Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 (1966) is set in a future where books are banned. Firemen do not put out fires; they burn the books that are found. Montag does this work, and one day he takes a book home. The source is Ray Bradbury's novel of 1953. This is the only film François Truffaut made in English, and his English was poor. He published the diary he kept during the shoot, describing the language barrier, the difficulty of communicating with actors, and his trouble with Oskar Werner. The two clashed seriously during production. Julie Christie plays two roles: Montag's wife Linda and the young woman he meets, Clarisse. They are opposites who share a face, and the choice is deliberate. The opening credits are not written. In a world where books are forbidden the credits cannot be read either, so the names are spoken aloud. Bernard Herrmann wrote the score. His working with Truffaut after his films with Hitchcock was one of the notable meetings of the period. It was shot in England at and around Pinewood Studios, with the monorail sequences filmed at Châteauneuf-sur-Loire in France. It runs 113 minutes. Good for: dystopia, literary adaptation, and an unusual corner of Truffaut. Less good for: the performances are distant and artificial, and even as a deliberate choice it is wearing. The effects are of their moment and have dated badly. The novel's social criticism is simplified.