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DVD Fahrenheit 451
The classic science fiction novel by Ray Bradbury was a curious choice for one of the leading directors of the French New Wave, François Truffaut. But from the opening credits onward (spoken, not written on screen), Truffaut takes Bradbury's fascinating premise and makes it his own. The futuristic society depicted in Fahrenheit 451 is a culture without books. Firemen still race around in red trucks and wear helmets, but their job is to start fires: they ferret out forbidden stashes of books, douse them with gasoline, and make public bonfires. Oskar Werner, the star of Truffaut's Jules and Jim, plays a fireman named Montag, whose exposure to David Copperfield wakens an instinct toward reading and individual thought. (That's why books are banned--they give people too many ideas.) In an intriguing casting flourish, Julie Christie plays two roles: Montag's bored, drugged-up wife and the woman who helps kindle the spark of rebellion. The great Bernard Herrmann wrote the hard-driving music; Nicolas Roeg provided the cinematography. Fahrenheit 451 received a cool critical reception and has never quite been accepted by Truffaut fans or sci-fi buffs. Its deliberately listless manner has always been a problem, although that is part of its point; the lack of reading has made people dry and empty. If the movie is a bit stiff (Truffaut did not speak English well and never tried another project in English), it nevertheless is full of intriguing touches, and the ending is lyrical and haunting. --Robert Horton
Oskar Werner and Julie Christie star in this fine adaptation of Ray Bradbury's novel about a society where books are burned and all information is gained through the use of wall-mounted tvs. Werner stars as Guy Montag, a firefighter. However, his job is not to put out fires, but to gather up books and burn them. Christie plays a dual role in the movie. Her first character is Linda, Montag's ditsy wife who spends her days popping pills and watching propaganda on her television. Christie's second role is that of Clairese, a revolutionary schoolteacher who defies the powers that be and continues to read.
As the movie goes along, Montag and Clairese develop an alliance; Montag has started hoarding books instead of burning them, while Clairese describes a place where fellow readers have set up their own society, memorized complete books, and taken the names of the books for themselves. Meanwhile, Julie has turned Montag in to his own firefighters, who raid Montag's house, confiscate his books (save for one) and force Montag to burn the rest himself.
However, he turns on the firefighters and escapes to the society of book readers, who in turn have faked Montag's shooting by the authorities. He and Clairese are now free to live together amongst the other book lovers.
I found the movie's theme to be especially interesting. Being a Master's degree student in library science, I was especially intrigued by the degree of censorship in the movie, and what could become of society if indeed there were no books to be had. I thought Julie Christie did an excellent job in her dual roles as Linda and Clairese, while Oskar Werner was very good as well. On a lighter note, I liked the person who took the name "Martian Chronicles" , another of Bradbury's novels, in the society. I recommend this fine movie. The storyline is excellent and gives us a look at what society might be like without books.
disappointing adaptation
While the original book was not particularly well written, the theme is one of the more poignant and enduring in modern literature--often placed with the other great anti-totalitarian visions of dystopia 1984 and Brave New World.
Sadly, the film adaptation conveys little of the original book's sense of urgency and seriousness. Between weak directing and uninspired acting, the final product is rather flat and unemotional, and there is very little one could honestly call "memoreable"--particularly if you have read the book. Worst of all, significant parts of the book (which is not that long to begin with) are cut out, making the story even more shallow, and the significantly altered ending is horrendous. The image of people milling around the woods reciting literature is one of a 60's experimental art film, rather than the realistic vision of dystopia Bradbury originally created.
Can't stop thinking about it!
I watched the film on TCM last night and I can't get it off of my mind. I recently purchased the book and have yet to read read it. But the film touched me. At first the whole plot seems completely unrealistic, but it pulls you in. It makes you want to read every novel you can get your hands on. I reminds us that without creativity and imagination we have nothing. If only everyone could experience the adventures of great literature.
It was almost like a twilight zone episode. I will never forget it, and I will watch it time and time again. I highly recommend this. I cannot wait to get the full version from the novel itself.
Charlton Heston seemed fond of starring in apocalyptic science-fiction films in the late 1960s and early '70s. There was Planet of the Apes, of course, and The Omega Man. But there was also 1973's Soylent Green, a strange detective film (based on Harry Harrison's Make Room! Make Room!) set in 2022 and starring Heston as a Manhattan cop trying to solve a murder in the overpopulated, overheated city. His roommate (a necessity in the overcrowded metropolis), played by Edward G. Robinson, tries telling him about a better time on Earth before there were no more resources or room left; but Heston doesn't care. Directed by Richard Fleischer (The Vikings), the film has a curious but largely successful mix of mystery and bleak futuristic vision, somewhat like... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Richard Fleischer DVD Release Date: Released the 05 August 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Michael Radford's adaption of George Orwell's foreboding literary premonition casts John Hurt and Suzanna Hamilton as lovers who must keep their courtship secret. Aside from criminalizing sex and interpersonal relationships, the ruling party in their country Oceania both fabricates reality and reconstructs history for the sake of oppressing the masses. They brainwash their citizens via large, propaganda-spewing TV monitors installed in their living rooms, which also inspect everyone's activities. Hurt and Hamilton are among the few we see desperately trying to fight the system by keeping control of their thoughts and beliefs. While the atmosphere becomes a bit too stifling at times, the images are quite striking with their muted colors and dilapidated sets. In an interesting bit of... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): John Hurt - Richard Burton - Suzanna Hamilton Director(s): Michael Radford DVD Release Date: Released the 04 March 2003 This item is currently not available.
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The best-selling novel by Michael Crichton was faithfully adapted for this taut 1971 thriller, about a team of scientists racing against time to destroy a deadly alien virus that threatens to wipe out life on Earth. As usual with any Crichton-based movie, the emphasis is on an exciting clash between nature and science, beginning when virologists discover the outer-space virus in a tiny town full of corpses. Projecting total contamination, the scientists isolate the deadly strain in a massive, high-tech underground lab facility, which is rigged for nuclear destruction if the virus is not successfully controlled. The movie spends a great deal of time covering the scientific procedures of the high-pressure investigation, and the rising tensions between scientists who have been forced to work... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Arthur Hill - James Olson Director(s): Robert Wise DVD Release Date: Released the 01 April 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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After creating many of the innovative special effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey, Douglas Trumbull tried his hand at directing, and 1971's Silent Running marked an impressive debut. (In addition to creating the visual effects for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and directing 1983's Brainstorm, Trumbull later turned to the creation of high-tech cinematic amusement park rides.) One of the best science fiction films of the 1970s, Silent Running stars Bruce Dern as Freeman Lowell, a nature-loving crewmember aboard the Valley Forge, a gigantic spaceship in a small fleet that carries the last surviving forests of the Earth, which has fallen victim to overpopulation and ecological neglect.
Freeman's name reflects his nonconformist philosophy,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bruce Dern Director(s): Douglas Trumbull DVD Release Date: Released the 21 May 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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