FAHRENHEIT 451 (1966)

Guest writer Phil Congleton returns with a hot pick for February...Fahrenheit 451 (1966). And so, Phil writes...

French Film Director, François Truffaut, who directed Fahrenheit 451 (1966), was born on February 6th, 1932, so this was a perfect choice, as my film for February, 2022. Truffaut's unique style of storytelling comes front and center, as the heat begins to rise and this dystopian "future-Earth", begins to unfold in front of the audience.

Photo by Chris Mich

When viewing this film, take note of the surrounding area that they filmed this at. Many famous and well respected science fiction films from the time period tried to balance their tiny budgets by utilizing intelligently thought out locations and buildings, to give the film that futuristic feeling, without having to spend tons of cash on special effects. The science fiction classic, Alphaville (1965), is another example of that. So, in this film, it is obvious they are shooting their scenes on the English countryside, probably not far from the studio, but they took the time to search for appropriate backgrounds, to give it that futuristic appearance.

What brings me back to the month of February, is the fact that, this film looks every bit like it is happening in February. This is evidenced with the cold mist coming from the characters faces, brown grass in the yards, as two of the main characters, Montag and Clarisse, walk from the "futuristic" monorail and with snow falling in the final chapter of the film. It places you in the right mood and assists you in relating to the characters situation much more. What is really interesting is that in that part of England it was a freak snowstorm that came in mid-April. Sounds almost mystical.

Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

Director Francois Truffaut, starts the is film off, unlike any other motion picture before, by not giving us the beginning credits in text form, but in narration, with no words. This is shot over TV antennas on the roofs of houses, signaling to the audience a glance at the future, by using 1960s technology. This film is another classic look into a possible future earth, that is found in many other science fiction films from the 1960s. This viewpoint comes from a Ray Bradbury perspective, which the film is based off his book of the same name. The film is centered around an isolated society, where books have been outlawed by an oppressive, invasive, dystopian government, that considers free-thinking people as a threat. They raid homes and drag out all the books into a big pile and set them on fire.

Since Bradbury published his book in 1953, the idea of burning books was fresh on the minds of the public. Considering World War II just ended eight years before that and McCarthyism was on the rise, it makes sense that Bradbury's perspective would go that way. By the time we get to 1966, this kind of future-earth story-telling was pretty popular. So, why not make a film adaptation of Fahrenheit 451?

Francois Truffaut, who you may know as the French scientist in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), directs this film with a powerhouse of editing and interesting camera work. I know the film isn't a period piece, but from all the components found in the plot, it is an interesting pseudo-period piece to watch. It has the style of the 1960s, blended with a 1950s dystopian phobia, about a scenario that started from 1940s fears, culminating into a viewpoint about our future. The film, the book and Bradbury himself, give us an idea that this future comes anywhere between 10-95 years into our future (from 1953). None are too specific, but that is okay. The idea is bought by us easily, because this future-earth or alternate-earth is explained so well by Truffaut.

Truffaut manages to spin a spectacular collage of images, creative transitions, tricky edits and an assortment of colors and shapes, that help make this film look futuristic, without losing its 1960s British cinematic charm (along with Truffaut's French directing). Truffaut also does some interesting camera tricks by doing an old fashion rewind on the footage, but he does it subtly enough, that you might not notice it. I think the filmmakers were trying to make the fire flip around more wildly. In some scenes it looks alive, because it flips backwards, which creates a whole new set of eerie thoughts for the audience to ponder.

The film is playful with some of its subject matter. It utilizes some of that British, stylized humor when explaining certain aspects of the plot. None of this is more evident, but in one scene, when we see the Firemen (the officers hired by the government to burn books), waltzing through a park and harassing people to see if they are hiding books. The leading commander, Captain Beatty (Cyril Cusack), is disturbing, yet amusing (in a good way), with his performance. In the park scene, he pulls a tiny baby book out from the sweater pocket of a baby in a carriage and shakes his finger at the bad, book-reading baby.

