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THE HITCHCOCK BLONDE AS FUTURE-WOMAN: Like Kim Novak in Vertigo, Julie Christie plays a dual role in François Truffaut’s unique take on Ray Bradbury’s masterful, trend-setting novel of ideas. Courtesy: Anglo/Vineyard/J. Arthur Rank.
CREDITS
Anglo Enterprises; François Truffaut, dir.; Ray Bradbury, novel; Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard, David Rudkin, Helen Scott, scr.; Lewis M. Allen, Jane C. Nusbaum, pro.; Bernard Herrmann, mus.; Nicolas Roeg, cin.; Thom Noble, ed.; Syd Cain, prod. design/art dir.; Tony Walton, costumes; Charles Staffell, Les Bowie, F/X; 112 min.; Color; 1.66:1.
CAST
Oskar Werner (Guy Montag); Julie Christie (Clarisse/Linda); Cyril Cusack (The Captain); Anton Diffring (Fabian); Jeremy Spenser (Man with the Apple); Bee Duffell (Book Woman); Michael Balfour (Book Person); Noel Davis (TV’s “Cousin Midge”); Mark Lester (Schoolboy).
MOST MEMORABLE LINE
Behind each of these books, there’s a man; that’s what interests me.
GUY MONTAG, DISCOVERING THE APPEAL OF READING
BACKGROUND
Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) spent his youth in Waukegan, Illinois, hooked on the serious sci-fi novels of Wells and Verne, as well as the more fantastical cliffhanger adventures of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. After moving to Los Angeles, he found himself fascinated with and concerned about the “brave new world” emerging after the end of World War II. Notably, television, at first considered just a novelty that people might enjoy once or twice a week, exerted a hypnotic effect on the public. Bradbury made this the subject of a short story, “Bright Phoenix,” which he expanded into a novella, The Fireman (1951), for Galaxy Science Fiction magazine. When it struck a chord with many like-minded people, Bradbury further expanded the piece into the novel Fahrenheit 451, published in 1953 by Ballantine Books.
THE PLOT
In a dystopian future-world, books are ordered burned by a Big Brother–type government that fears that reading causes people to think. This, in turn, leads to unhappiness. In contrast, watching the wide-screen TV from dawn until dusk and beyond, with its soothing insistence that all is right with the world, keeps everyone under control. A chance meeting between Montag, one of the firemen charged with burning books, and a strange, other-worldly beauty causes him to wonder if he is on “the right side.” His wife and his boss become concerned that he may turn radical, while Fabian, a co-worker who is jealous of Montag’s success, plans to report him to the authorities.
THE FILM
François Truffaut’s film, considered ultra-contemporary at the time, now serves as a relic of an era when various techniques, developed in early 1960s experimental works to “set the camera free,” were for the first time incorporated into commercial filmmaking. Handheld camera, the zoom lens, slow motion when least expected, and sudden jump cuts that deconstruct the space-time continuum all seemed revolutionary. Only a few years later, most of these practices had been so overused that they were summarily dropped as being archaic and, in a “future shock” sense, clichéd.
Part of the French New Wave, Truffaut (1932–1984) navigated a transition from Gallic film director to international celebrity with this English language film. Like many other auteurs, he idolized Alfred Hitchcock. As a result, this movie is as influenced by Vertigo (1958) as by Bradbury’s book. The music is by Bernard Herrmann, Hitchcock’s favorite composer, and to say that the score echoes that of Vertigo is an understatement. Julie Christie playing both the demure brunette and the fascinating blonde recalls Kim Novak’s dual role as Judy/Madeleine in Vertigo.
THEME
Bradbury’s initial concern was that the manner in which great novels convey some fundamental worldview would be lost if TV supplanted reading. His nightmare scenario depicted this occurring at the bequest of the government. Bradbury also feared the concept of the “factoid” and the manner in which archetypal truths, which he believed to be best conveyed in print, were threatened by television.
TRIVIA
Bradbury said that he considered this his only “true” or “hard” sci-fi novel. His other books, such as The Martian Chronicles, are better categorized as space opera/fantasy.