Rating: 
Summary: Back to the future
Review: "Look, mummy, there's going to be a fire!" exclaims the young boy as hero Montag goes off on his duty to keep people from learning. Francois Truffaut's first English language film is an indictment of closed mindedness, censorship and probably Communism.Oskar Werner, as Montag, goes through a metamorphosis in this movie. First, he dispels the notion that firemen once put out fires, then morphs from book burner to book reader to revolutionary with the help of Julie Christie's alter ego. Christie plays two roles in the film -- Montag's vacuous wife and the school teacher that first questions his happiness as a book burner and later aids his fulfillment as agent of change in a bookless society. This little film, that couldn't keep up with its big brother book, still packs quite a wallop. The "future" presented in this flick definitely seems like the past in 2004. Still, the message of anti-intellectualism is as rich and poignant today as anytime. Even by digital 2004 standards "Farenheit 451" remains a memorable landmark about a time in world history when people worried about things as mundane as antiintellectualism, book burning, government intrustion in personal lives, and seeking life experience greater and more meaningful than looking nice, having a good figure and an empty head.
Rating: 
Summary: Skill and High Art.
Review: This is Fahrenheit the way it was meant to be. Truffaut is a master film maker. I also recommend "Two English Girls" and "Jules and Jim" as well. It's impossible not to think of the Heinrich Heine quote, "Where one burns books; one will soon burn people" while watching it. The inversion of a fire fighters who, rather than put out fires, start them was a very innovative idea on Bradbury's part. The main character is quite compelling and easily evokes our sympathy. This work is prescient and timeless. In today's talk show era, do books still not remain dangerous and subversive?
Rating: 
Summary: An English Teacher puts his "two cents" in...
Review: I teach 10th grade English on Long Island, New York and have been teaching Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" for the past 15 years. As someone who knows the book intimately, I have to say that Francois Truffaut's version of the movie just barely captures Bradbury's intent in writing the novel. The movie itself is a masterpiece of Truffaut's style of filmmaking. Bernard Herrmann's score is one of his best. But, the film lacks the drive of the book. Oskar Werner's German accent and stiff acting detracts from the movie. Quite often my students would ask me, "what did he say"? One of the most glaring omissions from the book is the absence of the Mechanical Hound. The Mechanical Hound had a significant role in the book and I believe was left out because of the special effects requirements that were probably cost prohibitive back in 1966. Another omission is the leaving out of the character Professor Faber.
Other things... no "green bullet" in the ears, no boulevard of high speed drivers and Montag running across ten lanes of the boulevard while "teenagers" try to run him down, why change Montag's wife's name from Mildred (in the novel) to Linda (in the movie)?, and finally, why have Clarise reappear at the end of the movie when in the novel she "disappears"? All these questions and omissions change the story. While the skeleton of the novel is there, purists will want to wait for the supposed on again, off again, remake that Mel Gibson was supposedly going to make. To watch this movie is an experience in Truffaut's filmmaking and you won't be disappointed. For fans of the novel, however, this movie will let you down. Watch those wires holding up the flying police!!! Or were they supposed to be antenna's??? And what's with the other fireman, FabIAN and his looks to the camera all the time?? Finally, pay CLOSE attention in the school scene at the "headmaster" who peeks out the sliding window.... Fabian in a wig??????
Rating:
Summary: This is a worthwhile DVD to buy
Review: I like Ray Bradbury. I like when Ray Bradbury is done well on the wide screen. This is an excellent adaptation of the book. I would have liked the mechanical hound to have been included, but that might not have been possible with 60s video technology. It would have been hokey or unrealistic with paper mache.
I like the DVD transfer quality too. This is engaging work. I hope others get a chance to enjoy this well done production. Thank you Ray!
Rating:
Summary: This film is a real scorcher
Review: This was such a great movie. Generally, I'm not a huge fan of older films, but this film oozed 60's cool with the elevated train (I loved the way passengers exited it!), funky interior decorations, music and clothing styles.