There are a couple of technical blemishes seen in the creative effects used in some of the scenes, but that was part of the low budget aspect of the film. The look I think the filmmakers were going for however, relied more on intelligently picked shooting locations, appropriate costumes and strategically used art direction, to get the point across that this is a future Earth. If you couple that, with the original source material and all those elements help to enhance the goal of the film, with minimal money spent. Throw in the great soundtrack music of legendary film composer, Bernard Herrmann, whose credits include, Citizen Kane (1941), North by Northwest (1959) and Psycho (1960) and let the flames fly. This film ends up being a gem for film aficionados, fans of science fiction and students of film.

7.8 (B- MyGrade) = 8 IMDB or 4 Stars Letterboxd

Star Wars connections (or should I say "sparks"....)

Since World War II ended and we entered the atomic age, science fiction would flourish in the 1950s, but when it came to the movies, it seemed that the war created a certain fashion statement for generations of characters to come. Most of the "futuristic" type of science fiction films, utilized a lot of the military uniform designs, seen on German soldiers and officers from the war. It seemed like that was the ideal way to fashion a bad guy into something that audiences could relate to, especially in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

When the main Fireman in Fahrenheit 451 (1966), Guy Montag (Oskar Werner), meets a young woman, named Clarisse (Julie Christie), who shares a remarkable resemblance to his wife (also played by Christie), she tells Montag that his uniform frightens a lot of people. And, let's give credit where credit is due. These costume designs did work for the characters in those films, albeit, garnering the influence from moments seen in our own world's dark history. It worked though and the fashion influences from that period, for better or worse, have that great futuristic look to them, that science fiction films can thrive on.

The Firemen seen in Truffaut's film, who gather up the books, have a remarkable resemblance to the Imperial officers seen in the Star Wars films. They still use some of those designs in the new Star Wars films too, but considering the original Star Wars film came out in 1977, when the war was more on the conscious of the public, than it is today, plus it was only eleven years after Fahrenheit 451 (1966), came out, you see more of that influence in the original trilogy then the later ones. Lucas saw the success before him, that Truffaut and other filmmakers had, in capturing that costume design look, needed for futuristic, science fiction films and like many other directors, Lucas also decided to go that route. When Captain Beatty is running around shouting orders, in his British inflection, at his Firemen, no matter how comical or preposterous the moment may seem, it totally reminds us of Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing), doing the same in Star Wars (1977).

The other similarities I saw between this and Star Wars, revolved around some of the set locations, building structures and the use of technology or even the lack of technology. In the case of lacking technology, I think back to Fahrenheit 451 (1966), using telephones, that look even older than 1966, or analog TV antennas on house rooftops or even bicycles that look manufactured in the 1950s. The story and the execution in the film's design is what makes these ideas work, even though they probably wouldn't happen in the real world, but you can't ask a director, writer or actor to predict the future. The story has to be told, cleverly, with what they have at their disposal. This blending of current and future technologies reminds me of the question, "with all this technology, why is Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru living in a hole in the ground"? It is that blending of old world and new world ideas, that helps the audience relate more to the story.

The climactic "book forest" in Fahrenheit 451 (1966), reminds me a lot of the Ewoks' forest, that is seen in the third original Star Wars film. Both places are almost void of technology and are a safe haven away from the bad guys. Also, without giving anything away about Return of the Jedi (1983), for those who still haven't seen it, the journey that Darth Vader takes in this film could by synonymous with the journey that Fireman Montag takes on his path. The similarities are there and so is the celebration. Can evil become good? You'll have to watch both films to find out. I also can't get out of my head the similarities between Bernard Herrmann's masterful soundtrack from Fahrenheit 451 (1966) and John Williams work he did on the Star Wars franchise, most notably, The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

About the Author

Phil Congleton is a lifelong, but retired, film buff, who worked in television for 30 years and produced some small independent films in the 1990s. He just loves the art of film. You can read more of Phil's film reviews on Letterboxd.