I enjoyed and appreciated the HBO movie version of Fahrenheit 451 as a standalone minor dystopian future Syfy experience, but as an adaptation of Ray Bradbury‘s short novel this full length feature it is not nearly as complex or essential. Too overly concerned with Blade Runner-esque future world building, all of which is impressive, and not concerned enough with the deep psychological scars inflicted upon the human mind when denied access to thought, culture and our histories (civilization’s and most egregiously our own personal memories). The movie works as a minor episode of Black Mirror, I particularly liked the emoji infused texts of the Bible and Moby Dick, and the skyscraper “Parlor Walls”, and I did like that it may pique the interest of younger viewers in actual, physical books with word counts that dwarf the top 10 lists and headlines that make up the bulk of their contemporary reading, but its emotional impact and resonance feels hollow and abridged, exactly what Bradbury felt the ascendancy of filmed entertainment was doing to our civilizational soul.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Charlie Mount,

I thought it completely missed the point of the novel. I didn't like it at all.

The language set me off, too. That's also one of the main things RB griped about with regards to the Mel Gibson script from years ago. I would often visit him and we’d talk about this “coming soon” version the studio had optioned for Mr Gibson. He said he read so far into it, got disgusted, and then just closed the script and set it aside.

The scene where they went to burn the old lady's books was classic. They got that just right. There wasn't much else that worked for me.

Why is this the second film version of the story to leave out Professor Faber, an integral part of the story?! Why don't they get it?!

The language riled me, too. As a director and actor Ray’s dialogue has always presented a problem for me in that it is not dramatic — it’s lyrical, it’s narrative, it’s prose, but it’s not dramatic. The drama comes from embracing the style and letting the cumulative power of the language work. You have to approach a Bradbury work like Shakespeare and find the cadence, the meter, the tone, and go with it, no matter how “unrealistic” it might seem — Adapters don’t trust that by embracing his language you create a heightened reality, a universe to play in. But, no, they always have to “fix” it.

One of Ray's Pandemonium Theater actors put it very succinctly, "They left Ray's soul on the cutting room floor."

quote:

Originally posted by Charlie Mount:
The language riled me, too. As a director and actor Ray’s dialogue has always presented a problem for me in that it is not dramatic — it’s lyrical, it’s narrative, it’s prose, but it’s not dramatic. The drama comes from embracing the style and letting the cumulative power of the language work. You have to approach a Bradbury work like Shakespeare and find the cadence, the meter, the tone, and go with it, no matter how “unrealistic” it might seem — Adapters don’t trust that by embracing his language you create a heightened reality, a universe to play in. But, no, they always have to “fix” it.

Just so, Mr Mount. It can be a challenge to adapt RB (unless the writer, like you, gets it). Very few have worked, in my opinion. The few (TV or film) that have been successful have been:

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: The Jar (1962)
The Twilight Zone: The Burning Man (1985)
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998)
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1982)
All Summer in a Day (1982)
American Playhouse: Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby Is a Friend of Mine (1982)
The Electric Grandmother (1982)

Nineteen eighty-two was a good year for Bradbury adaptations!

Most of the plays have worked very well, particularly Falling Upward!, The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, and Fahrenheit 451 (2008).

When I saw the Alfred Hitchcock Hour version of "The Life Work of Juan Diaz" for the first time just a few years ago I was extremely impressed! One of the best I'd ever seen!

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
When I saw the Alfred Hitchcock Hour version of "The Life Work of Juan Diaz" for the first time just a few years ago I was extremely impressed! One of the best I'd ever seen!

Yes - that, too. I just forgot to put it in.

I haven't had a chance to see the HBO Fahrenheit, but I like what Charlie Mount had to say about Ray's dialogue and "embracing the style". Rod Serling once said (I quote imperfectly from memory) "Ray's dialogue reads beautifully, but doesn't sound right in the actor's mouth." It's an interesting observation (also ironic, considering that Serling himself wrote a lot of unlikely, long-winded speeches for his actors), but I think in this instance, Rod underestimated what actors are capable of. The marvelous way Johnathan Pryce handled his lines in the library scene of Something Wicked comes to mind. The right actor can pull off Bradbury. While not a Bradbury story, True Grit comes to mind as an example of a film with stylized dialogue that worked.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: skmckee,

Remembering Mr B on this 6th anniversary of his transitioning.

