L'invasione dei mostri verdi

When I got my driver's license, I headed off to a nearby town to see a movie. This was it. I loved it. It has really received a bad rap. The story begins with a city full of blind people--Stricken by a meteor shower which has also brought spores to earth--the spawn of Triffids--flesh eating plants. While the plants are not sighted or masterfully created, the quest by Howard Kiel and his young counterpart, and the horror they encounter, is quite good. I found it anything but boring. It speaks to the realities of the created situation, and the acting is good. There is a nice subplot of a depressed lighthouse keeper and marine biologist and his wife/associate who seek an answer. It was quite suspenseful and well paced. Some real questions are asked and answered. It's not a masterpiece, but it holds up very well after all these years.

Reading the previous reviews for this film were like watching a tennis match. One reviewer made a valid negative point(or serve) whilst another made a positive point. Back and forth....back and forth. Those people that read the book seemed to be in general much less happy with the film than those who had never read the book. I can understand that, but looking at films and their adaptations of books must sometimes be done with a more discerning eye. And, of course, sometimes the adaptations of books are so horribly done that nothing but a feeling of resentment, disappointment, and hate can be achieved from the viewer. I have not read the John Wyndham novel..yet. I will. But as sci-fi films and horror films go, The Day of the Triffids is an enjoyable flawed..very flawed film. I have such concrete memories of seeing this as a child and after watching it again after at least twenty years, scene after scene came back to my consciousness. The vivid, colorful meteorite showers over a London backdrop, the night watchman working in the greenhouse, the crowds of sightless people begging for help from those that could see, and the battle between life and death on a remote lighthouse island. The special effects are not very good, the plants look...well..a bit preposterous. The acting is not very grand either. C'mon, what did you expect with Howard Keel in the lead...Shakespeare? Actually Keel is decent as is the cast for the most part. The biggest flaw in the film for me is the script....which has little cohesion as it jumps from one thing to another and then another. The ending was vastly unsatisfactory as it really abruptly ends. Maybe there was no money or good thoughts left. But notwithstanding all of this, The Day of the Triffids is a fun film and a trip down Memory Lane for me.

When an asteroid shower passes over the earth, most of London stops and watches the 'once in a lifetime' spectacle. However, London, as well as the vast majority of the world find themselves blinded and at the mercy of the triffids – a plant-like beast who arrived from space in the night and are feasting on the stumbling humans. One of the few people to still able to see is sailor Bill Masen, who had his eyes bandaged shut at the time due to an operation. As cities burn, survivors try to band together and those still able to see try to stop the spread of the triffids.

Despite being one of those things that is in popular culture and in all our minds, I have never read or seen Day of the Triffids until I decided to watch this film the other night. The gaudy title sequence immediately put this in the category of b-movie creature feature and I prepared myself for the genre, aware of its weaknesses. However, after the initial opening the film settled into a good portrayal of London falling into destruction – planes fall, governments fold and cities burn; I found this great fun and to have a real sense of terror to it – even if the people acting 'blind' were just sort of rocking and stumbling in a comical manner and not panicking quite as much as they would in real life! After this strong opening we settle into more traditional b-movie territory with the characters established and long scenes of dialogue (and sentiment) delivered in place of actual action.

When the film does move past the dialogue heavy establishment what we get is still more dialogue mixed with scenes of big rubbery plants with failing tentacles. As a creature feature it is OK but if you step outside of what is acceptable within the genre then you'd have to admit that it isn't much good! The creatures suffer from being seen and their appearance (and the dialogue heavy pace) robs the film of its early sense of doom. This is an unfair complaint maybe, because few monsters when revealed really retain their threat when unseen (even in the CGI age) but, even with the rubbery effects, the film could have kept them hidden for longer - kudos for a sea of them near the end though, up till this point they didn't seem that much of an immediate threat.

Although the plants look stiff and are made of wood, the cast give them a run for their money (obvious gag, apologies) in the firm tradition of the genre. Howard Keel is a mans' man for the period but he has come from the Steven Seagal school of acting – one expression on his face all the time regardless of whether he is fighting hoards of aliens with a flame thrower or looking after a little girl. Of course he isn't very good but what did you expect from him in a sci-fi b-movie? The rest of the cast are pretty poor too and are a load of genre clichés – sympathetic kids, boisterous men who get their comeuppance and the simpering love interest who need to be saved. The couple in the lighthouse are no better but they suffer from being away from the main story – even if they turn out to be important.

Overall this is not a great film but it is an enjoyable enough b-movie creature feature with all the weaknesses that that description implies (wooden acting, poor script, rubber monsters) but if you are content with this genre then you should find this an enjoyable film if hardly a brilliant one. It's just a shame that the tangible sense of doom that existed with the early scenes of a London falling to pieces was not continued through the whole film.

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!

When a meteor shower leaves most of the world's population blind, a US Navy officer (Howard Keel) has to discover a way to fight the Triffids, dangerous plants that are capable of movement and killing humans.

This low-budget 1962 version of John Wyndham's famous novel pales in comparison with the much better 1981 BBC miniseries.

The main benefit of the film is Howard Keel. He acquits himself surprisingly well in the dramatic part, but I wonder what would have happened if he started singing a duet with a Triffid!

The special effects are passable, but there's a silly sub-plot about two marine biologists that seems shoehorned in. Veteran British character actor Mervyn Johns appears briefly, and it was fun seeing a pre-Doctor Who Carole Ann Ford as a French girl (her accent is terrible).

Overall, cheesy fun.