- Is this it? - Must be. He was driving.
He can see. There's someone here who can see!
- Get him out. - Might be more than one.
Where's the door?
- Get him out! - Get him out! Get him out!
- We want him! - Out, you bastard! Out!
Out! Out! Out!
- He's locked the door. - You can see, can't you?
- Find the back. - Where is the back door?
Get him out! Get him out! Get him out!
Come out!
- Come out! - Let me get in there!
You can see, you bastard! You're staying with us!
Wait! Here! This.
(SHE SOBS)
Hang on. We'll pick up those triffid guns and find somewhere safe to stay, all right?
(CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS)
I've never seen a triffid climb the side of a building, but just in case.
- It's on the table if you want to eat. - Right.
Where the hell did you get that?
Liberated it while your back was turned.
It's just a gesture. Might be my last chance.
It looks great.
There's no cutlery, I'm afraid.
That's a bit off! I thought this was a show flat.
Cutlery is kept in drawers. It doesn't show.
I got a couple of penknives on our shopping trip.
They should do the job.
Just think. All the labour that went into building this place.
We're probably the only people to use it.
What will happen to this city if no one comes?
I suppose in time it'll just decay and collapse,
like those places they keep finding in the South American jungle.
Oh!
I didn't notice you liberate that!
No point in leaving it to go bad.
It's quite a good one, too, judging from the price tag.
Have a taste. I'm sure your palate's better than mine.
- What makes you say that? - Nothing. I...I just...
Assumed I was one of the filthy rich?
No, I didn't mean that. I...
Oh, look, taste it!
Full-bodied.
Mature.
Just a touch pretentious, I'd have said!
(GUNSHOTS AND SHOUTING OUTSIDE)
Come on, let's eat.
There's your penknife. You can tell me your history.
- Speak with your mouth full. - Do you mind if I don't?
- Not if it offends you. - Go into history, I mean.
- Rather not? - There's nothing very exciting to hide.
My mother died a year ago and I went to live with my father.
You're right. We were comfortably off.
But all that, all the details of my life, they were yesterday.
It's the same with you.
I think I'd like to know you from today, and you know me from today.
You might not like what I was yesterday. I might not like what you were.
I don't want us to decide that we don't like each other.
I need your company.
And I need yours.
- So let's start from today, then. - Fair enough.
So what do we do?
Well...
The situation as I see it, we've got to get out of London.
There's still water in the tanks, but soon there won't be.
The city will begin to stink like a sewer.
There are already corpses lying round. Soon there'll be more.
That may mean cholera, typhoid, God knows what.
It's important to get out before that kind of thing starts.
So...
Where do we go? Any ideas?
Somewhere out of the way... with its own water supply. A well, perhaps.
And as high up as possible for a good, clean wind.
Lake District, Cornwall, Exmoor, Wales...
We'll have to get to towns for supplies once it's safe again.
- How long will that be? - I don't know.
How about Sussex? The South Downs. I know a place there.
It's a beautiful old farmhouse overlooking Pulborough.
It's not very high up. But Dennis and Mary, they're great.
They're real do-it-yourself environment freaks.
A wind pump for water... Make their own electricity. All that sort of thing.
Sounds ideal. A bit heavily populated round there, but...
Look, let's leave the choice of the place for a moment
and get down to what we need to do first.
Let's make a list. I like lists!
Now, then...
Oh, ta.
- Bill... - Hmm?
- A signal. - It means there's someone else who can see.
What are you doing?
Marking the position so we can find it tomorrow.
Too dangerous to go out tonight.
It's the university tower, I think, but I'm not sure. Anyway, better going in daylight.
For all we know, it could be a trap.
Got them!
Coming back, dear.
(WHIPLASH SOUND)
(BREAKING GLASS)
Tom?
Tom? Tom, what is it?
Tom?
(BREAKING GLASS IN DISTANCE)
(MAN IN DISTANCE) For God's sake, help us!
(WOMAN SOBS IN DISTANCE)
Do you hear those poor people?
(SOBBING CONTINUES)
(CRASHING AND BANGING)
(MAN) You listen to me.
These people have got just as much bloody right to live as you have.
It's not their fault they're blind, but it is gonna be your bloody fault if they starve!
- There's nothing we can do. - Of course there is.
What do you think I've been doing? I've been showing them where to find food.
That's what they need - food!
There's thousands of them out there. There's tons of food.
You could be showing them where it is. But what are you doing? I'll tell you.
You're bloody well looking after your own skins. Damn you, Jack, I'm all right!
- Let's try round the back. - (MAN) Of course you could.
All you've got to do is to help me to show them.
God almighty, aren't you bloody well human?!
(ARMY MAN) Use your head. How long do you think that food will last?
How the hell do I know?
But if bastards like you don't come and help,
there aren't gonna be many left alive by the time they clear this mess up.
I know why you won't come and help.
You're scared bloody stiff if they get it, there'll be less left for you!
Look, you can come in by yourself or you can clear off.
Hold on to that, brother.
I'll sort you bloody lot out.
(GUNSHOTS AND SCREAMING)
Tom! George!
Stay your ground!
They've all gone. No one was hurt. They fired over their heads.
Poor devils couldn't see to know that.
God, they must have been terrified.
Yeah.
- Can I have a cigarette? - Yeah.
Ta.
He's right, isn't he, that man?
We've got to help them.
He's right. And he's wrong.
I don't think there is anyone over the horizon who'll clear this mess up.
It won't be cleared up.
We could show some of them where to find food for a few days or weeks.