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there.”

When I watched it, that's exactly what I said - did they read the book?!

This discussion leaves me disappointed but alas not at all surprised.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:
Most of the plays have worked very well, particularly Falling Upward!, The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, and Fahrenheit 451 (2008).

I love Falling Upward. I produced it for Ray many years at Theatre West with the great Pat Harrington, Jr. in the lead. Our director cast several Irish singers and musicians to play bar denizens and it was all gorgeous to hear and watch. I think it's his strongest play. http://www.theatrewest.org/fallingupward.html

The HBO adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 made second worst book to movie adaptation on this guy's list (note his shirt): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDClIYcVHgI&t=708s

I was interested that the Will Smith version of I Am Legend made the list as fifth worst of the five he reviewed. I recently read the book and watched the first movie, The Last Man on Earth, and was disappointed in the movie but could at least recognize the book from it. I heard the other two movies were much worse so elected to pass on them.

dandelion, I was fortunate enough to attend the 2009 World Horror Convention in Burbank, California, at which Richard Matheson was the Guest of Honor. I attended a lecture at the convention at which Mr. Matheson spoke about, among other things, the three films which had been made from his brilliant (my word, not his!) vampire novel, I AM LEGEND. He felt the second film, THE OMEGA MAN starring Charlton Heston, was not a very good film and had very little to do with his book. He thought the third version, I AM LEGEND starring Will Smith, was a very good movie but again said that "it's not my book." Mr. Matheson also spoke about the first version, THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, which starred Vincent Price and for which he wrote the screenplay. It was not an especially pleasant experience. First, he was disappointed with the casting. He said he thought Vincent Price was a very fine actor (he had starred in the Edgar Allan Poe films for which Mr. Matheson wrote the screenplays), but was not the action hero Mr. Matheson had envisioned in the lead. Second, he was initially told that Fritz Lang, who is considered one of the truly great movie directors, was going to direct, but that later B-movie director Sidney Salkow was hired ("a bit of a comedown from Fritz Lang", said Mr. Matheson.) Third, the film was shot in Rome instead of the States to save money, which resulted in much of the cast being dubbed into English. And last, another writer was brought in to make changes to his script and was given co-writing credit. Ultimately, Mr. Matheson said he was so unhappy that he changed the name of his on-screen writing credit to Logan Swanson, a name he occasionally used when he was unhappy with what others did to his work. However, Mr. Matheson also said that he had recently watched THE LAST MAN ON EARTH for the first time in many years, and that it was really not that bad and was at least reasonably faithful to his novel. He said that if you were to watch just one of the three films, he recommended it be THE LAST MAN ON EARTH.

Having viewed all three of the films, I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Matheson's recommendation!

And in case anyone would like to watch THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, it is available for viewing on YouTube by clicking on the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv2WUewBx8U

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Richard,

Richard, as stated above, I recently read I Am Legend. Often I see a movie first to help me visualize the book, but in this case I made a point of reading the book first. I then watched the movie The Last Man on Earth. I had always meant to read the book, and I am watching all of Vincent Price's films. (I watched Pit and the Pendulum for Edgar Allan Poe's birthday day before yesterday.)

I was mostly disappointed in The Last Man on Earth mostly for the same reasons Richard Matheson was disappointed, and I was disappointed that I was disappointed until reading of his reaction, which I did before your post but thanks for elaborating.

As for Vincent Price as action hero, he really wasn't much. He did a little action stuff as the villain in House of Wax but not that much. For his real turn as action hero, check out the movie Confessions of an Opium Eater in which Vincent is not only a pretty great action hero but is a WEIRD, STRANGE movie! It is available in two versions on YouTube, a free and a paid one. The free one is missing about nine minutes of footage but I watched it before noticing the paid one. After watching his other movies I plan to go back and watch the paid one. It reminds me SO MUCH of a favorite TV series which came out about three years after the movie. Perhaps both were influenced by earlier sources.

Bonus question: other than one TV episode in which both were involved, is there ANY connection between Ray Bradbury and Vincent Price? They both knew a lot of people!