Review of Fahrenheit 451 (1966) by Elizabeth S — 30 Jul 2009

A dystopian vision of the future, where firemen are employed not to put out fires but set fire to any books that they find, as they have been made illegal. The only film that Francois Truffaut made in English and it's pretty clear why - the dialogue is very bad and unnatural in places.

Thankfully, there are a lot of fantastic things going on in the film to make up for it. It looks great, through a combination of wonderful sets, striking colour photography and Frank's instincts for what makes a great shot.

Bernard Herrmann's score helps to give the whole thing dramatic oomph. And Montag has to choose between a brace of Julie Christies, both of them looking rather lovely. Apparently the making of "Fahrenheit 451" wasn't a happy experience for Truffaut - relations between himself and Oskar Werner (who plays Montag) had soured since they made "Jules et Jim" to such an extent that when he needed a close-up of Montag's hand, he found the member of the film crew with the dirtiest and most nicotine-stained fingers and filmed them for the scene! However, it was all worth it, as the best scenes show off Truffaut's skills as a director quite spectacularly: an old woman chooses to burn rather than live without her books; and the final scene where the book people walk around the wood in the snow memorizing their chosen books, is sublime.