But that is only part of it. I really enjoyed the performance of Oskar Werner, I had never seen his work before. He brought a strong sense of bewilderment to his role. He effectively conveyed the sense that he knows there is something wrong with society, but is unsure about how to deal with it, having followed and upheld the rules all his life, and especially since everyone around him is so oblivious, namely his wife.
My only problem was the ending. I felt the book people were a little strange. I really don't see how the little society they built up was some kind of utopia. It seemed more like a mental institution to me. If I had to choose between living with the book people and living with no books but lots of TV, I would probably choose the latter. I haven't read the book though, does anyone know if the book people are in the book, or is that the creation of Truffaut?
Anyway, please see this film! You will love it. Especially if you are the literary type.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Concept Movie
Review: As a lover of all books and a fierce opposer to all types of censorship, I believe this movie is excellently done. I never read the Bradbury story, but having watched this film, I now want to very much. The idea of preserving books inside people is brilliant. I was shocked when I finally recognized that Julie Christie was playing both the wife and the heroine. Wow! What a good acting job for me not to have recognized this for most of the film. I am usually slightly more observant than that.
Like many Sci-Fi stories and films, this story has an incredibly important message, and it is interestingly presented with many elements of living human drama explored and well portrayed by actors and good directing. I would rank this movie with some of the all-time greats as far as profound messages including Metropolis, Blade Runner, and Forbidden Planet. But since I also think Rocky Horror is a good Sci-Fi film, though in a spoofy kind of way, you might not want to take my opinion on this one. Read a few other reviews too before purchasing. I really loved this movie and recommend it, but I have my own tastes.
Rating:
Summary: Truffaut sci-fi in English and in color? It works for me!
Review: For a Truffaut film, this one is very odd. (1)The film is based on the science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury. Truffaut had made a career out of character studies clearly in the present tense. (2)The film is in color, a medium in which the director had never worked, nor had he the desire to move in this direction. (3)The film is filled with Hitchcockisms and Truffaut even employed Bernard Herrman (Hitchcock's music man) to write the soundtrack. (4)The film is in English. Truffaut did not speak the language! Despite being completely out of his element, the film is very effective, not so much as a science fiction story, but as a homage to the written word and as a warning of what can happen when a government, under the guise of protecting a social structure, curtails freedom of expression. Almost an anti-communist manifesto. The opening sequence is brilliant, with the credits being spoken against a backdrop of antennae, rather than allowing words onto the screen. Indeed, later in the film, some of the most dramatic images are close-ups of the insides of books: words. Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which book paper burns, and in the future, it is the job of firemen to burn any and every book that exists. Books empower the individual to think freely, and this is counter the objective of a society that wants to create a culture of sameness and conformity. Montag is a fire leader and is married to a pill popping conformist wife but finds himself drawn to rebellious book reading ex teacher. Both of these characters are played by Julie Christie, and this stoke of genius ads a whole new dimension to the story in general and Montag's character in particular. One day he decides to read one of these forbidden books, the novel "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens, and his brain becomes unshackled but with this freedom comes discontent. His becomes acutely aware that he is "not living, just killing time." Soon he will find himself outside of the system he worked to uphold.
Rating:
Summary: Fahrenheit 451: A Future of Fire
Review: From the opening shot of futuristic television
antennae, to the 24-inch "wall screen" (I mean, who
would ever use a television THAT big?) I knew
this was a film of vision.
Fahrenheit 451 follows Montag (formerly Guy Montag in
the book), an aryan fireman, as he learns the English
language and then lights his translation dictionary
on fire.
By far the most entertaining facet of the film
is Oskar Werner's accent presented in its original
monotone.
Even this, of course, grew tedious when Montag decided
to read me the first chapter of David Copperfield.
The film includes several 10-minute book burning montages
that kept me asking myself, "is there something more that
I'm not getting."
There wasn't.
Unfortunately most of the science fiction elements
(e.g. the firehouse's mechanical spider/dog with a
syringe leg) were precluded by it being 1966.
This caused many of the most physically suspenseful
portions of the book to be absent from the film.
Although a few attempts were made, such as the flying
men on wires which came close to fooling me when I was 8.
