Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: Parental Guidance
Binding: DVD
EAN: 5050582014785
Format: PAL
Label: Universal Pictures UK
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageDolby Digital 2.0 MonoEnglishSubtitles For The Hearing ImpairedDolby Digital 2.0 MonoGermanSubtitledFrenchSubtitled
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK
MPN: 8201478
Number Of Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Pictures UK
Region Code: 2
Release Date: November 10, 2003
Running Time: 109 minutes
Studio: Universal Pictures UK
Theatrical Release Date: November 14, 1966

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:
The classic science fiction novel by Ray Bradbury was a curious choice for one of the leading directors of the French New Wave, François Truffaut. But from the opening credits onward (spoken, not written on screen), Truffaut takes Bradbury's fascinating premise and makes it his own. The futuristic society depicted in Fahrenheit 451 is a culture without books. Firemen still race around in red trucks and wear helmets, but their job is to start fires: they ferret out forbidden stashes of books, douse them with petrol and make public bonfires. Oskar Werner, the star of Truffaut's Jules and Jim, plays a fireman named Montag, whose exposure to David Copperfield wakens an instinct towards reading and individual thought. (That's why books are banned--they give people too many ideas.) In an intriguing casting flourish, Julie Christie plays two roles: Montag's bored, drugged-up wife and the woman who helps kindle the spark of rebellion. The great Bernard Herrmann wrote the hard-driving music; Nicolas Roeg provided the cinematography. Fahrenheit 451 received a cool critical reception and has never quite been accepted by Truffaut fans or sci-fi buffs. Its deliberately listless manner has always been a problem, although that is part of its point; the lack of reading has made people dry and empty. If the movie is a bit stiff (Truffaut did not speak English well and never tried another project in English), it nevertheless is full of intriguing touches, and the ending is lyrical and haunting. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com




Rating: - Better Than The Book!
Rarely do film adaptations exceed the quality of the book but this by Francois Truffaut does ! The reasons are many fold. The casting is excellent. Some might consider Oscar Werner a little wooden but he underplays Montag in a slightly 'child like' way, which emphasises his growing awareness and affinity for books. Julie Christie has the uneviable task of playing both the main female characters including Montag's air head/drugged up/reality tv obsessed wife. Montag's burning of the marital bed is ... Read More

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Rating: - Brilliant movie, brilliant book
It is not so often when a very good book makes an equally good movie. And yes I red the book first, well in advance (10-15 years). the book and the movie are quite different, that is probably why I like the movie so much.
It is not plain dystopia, nor just a plot and action. If you prefer T2 over Terminator and both of them over The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, it may not be the one for you, still probably it is mainstream enough to give it a try, -- mainsteream enough for a Truffaut movie, ... Read More

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Rating: - Average
I am a fan of 1960's subversive films, so having read the reviews was waiting to be blown away.

I wasn't. In saying that it was well worth watching, and it's message is still relevant in the reality TV, dumbed down noughties.

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Rating: - Dated celebration of the written word
The irony is fairly blatent - this is a celebration of books but at the same time it's a film. That aside, a major drawback to this film is thae time that has passed since its making. It is 40 years old now and the acting is theatrical, some of the action unconvincing and the pace is much slower than we may be used to. Actors speak in Pinewood English and the sets are sparse.

These do not detract from it being a strong adaptation of a classic story. Books are the ultimate evil, banned and ... Read More

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Rating: - It did the job well.
I left school in 1966, the year this film was released. I and a few schoolfriends went to see it one Friday night. We left the cinema moved, and when we met on Monday we discovered we had all spent the entire weekend reading. The film had jolted us out of complacency, because we realised that the truth of books being valuable conveyors of ideas had been forgotten, so we were reading while we had the chance. Forty years later, ideas are still under threat: see the film, then read books while you can.

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