As Good As It Gets

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The John Wyndham sci-fi novel THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS has long been a favourite of mine; it's a fantastic piece of writing, up there with the calibre of H. G. Wells. Sadly, the story has never translated particularly well to the screen, and it says something that when you search for the title on the IMDb the two results that first come up are the 1963 film - which changed so much from the book that it was almost unrecognisable - and the 2009 BBC adaptation, which was so terrible it's not worth mentioning.However, this 1981 miniseries version of the story is the most authentic one out there, and seen today it's actually very good. Sure, this production suffers from the usual problems of the era, from the cheapness of the cameras making it look at times like an amateur film, and the occasional stodginess of the narrative, to the stilted dialogue and some bad acting (Emma Relph is a particular disappointment). But THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS overcomes these problems to provide exciting, fast-paced entertainment.There are six episodes here and the first one is the worst, unwisely throwing in tons of back story and exposition which makes the pace crawl along. Things pick up in the second episode, and all of the major plot points from the book are covered here and in detail. I particularly liked the way that writer Douglas Livingstone kept all of the important subtext from the book, Wyndham's musings on the importance of society and the like, and incorporated it into the backdrop here. The rubber triffids make for an acceptable menace, and the filming locations are all fine; overall it feels realistic throughout, and I particularly liked the handling of the blind population and the late introduction of the ruthless soldiers. I'm a huge fan of BBC TV from the 1980s and this is another string to the bow of a production company that could once do no wrong.

Stylistically speaking, Ken Hannam's production of the classic SF text is very much of its time, with studio-bound sequences alternating with film inserts. The triffids themselves are ingeniously made and cleverly photographed, with the emphasis on their stinging centers and their lengthy stalks. With the accompaniment of creepy music (by Christopher Gunning), they help to create an ambiance that is truly frightening, a dystopian world whose citizens are unable to see, either physically or emotionally.As Bill, John Duttine is both angst-ridden yet determined to ensure that the world should be rid of these threatening plants. His face remains set in an expression of grim determination, contrasting with that of Emma Relph's Jo. There are other actors in the cast, but director Hannam deliberately focuses on the protagonists, thereby emphasizing the importance of Bill's task; as one of the few people still possessed with sight, he has to work mostly independently relying on a combination of native cunning and animal intelligence to succeed in his task.The half-hour episode format works splendidly, helping to provide viewers with a series of climaxes that sustains their attention. If nothing else, DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS proves the old adage that directors and production designers need minimal props in order to create suspense and sustain our attention. If the script is good, and the filming technique cleverly accomplished, our attention can be readily maintained.

Being a keen fan of John Wyndham's books, and the earlier 1962 screen adaptation of "Day Of The Triffids", I purchased this DVD based purely on the strength of the votes on the IMDb site. ( This six part mini series was released on DVD in Australia / Region 4 about a year ago ) This 1981 BBC mini-series is far more faithful to the original book than was the 1962 film starring Howard Keel, both in story and characters. The three lead actors : John Duttine, Emma Relph and Maurice Colbourne are all very capable in their roles, and come across convincingly as average people thrown into a maelstrom of lawless society and predatory flesh eating plants. The series has an unsettling and eerie atmosphere and has been well directed by Ken Hannam to hold viewer interest throughout the 160 minute running time.My only real gripe about the series is the obvious low budget that was afforded to it's production by the BBC. Many of the shots are clearly on studio sets, and for the subsequent days after the entire populace of London is blinded by the meteorite shower, their is minimal footage of any type of mob chaos, crashed vehicles, rioting, fires etc. Strangely, out of a population of over six million Londoners, most of them not only go blind, but they seem to have subsequently disappeared, as the city streets are strangely deserted ? ( I can only guess it was cheaper to film deserted streets, as opposed to filming hundreds of extras stumbling around feigning vision loss ! ) Never to mind, for these few faults, this is still an entertaining and captivating piece of sci-fi that demonstrates a good, strong story is central to making solid entertainment.

This movie was...well...pretty goofy. The soundtrack is practically taken out of an episode of Mr. Rogers, and the kids laughing in the audience at the beginning of the film is a bit weird. I got a kick out of the football fans trying to sing their cheer about "the famous arsenal," but all the rest of this movie was coated in moss and overgrowth. Maurice Colburne does an awesome job, though.Unlike a lot of Hollywood productions, this film actually stays somewhat close to the book it's based on. John Duttine (Bill) I could've sworn was in "Jesus of Nazareth." If they could've had some more scenes with people wandering the streets it would've felt more like a catastrophe. Ditch the soundtrack and it's a decent film.