Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

Directed by François Truffaut. Starring Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, Cyril Cusack, Alex Scott, Anton Diffring, Bee Duffell.

Peculiar adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s celebrated science fiction book practically turns the troubling dystopia into kitsch. Story concerns a future society where the printed word is forbidden, and rather than put out fires, Firemen are dispatched to root out books and burn them. Intelligent yet fastidious, with Bradbury’s ideas consistently out-classing François Truffaut’s execution of them, although the director’s additions of weirdness and wit give the piece a flavor lacking in the more studiously dull adaptations of totalitarian tales—play those shots of the firetrucks racing across the countryside at 1.5x or 2x speed and try not to laugh. Hindered by the inexplicable decision to cast Julie Christie as both a bored housewife and a free-thinking schoolteacher, and by Christie’s inability (or disinterest) in modulating her line delivery and emotional emptiness within each character. Truffaut’s first film in color, and the only one he made in the English language. He co-wrote the adapted screenplay with Jean-Louis Richard. Photographed by Nicolas Roeg, while Bernard Herrmann supplied the quirky yet exciting score.

64/100