 film) |
| Radio |
| Radio adaptations: The Day of the Triffids (radio) · The Chrysalids (radio) |
| Television |
| TV adaptations: The Day of the Triffids (TV series) · Chocky (TV series) |
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