Universal Pictures
Directed by Francois Truffaut
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Universal)
Oskar Werner plays a "fireman" of the future: instead of putting out fires they start them, burning any and all books they find. Citizens can anonymously turn in neighbors or friends, to which the firemen promptly respond. Werner befriends bookish school teacher Julie Christie who tempts him to steal a book, beginning his obsession and eventual downfall. His wife, also played by Christie, cannot tolerate the social impacts of his decision and turns him in. His final ride with the fire department is to his own house. He flees the city and ends up an outcast with other book lovers who memorize whole works in an effort to preserve them for posterity. Truffaut, directing in English for the first, and only, time struggles with the unfamiliar language, giving the dialogue a cold, emotionless feel, though not entirely inappropriate for the story. Cinematographer Nicolas Roeg uses bold colors and retro-futuristic settings. The soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann is quite effective as usual. The end result is somewhere between 1984 and the Stepford Wives.
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