The premise behind the 'Day of the Triffids' has always captured my imagination. I have read the book, seen the BBC made-for-TV adaptation and this 1962 theatrical version.
Of the three versions, this theatrical release is definately the weakest delivery of the 'Triffids' story.
It starts off alright, but it would be hard not to make the beginning of this story compelling. Blinding 99% of the Earth's population remains one of the all time great starts of a book, so it is hard to go wrong.
The difficult part of the story is the remaining portion of the book which is actually quite devoid of any real action and is more or less an investigation on how best to rebuild society after a holocaust wipes out most of the population. It is in this last part of the story where the BBC version and the book shine, but this Theatrical version fail.
*SPOILER ALERT*
What remains the unforgivable sin of this movie is that it comes up with an absurd 'secret weapon' that can kill all the Triffids: Salt Water. It is a sci-fi cliche to end an invasion story with the humans winning after the discovery of a simple weapon that kills the invaders (Tim Burton paid homage to this cliche in 'Mars Attacks').
It was a high point of the book that the story did not end with such a cliche, and the BBC version remains faithful to this ending. This theatrical version though, by coming up with a pat simplified ending to the story just cheapens the whole experience and therefore cannot rank high on the list of 'Triffids' adaptations.
If you want a more faithful version, seek out the BBC version of 'The Day of the Triffids'. Although extremely difficult to find in the US, for any 'Triffids' fans out there the search is worth it if only because it erases the bad taste left behind by this 1962 theatrical version of the book.
Of the three versions, this theatrical release is definately the weakest delivery of the 'Triffids' story.
It starts off alright, but it would be hard not to make the beginning of this story compelling. Blinding 99% of the Earth's population remains one of the all time great starts of a book, so it is hard to go wrong.
The difficult part of the story is the remaining portion of the book which is actually quite devoid of any real action and is more or less an investigation on how best to rebuild society after a holocaust wipes out most of the population. It is in this last part of the story where the BBC version and the book shine, but this Theatrical version fail.
*SPOILER ALERT*
What remains the unforgivable sin of this movie is that it comes up with an absurd 'secret weapon' that can kill all the Triffids: Salt Water. It is a sci-fi cliche to end an invasion story with the humans winning after the discovery of a simple weapon that kills the invaders (Tim Burton paid homage to this cliche in 'Mars Attacks').
It was a high point of the book that the story did not end with such a cliche, and the BBC version remains faithful to this ending. This theatrical version though, by coming up with a pat simplified ending to the story just cheapens the whole experience and therefore cannot rank high on the list of 'Triffids' adaptations.
If you want a more faithful version, seek out the BBC version of 'The Day of the Triffids'. Although extremely difficult to find in the US, for any 'Triffids' fans out there the search is worth it if only because it erases the bad taste left behind by this 1962 theatrical version of the book.