Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ken Hunt, who writes:
Thomas,
I don’t know whether you’ve featured “The Day of the Triffids” before on your RITM series (I searched for “triffids” on your site and came up empty).
If not, there are three scenes in the 1962 movie where shortwave radios are used to listen for information during the post-Triffid apocalypse. First, in a navy ship’s radio room, second in a lighthouse, and finally, inside an estate near Cadiz, Spain.
The radios are all boat anchors.
Best wishes and 73s,
Ken Hunt
Thank you for the tip, Ken! Somehow I’ve made it through life without knowing about The Day of the Triffids. I’ll try to find an online source of the film and perhaps even read the book! Thank you!
Can anyone ID the radios in these screen shots? Please comment!
Day of the Triffids is a fabulous book. I read it in Grade 10 and it set me on a lifelong love of Science Fiction. The 1962 movie has not aged well. Special effects were not terribly advanced. From a 2023 viewpoint its kind of corny. But the radios are cool.
I, too, saw “Triffids” as a child and it resulted in many a nightmare! The movie diverges quite a bit from the Wyndham novel, and as movie special effects go, it’s pretty bad, even by the standards of the early 1960s. But scary nonetheless. The BBC made a couple of TV versions of “Triffids,” and they were much more faithful to the original written material.
Seeing (and hearing) all the shortwave radios in the movie must have planted a seed way back when…”Ici, Paree”… Got my first SW receiver (Zenith Transoceanic Royal 7000) in 1969.
A brief synopsis of the movie can be found here: https://www.classicmoviehub.com/blog/monsters-and-matinees-modern-sci-fi-owes-a-debt-to-day-of-the-triffids/
A couple of months ago someone I follow on Facebook posted asking what was the scariest movie you saw as a kid and I replied with The Day of the Triffids. 🙂
I recall being scared by it as well.
Scariest movie as a kid = Invasion of the Body Snatchers (original 1956 version)
That one really did it, gave me nightmares for a while after…
As a little kid, watching The Day of the Trifids gave me nightmares! Whoa…what a fun and spooky movie :^)
Was actually watching this movie again the other day (originally saw it way back in the UK growing up)
and spotted those old receivers as well.
You can watch it for free on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqFNAQymrtI&t=1174s
The novel on which the movie is based was written by John Wyndham and is well worth checking out.
David Pringle included The Day of the Triffids in his “Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels”.
I didn’t know about this film. But I still remember a radio theatre play on norwegian radio when I was a boy. I’ll watch that movie when I get back home. Thanks for the tip.
73
Egil – LA2PJ
Hi Egil,
I hope you enjoy it!
73
John
KC8RZM
The audio book, read by Simon West, is in my library. The actual location is particularly poignant for me ( Brighton and the South Downs) as I lived in this area as a child I often listen to it. Simon West brings the characters alive