The Day of the Triffids (1963)

Sekely had a knack for the eeriness, and his work here is chilling, the plot was too good to spoof it in the '40s fashion; the movie has a neat look. The main objection against the idea, namely that plants aren't scary, doesn't hold, since the Triffids are shown as a hybrid form of life, and the scientist utters both things (protesting against being killed by a plant, and stating that the Triffids aren't only plants); but the illness is scarier than the moving plants.If the plants don't look too threatening as shape (but neither did the zombies, nor other weird menaces in the cinema which hosted Sekely's 1st movies from the freer world), their assaults are, also as mirrored by the sightless people in the railway station, who cling to their prey and follow the sound, guide themselves by the sound.But his movie is also engrossing, and conveys a sense of drama, and of peril, the scenes in the French house are awesome, glowingly surreal; a very intriguing actress as the French host (then, Keel's travel companion). The eeriness of the scenes, in the hospital, on streets, in the railway station, in the French mansion, is also exquisitely conveyed; the novelist outdid Wells, delivering not one, but two plagues. The novel's storyline had to be sampled for the screen.Because of H. Keel's fitness for a physical role, Sekely's movie became also an ancestor of the disaster movies. Keel proved being an awesome choice for the leading role; he was the antipode of Marvin, the direct opposite of him, and a kind of a _proto-Chevy Chase, with a humorous gleam. Keel does a very good role, precisely as we know him: athletic and sage.Very good movie; if it's Sekeley's most famous, it deserves. The plants' attack is well foreboded in the railway station.6 ½ yrs ago I have read a novel by the author, but not this one. Therefore, I didn't know the plot, save for the threatening plants of its title; to me, the movie wasn't an adaptation, and I didn't check it as such. I realized how much the story is indebted to Wells: Triffids instead of Tripods, the weapon that will bring death to the invaders and end their dominion; and the _sightlessness itself gives the name of a book by Wells.

I first saw this as a kid and of course I loved it. Back then a movie didn't have to make sense it just had to have monsters, explosions and for a child, relatively scary scenes. Subsequent viewings however have revealed the overwhelming number of plot holes and mistakes and seeing as I've read the book as well, this movie is fairly stupid, but good enough for a rainy day.Around 90% or more of the population is rendered blind after watching a meteor shower. I'm not even sure how that's possible as it's not dark all over the earth at the same time, but nevertheless it is what it is. Aside from a few people who managed to not get a chance to see it, no one was immune from blindness. The meteor shower has also managed to drop off a bunch of spores that grow into killer plants. The book has more detail on how the Triffids attacked the blind and helpless, but this was largely written out of the movie.Our hero, merchant seaman Bill Masen is able to see as he was in hospital for an eye operation and therefore he missed the meteor shower, along with acting classes and rehearsals it seems. He wakes the next morning to find that the hospital in in disarray and relatively empty and after coming across his blind doctor, he's made aware of what's happened. On venturing out into the streets of London he finds the streets scattered with people all stumbling about and falling over each other. If this wasn't a movie these scenes wouldn't be out of the ordinary for any normal London morning after the pubs and clubs have closed.Anyway our hero makes his way to the train station where a train is scheduled to come in and while some have agreed that the train crashing into the platform is a great scene once the blind passengers come stumbling from the carriages, however at the speed that this train arrives, it can only mean that even while blind, the driver stupidly kept feeding the engine lumps of wood or coal and didn't just come to a complete stop for safety reasons. The same can be said for the steamer still out at sea. Why continue to run if your crew is blind? It also implies that anyone who works in the boiler room or off duty crew who may have been asleep all left their posts or stayed awake to go and watch the meteors.This is just a very silly film that annoyingly strays too far from the book and in doing so stops making much sense. The couple in the lighthouse would have to be the most annoying as the woman did nothing except scream the whole time, or take abuse from her husband. In one of the biggest plot holes ever, there are Triffids swarming all over a small barren piece of rock,(not soil), that is constantly sprayed with sea water; the same sea water that just manages to kill them. No such event took place in the book.The acting and special effects are generally pretty poor, and this is yet another movie with a solid and interesting story that gets handled so badly when committed to film. This may be interesting for a late night movie or if there's just nothing better on, but it's not cinematic brilliance. It's annoying that this no longer has the same appeal to me as it used to, and I can look past the bad effects, but I can't overlook the amount of stupidity in this.

Steve Sekely directed this adaptation of the John Wyndham novel that stars Howard Keel as sailor Bill Masen, who awakens after an operation to find that he is one of the few people left in the world who did not witness a shower of meteorites landing worldwide, which disastrously left most of the world's population blind. As if that wasn't bad enough, alien seed pods sprouted walking killer plants that are invading everywhere! Bill leaves for France, picking up a young girl and then a woman named Christine(played by Nicole Maurey) along the way, as they try to find a safe haven, and a way to defeat the menace. Mediocre film is nicely filmed in widescreen but lacks well-written characters and features inadequate monster suits. A nice try though. Look out for future "Doctor Who" companion Carole Ann Ford as a victim.

The reason I'm now watching this British horror movie from the early '60s is because since I've been reviewing films and TV appearances of the original "Dallas" stars in chronological order for the last two months, I'm presently at 1962 with this, Howard Keel's contribution to my list that I've just mentioned. He plays an American Navy man in England with bandages in his eyes when a meteor shower blinds many of the public wandering outside the European countries which includes France and Spain as well. He eventually also finds a pre-teen English girl and a French woman who also managed to avoid the blindness of that night. Oh, and yes, there are monster plants of the title killing anyone they encounter abounding around. I'll stop there and just say that despite the pretty ridiculous premise I've just described, I found myself liking the acting and therefore somewhat caring for the characters. That also includes a married couple in a lighthouse tower who are scientists that have no contact at all with the other characters. One of whom, Janette Scott, is quite luminous in her beauty and does some great screaming when the occasion is provided. As for those plants, well, I thought when shown at night some effective chills were provided but when shown in the daytime, the cheesiness was in abundance. So when I watched this on YouTube, it was on a program called Cinema Insomnia hosted by a Mr. Lobo who did plenty of sketches that were amateurishly funny and had also some vintage commercials, and various trailers that also provided some enjoyment for me. So in summary, I enjoyed The Day of the Triffids for some scares and unintentional humor which was good enough for me.