ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Here's a few interesting comments from All Sci-Fi member Phantom.


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Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

To say I was energized when I heard someone was actually (and finally) going to film Bradbury's novel would be an understatement.

Bradbury was my introduction to the world of adult literature fueled mostly by articles in Famous Monsters. For me that magazine was the bridge from childhood to an awakening knowledge of a vast universe of undiscovered wonders that ranged far beyond the fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm.

After Bradbury there was Heinlein, Clarke and Asimov (I devoured his short stories and historical research into The Bible and the plays of Shakespeare)

I'm betting punster Forry Ackerman would be astonished to know that his juvenile oriented magazine was the beginning of my education beyond the standard classroom.

However, back to Fahrenheit 451

I still remember walking into the theater and hearing a woman comment to her companion as they came out, "That was the strangest movie I've ever seen."

In many ways, she was right. It's a cold movie, as emotionally divorced from the audience as Montag and Linda are from each other. Montag moves through his world like a sleepwalker while Linda spends most of her day watching television and vicariously living through the lives characters on what can best be described as a soap opera about terminally vacuous people.

It is only when Montag accidentally meets the radical Clarisse, who asks dangerous questions, that he begins to see wider possibilities for himself and Linda.

Oscar Werner was a great choice to play Montag with his soft spoken, Viennese accent and morose persona that perfectly fitted in with Montag's remoteness. The actor was in demand at the time, acclaimed for his work in Ship of Fools the previous year. A difficult man, he and Truffaut clashed over artistic differences during the filming and their relationship was irreparably damaged.

Julie Christie was cast in the duel roles when both Tippi Hedren and Jean Seberg became unavailable. Although it was unintentional, it intrigues us with the possibility of what Clarisse might have been like under other circumstances.

Anton Differing as Montag's chief rival at the firehouse is another of my favorite "chilly" actors. Possessed of striking features and icy eyes, Differing was typecast as a villain and wound up playing a series of Nazis and madmen. Horror movies fans will remember him as the sadistic doctor in The Man Who Could Cheat Death and the Circus of Horrors.

Incidentally, book paper does not burn at 451 degrees. Bradbury simply asked a fire chief about it and got that temperature. He liked the sound of it and never checked to see if it was correct.

I owe a debt of gratitude to Oscar Werner. Some years ago I was cast as Otto Frank in The Diary of Ann Frank. While researching the role, I recalled Werner's accent and used it for the character. I hope he wouldn't have minded.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)