Strangely, the monorail exterior shots look good but the
interior train sequences, which could have easily been
done on a real train, do not.
So read your MAD Magazine while you can and prepare
for the future- Sprechen se Deutsch?
Rating:
Summary: BURN, BABY, BURN...
Review: Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which book paper will burn. It is the basis for the premise of this film, which is based upon the Ray Bradbury's classic sci-fi novel of the same name. The film takes the viewer to a stark future in which firemen start fires rather than put them out. Their main mission appears to be to root out books, wherever they may be found, and burn them. Those who harbor books in their home are breaking the law and are subject to arrest by the state. The written word is simply forbidden.
Oskar Werner plays the role of Guy Montag, a fireman who is married to a beautiful air-head named Linda, who spends her days popping pills, while glued to a wall screen TV. Played with appropriate bubble-brained inertia by the talented Julie Christie, this is just one of the dual roles she plays in this film. The other role is that of Clarisse, a would be school teacher and seeming misfit in that society, as she actually likes to talk about ideas, the very reason that books are forbidden. It seems that books are looked upon as giving people ideas, which is viewed by the state as a mechanism for making people unhappy with their lot.
When Clarisse singles out Montag for conversation, he is intrigued by the fact that she is capable of independent thought. It is not long before he, too, like those whose books he has burned, is also, to his wife's dismay, hoarding books. She feels that Montag is simply sucking the fun out of her life. Clarisse and Montag form an alliance of sorts, as his world comes tumbling down. Betrayed by his conformist wife Linda, Montag joins the ranks of fugitive book lovers, hunted by the very firemen with whom he served. These fugitives are not known by their names, but rather, by the title of the book to which they have committed to memory, in hopes that one day the world will once again be ready to accept that which they have committed to memory.
The film has a stark, futuristic quality about it. Symbolism is rampant throughout the film. The homes of those who hoard books are often homes that are cozy and reminiscent of homes of our book loving society today, while those of people who are with the program are stark and cold. The all black uniforms worn by the firemen are reminiscent of those worn by the storm troopers of Nazi Germany. The actions of the firemen, as they search for those who would hoard books, as well as the search for the books themselves, are also reminiscent of the search by the Nazis for those who would harbor those who were deemed undesirable under the Nazi regime, as well as the search for undesirables themselves. Oskar Werner's German accents underscores this imagery.
This is Francois Truffaut's first and only foray into the direction of an English language film. He himself was co-writer of the screenplay, which is perhaps why the imagery seems to supercedes the dialogue. There are many stylistic flourishes throughout the film. Ray Bradbury's, "The Martian Chronicles", is one of the books seen to be burning. It is also one of the books that a fugitive has committed to memory. Newspapers in the film consist of pictures only. Even the opening credits of the film are in keeping with the premise of the film that the written word is forbidden. As such, the opening credits are spoken. Moreover, Bernard Herrmann's edgy score certainly adds to the bleak, futuristic feel of the film. This is a film that those who enjoyed the novel upon which the film is based should see.
Rating:
Summary: Very good, but very melancholy
Review: Ray Bradbury is one of my favorite authors, but he does not usually write happy stories. "Fahrenheit 451" is his masterpiece, and it is grim. Truffaut's film adaptation of the book is faithful, well-done, and grim. In this version of the future, social order and peace are sought by suppressing individualism, thinking about serious issues, and critical debate. One tool to accomplish this is to ban books. "Firemen" go around, not extinguishing fires, but setting them, with books as the fuel. The movie, as with the book, follows one of these "firemen" (named Montag, played by Oskar Werner) who experiences a crisis of conscience as he discovers the wonder of the books he has been paid to destroy.
If Truffaut had made this film to be, in any way, easy to watch, he would have betrayed the book. Bradbury, in many of his short stories, and loudly and clearly in his masterpiece, wanted to send the message that we are losing something vital if we allow ourselves to get mired in fun and triviality. Truffaut's film relays that message well, through a grim and foreboding story. I would not want to watch this film often, but I would have missed something important, I feel, if I had never seen it.
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