The Day of the Triffids (film)

Most plants thrive on animal waste, but I'm afraid this mutation possesses an appetite for the animal itself.

The Day of the Triffids is a 1962 film about a merchant navy officer who must find a way to conquer tall, aggressive plants which are feeding on people and animals.

Directed by Steve Sekely. Written by Bernard Gordon, based on the novel by John Wyndham.

Man eating plants! Spine chilling terror!  (taglines)

Narrator

• In nature's scheme of things, there are certain plants which are carnivorous, or eating plants. The Venus Fly Trap is one of the best known of these plants. A fly drawn to the plant by its sweet syrup, brushes against triggered bristles. Just how these plants digest their pray has yet to be explained. There is much still to learn about these fascinating eating plants. This is a newcomer: Triffidus Celestus, brought to earth on the meteorite during the Day of the Triffids.
• All reports confirm that the world is witnessing an unprecedented shower of meteorites. There is no record of a display such as this in recorded history. At observatories astronomers are noting this fantastic phenomenon, and are carefully calculating the effect on our solar system. The consensus of option is that the meteorites burn up from the intense heat before they reach the Earth.
• A simple method had been found to destroy the Triffids. Sea water, from which life on Earth had sprung, became the means of preserving life on Earth. Mankind survived and once again have reason to give thanks.

Other

• Mr. Coker : [to Bill] Most plants thrive on animal waste, but I'm afraid this mutation possesses an appetite for the animal itself.
• Karen Goodwin: [as her husband is boarding up the lighthouse door] It's like being nailed in your own coffin.
• Tom Goodwin: Keep behind me. There's no sense in getting killed by a plant.

Dialogue

Bill Masen: Feel guilty, hmmm?

Christine Durrant: Maybe.

Bill Masen: You know why?

Christine Durrant: Why?

Bill Masen: Because you survived. Bettina, Coker & all the rest dead. And you're alive, and you wonder why.

Christine Durrant: That's exactly right.

Bill Masen: Yeah, I know the feeling. During the war, you get a ship shot out from underneath you. All your friends gone, and only a handful left. And you ask yourself "Why me? Why not someone better?"

---

Christine Durrant: [seeing the devastated French naval base at Toulon] Where will we go in Spain?

Bill Masen: Well, there's a big American naval base in southern Spain at Cadiz. They're equipped for disaster. They got supplies. They're disciplined.

Christine Durrant: So were the French at Toulon.

Taglines

• Spine Chilling Terror
• Beware the triffids... they grow... know... walk... talk... stalk... and kill!
• Triffids take over the world! From the greatest science-fiction novel of all time!
• Man eating plants! Spine chilling terror!
• The triffids are coming! The triffids are growing! The triffids are killing!
• From the greatest science fiction novel of all time!

Cast

• Howard Keel — Bill Masen
• Nicole Maurey — Christine Durrant
• Janette Scott — Karen Goodwin
• Kieron Moore — Tom Goodwin
• Mervyn Johns — Mr. Coker
• Ewan Roberts — Dr. Soames
• Alison Leggatt — Miss Coker
• Geoffrey Matthews — Luis de la Vega
• Gilgi Hauser — Teresa de la Vega
• John Tate — Captain — S.S. Midland
• Carole Ann Ford — Bettina
• Arthur Gross — Flight 356 radioman
• Colette Wilde — Nurse Jamieson

External links

• The Day of the Triffids quotes at the Internet Movie Database