- But what happens afterwards? - So we should leave them to rot?
I think it comes to a very simple choice.
Either we say, "There's been a catastrophe.
"Let's start again. Let's save what can be saved..."
Or we say, "No, those people will die.
"We must keep them alive as long as possible."
On the face of it, that's the most humane choice.
For us, it's probably suicide.
We'd die. They'd die. We'd all die.
Would that be making the best use of ourselves?
- You've made up your mind. - Look...
I don't like it any more than you do.
But in the end do we make a moral gesture? That's all it can be, a gesture!
Or do we join those people in there? Start to rebuild some kind of life for ourselves?
They intend to survive.
It's going to be a pretty strange sort of world that's left to survive in.
I don't think we're going to like it a lot.
(HORN TOOTS)
Morning.
I'll give you a rough idea of how things stand. There's about 35 of us.
All sorts of people.
We hope that more will come in. Coffee?
Out of those here now, most of them can see.
The rest are wives and husbands. And there are two or three blind children.
Sit down. The general idea is that we move out of here tomorrow, if you can be ready,
to be on the safe side, you understand.
We decided to go this evening for the same reason.
- Have you got any supplies? - Not yet. We've gotta do that today.
- We do have anti-triffid gear. - Oh?
Why do you give that such priority? Do sit down.
We know that a certain number have escaped, probably from the zoo.
We've seen them near Regent's Park.
They killed my father and the woman who worked for him.
I'm sorry to hear that. I know that triffids can be very nasty
in parts of the world where they're not controlled, but I think here they're a limited problem.
Go ahead. Most of them are well fenced-in.
They break down fences if they're not properly watched.
- I used to work on a triffid farm. - Then I bow to your experience.
Anyway, today we must get everything together which we need to take.
Here's a list. Find a lorry, or two if you can both drive one.
- I think I can. - Good.
Here's the addresses of some warehouses.
Stick to the list - cans and packets of food.
We don't want a duplication of goods.
There's a meeting this evening to discuss everything. Got a pistol?
No.
- No. - Better, just in case.
- No, I don't think so, thank you. - Fire into the air. It's effective.
We've got to survive.
Thank you.
Two days ago, we'd have been arrested for this.
Hey, don't think about it. Let's just keep working.
Very good. Excellent!
- What are these? - That's the anti-triffid gear.
Guns, masks, suits, that sort of thing.
Did you see any triffids while you were out?
Not this time, no.
There have been no reports of sightings by anyone else.
There won't be many in the centre of London. It's like a desert to them.
They need soil for their roots, so they'll move to the country, which is where we're going!
Look, we've done our bit - got two loads of food. We're taking that gear!
All right. if it doesn't take up very much room.
Don't forget the meeting at half past nine.
He thinks I'm bananas. Well, he's got a shock coming.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
As you possibly know, my name is Michael Beadley.
This is Elspeth Carey, Dr Vorless, our medical officer Miss Burgh,
and Major Anderson.
We are a self-elected committee. Since speed and organisation are essential,
there's been no time for democratic formalities.
We intend to establish a community of those who've survived the catastrophe,
and we wish to set before you the facts as we see them and the future as we see it.
Tomorrow, we leave London.
Tonight, therefore, you must decide whether you wish to join with us,
or whether your views are so different from ours
that you would prefer to set up a group of your own.
The choice is yours.
The world as we knew it has ended.
Some of us may be feeling it is the end of everything. But it isn't.
It can be, if we allow it.
During the last 35 years, the earth could have been destroyed by a nuclear holocaust.
The earth has not been destroyed.
It can still provide us with food and raw materials.
We have repositories of knowledge that can teach us to do anything we have done before.
We have the means.
And we have the health and the strength to begin to build again.
Major Anderson will say a few words.
Thank you.
Good evening.
The convoy will depart at 1200 hours.
We cannot risk infection by stopping longer than this.
We have obtained certain vaccines with which our medical officer will inoculate us.
But we cannot protect ourselves against all disease.
Any epidemic amongst us will wipe us out or, at best, seriously reduce our number.
For this reason, we have been gathering so many of the basic necessities of life.
For a minimum of one year,
we shall have to exist in what will be virtually a state of siege.
(WOMAN) It is the future which is important.
All of us will have our parts to play in creating that future.
The men must work.
The women must have babies.
We can support a limited number of women who cannot see,
because they will have babies who can see.
We cannot support men who cannot see.
In our community, babies will be more important than husbands.
It follows from this that the one man/ one woman relationship as we understand it
will probably become an illogical luxury.
We shall find that in many aspects of our lives,
the laws as we knew them have been abolished by circumstances,
and it will fall to us to make new laws suitable for the conditions in which we find ourselves.
Unless you find all this totally acceptable,
there is absolutely no point in even thinking of joining us.
(QUIET DISCUSSION)
- How many do you think will join? - Nearly all of them.
- Some women didn't like the sex angle. - They'll come round to it.
What's the choice? To have babies and a community to look after you,
or no babies and no one to look after you.
Most women want babies. A husband is just a logical means to an end!
What do you think the arrangements will be?
They're taking some women who can't see.
So I think it'll be every man who marries a girl who can see
must also take on one or two blind girls.
- Makes sense. - Yeah.
If I've got to have three wives...
...will you be one?
- On one condition. - What?
I pick the other two.
So, what's the arrangements for tonight, then?
Strict segregation into dormitories. There's no promiscuity till they say so.
(BELL RINGS) (MAN) Fire! Fire!
Fire! Fire!
The women are all right. They've got a separate way out. Get down the stairs.