Fahrenheit 451

[room 237]

I think this should definitely be included here as this was a classic and one film which does even to this day have a hold on me and one film i could watch many times but never get bored of it. I think it is the music which also helped make this film a truly worthwhile masterpiece also with the skill of direction from Francois Truffaut.
Imagine an age where books are banned and it would be an offence to own or even be caught reading a book, and where Fireman are employed to burn books or properties which have been found to be holding vast libraries instead of putting out fires.

[Briant]

Humanities books lie open with their metaphysical flies undone
Impervious to the ocean's tides and Fahrenheit Four Five One......

A couple of lines from a poem I wrote in 2000 about the Internet called 'Interface'

Yes, it is a film to make you think about a possible dystopian future!

[christoph404]

Originally Posted by room 237 I think this should definitely be included here as this was a classic and one film which does even to this day have a hold on me and one film i could watch many times but never get bored of it. I think it is the music which also helped make this film a truly worthwhile masterpiece also with the skill of direction from Francois Truffaut. Imagine an age where books are banned and it would be an offence to own or even be caught reading a book, and where Fireman are employed to burn books or properties which have been found to be holding vast libraries instead of putting out fires.

Have you read the book by Ray Bradbury? If you enjoyed the film you would certainly enjoy the novel. Bradbury was furious with Michael Moore for what he considered a plundering of his book title for Moore's film "Fahrenheit 911" Bradbury tried to stop Moore using it but was unable to, I think he had a point myself. The film is great but apparently on set filming was tense as Oskar Werner had a big falling out with director Truffaut early on and the animosity remained till the end. There is a story that Werner changed his hairstyle mid filming to deliberately cause continuity problems, whether thats true or not I don't know. The director was French speaking, luckily for Julie Christie she could speak French! It was the only English language film directed by Truffaut and he had written a script of the film before fully mastering the English language, he is reputed to have been dissapointed by the stilted dialogue in the English speaking version and preferred the dubbed French language version which he supervised. Terence Stamp was originally going to play Montag but ducked out of it at the last minute! And the music is indeed superb, composed by Bernard Hermann who's other credits include Taxi Driver, North by North West, Cape Fear, The Day the Earth Stood Still, to name a few.

[dylan]

Originally Posted by christoph404 Have you read the book by Ray Bradbury? If you enjoyed the film you would certainly enjoy the novel. Bradbury was furious with Michael Moore for what he considered a plundering of his book title for Moore's film "Fahrenheit 911" Bradbury tried to stop Moore using it but was unable to, I think he had a point myself.

Unfortunately Keats was dead when Bradbury wrote Golden Apples of the Sun, so was Shakespeare when Ray penned Something Wicked This Way Comes and so was Walt Whitman when he wrote I Sing the Body Electric.

As an admirer of the book I was disappointed with the film. What Bradbury intended as an attack on McCarthyism and 50s America became, under Truffaut, something that seemed to be about the occupation of France. When I first read the book I envisaged someone like Lumet tackling it and casting Brando as Montag and Steiger as The Captain - and with the robot dog!

D.

[MarcMorris]

Some of this was filmed up the road from where I live - the old 60s looking flats are in Roehampton in SW London.

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by dylan Unfortunately Keats was dead when Bradbury wrote Golden Apples of the Sun, so was Shakespeare when Ray penned Something Wicked This Way Comes and so was Walt Whitman when he wrote I Sing the Body Electric.

They all steal ("borrow") from each other

Steve

[christoph404]

its interesting looking at some of the futuristic designs in the film, I remember watching the film in the 70s and thinking that the large flat TV screen on the wall of Montags house, above the fireplace and center piece of the room was a bit far fetched! Who would have thought eh?

[GRAEME]

I think this was Truffaut's only English language film? Am I right?

[christoph404]

Originally Posted by GRAEME I think this was Truffaut's only English language film? Am I right?

yes quite right, as I mentioned earlier Truffaut was reportedly not happy with the English speaking version and preferred the dubbed French language version.

[blacknorth]

I think this film is rather beautiful and the stilted form of dialogue actually goes some way towards achieving that - who knows how conversation and dialect would suffer in a society without the written word? A wonderful conceit when you think about it and missed, I think, by Bradbury in his novel. And that wonderful scene where Werner reads aloud from David Copperfield in a cracked, broken voice - not to mention one of the most moving end-pieces in cinematic history.

A classic indeed.

Thank God Terence Stamp dropped out.