«451° Farengeit» by François Truffo, France/United Kingdom, 1966. In the roles of Oscar Werner, Julie Christie, Cyril Kusak and others.
The novel by the American writer Ray Douglas Bradbury was published in 1953. Written in an era of hysteria about the «red military threat» and persecution (invented and fabricated) of scientists, politicians, activists, filmmakers and entertainment industry, he brought a young fantasist the first great success. Bradbury, the man of a book who remembered the public burning of books in Nazi Germany and who knew about the repression in the pre-war USSR, looking around, presented: What if the books started burning in American cities?
Despite displeasure from a number of conservative groups and individual personalities (for example, the novel was banned in South Africa and in the United States was censored «for school libraries», 451o Farengeit was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Literature Award a year after its publication. In 2004, he won the «Hugo» literary prize, the most fantastic in the United States.
The main filming of Bradbury’s novel was carried out by the famous French filmmaker François Truffeau in 1966 in the UK; it was the first of his colour films and the only film produced in English. Bradbury, having met Truffau’s paintings and read his book about Alfred Hitchcock, was very inspired, warmly supported the filming, and even advised the director to invite Bernard Herrmann to write music.
