Nineteen Eighty-Four

I am very pleased to have discovered this rare item, though I prefer the two other versions of the George Orwell's book. This is a TV directing from the fifties and clumsy as you can guess. But it remains more than worth seeing, so daring and especially with a young Peter Cushing, and also Don Pleasance, who also played in the Michael Anderson's film, shot the same year. Painful ending, but great.

Probably one of the best renditions of the story that is based on the book "1984" written by George Orwell.

Basic story: In a society that has eliminated many imbalances, surplus goods, and even class struggles, there are bound to be deviates; Winston Smith is one of those. He starts, due to his inability to doublethink, with thoughtcrime. This is in a society that believes the thought is as real as the deed. Eventually, he graduates through a series of misdemeanors to illicit sex and even plans to overthrow the very government that took him in as an orphan.

If he gets caught, he will be sent to the "Ministry of Love" where they have a record of 100% cures for this sort of insanity. They will even forgive his past indiscretions.

Peter Cushing, a veteran actor, plays Winston Smith. The TV film is in black and white. There are clips of this film in other 1984 documentaries. Copies are hard to find. With any luck, this fill will show up on a Criterion DVD.

1984 is a love story between an man and a woman in a society that does not allow love between two people to exist before love for the party and its mythical leader, big brother.

1. The goal of this government is not ending imbalances or class struggles even if it said so. The class struggle and imbalances are changed to inner party members, outer party members and the proliteriate. Those last two arent even sure or permitted to question the existence of the leader "big brother." The last two have no access to realnsugar, real tea, alcohol that isn't mostly water and aren't even sure of the real source of their protein, it likely could be their fellow citizens but how would they know.

No one has any hope of changing their status in this nightmare world which the summary makes it sound like wouldn't be so bad because it "eliminates imbalances"

2. Winston Smith doesn't rebel against the very government that took him in as an orphan. It is the only government he knows. He was forced as a child into it without choice after his mother dies. Ultimately his greatest crime is not to over throw the government or have illicit sex, he FALLS IN LOVE with a woman. Thisnsociety calls love the greatest form of hate just like it calls freedom a form of slavery and calls war a form of peace.

Are we really so desperate to end class struggles, heal imbalances and do away with surplus goods (Winston's apartment is nothing more than a jail cell. Clothes supplied by government. Furnishings by government, etc) and imbalances to start rationalizing the type of government as depicted in George Orwell's nightmare vision? A government that freely lies to you and tortures any positive feeling you have for a human being out of you because they declare such emotion as misplaced since it isn't directed toward the state?

As for this adaptation, Peter Cushing plays his most vulnerable character. I've seen him play a blackmailed banker in a hammer film but this went further. Surprised any of this BBC live TV adaptation survived considering tv was simply live transmission in the early 50s. Any saved copy we see today was because a film camera was pointed at a TV showing the transmission of it. Naturally the visual and sound quality is not very good but the quality of the performances are excellent considering the scenes are all one take like a stage play. This is the hallmark of British television until the early 90s. The shows look stagey but the quality of the scripts and performances are usually top notch. The opposite is true in modern entertainment which is why these older shows are seeing a resurgence in popularity.

Unlike other adaptations, the casting isn't very concerned with a market so no internationally famous actors are cast like Edmond O'Brien in the 1956 film adaptation playing opppsite Sir Michael Redgrave for much of the film.

Peter Cushing would reach international fame a few years later in those Hammer films.

This is the infamous live BBC production of the George Orwell classic, made almost contemporaneously with the novel. It's the production that famously catapulted Peter Cushing to stardom, inspiring Hammer producers to cast him in their CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and setting the stage for his lifelong career in horror. Back to 1984, and this is an earthy, compelling, and utterly downbeat production that successfully captures the terrifying bleakness of the Orwellian future. The production values are akin to those of early DR WHO, but it's great to see faces like those of Donald Pleasence, Wilfrid Brambell and Andre Morell putting in strong support, making this unmissable viewing.

I cannot believe that nearly seventy years on this program is so powerful. I can only imagine the effect it had on the viewing public at time of release.

By far the best of the three versions of 1984 with Peter Cushing putting in an inspiring performance.

Hardly a cheery watch, but impressive nevertheless.