6/1/2022 1984 (1956 film) - Wikipedia

1984 (1956 film)

1984 is a 1956 British black-and-white science fiction film,
based on the 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George 1984
Orwell, depicting a totalitarian future of a dystopian[3]
society.

This is the first film adaptation of the story, directed by

Michael Anderson and starring Edmond O'Brien as
protagonist Winston Smith, and featuring Donald Pleasence,
Jan Sterling, and Michael Redgrave. The character O'Brien,
the antagonist, was renamed "O'Connor", due to the shared
surname of the actor Edmond O'Brien. Emmanuel Goldstein
is changed to "Kalador".

In 1954, Peter Cushing and André Morell starred in a BBC-TV

made-for-TV adaptation which was extremely popular with
British audiences, leading to the production of the 1956 film
version. Donald Pleasence had also appeared in the BBC
television version, playing the character of Syme, which for
the film was amalgamated with that of Parsons. The script
was co-written by William Templeton, who had previously
adapted the novel for the US Studio One TV series in 1953. Theatrical release poster

For the US market, 1984 was distributed in 1956 on a double Directed by Michael
feature with another British science fiction film, The Gamma Anderson
People.[4] After distributor agreements expired, the film was Screenplay by Ralph Gilbert
withdrawn from theatrical and TV distribution channels by Bettison
Orwell's estate and has not been officially available for many
years. William
Templeton
Like the earlier film adaption of Animal Farm, 1984 was Based on Nineteen Eighty-
secretly funded by the Central Intelligence Agency.[5]
Four
by George
Orwell
Contents Produced by N. Peter
Plot Rathvon

Cast Starring Edmond O'Brien

Reception Michael
Redgrave
See also
Jan Sterling
References
External links Cinematography C.M.
Pennington-
Richards
Plot Edited by Bill Lewthwaite
Music by Malcolm Arnold

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In the mid-1950s, a nuclear war and devastation of Earth gave Production Holiday Film
rise to three superstates: Oceania, Eurasia, and East Asia. By company Productions Ltd.
1984, London, with its bomb-proof ministry, is designated as
Distributed by Columbia
the capital of Airstrip One, a province of Oceania, controlled
Pictures
by one all-powerful Party, embodied by the figurehead Big
Brother. Release date 6 March 1956
(UK)
In the spring of 1984, Winston Smith, a member of the elite
Outer Party, encounters Julia, a woman he suspects may be a September 1956
member of the Thought Police. Winston returns to his (US)
apartment, where an electronic surveillance eye examines the Running time 90 minutes[1]
contents of his briefcase. Smuggling a small black diary past
Country United Kingdom
the eye, Winston begins to write down the subversive
thoughts he fears to say aloud. Winston's reverie is Language English
interrupted when Selina Parsons, a little girl who lives next Box office £80,073[2]
door, enters his apartment to practice denouncing him as a
traitor. Robert Parsons, Selina's father, invites Winston to join him for a drink at the local
Chestnut Tree café.

At the cafe, Winston and Parsons spot Rutherford and Jones, two Outer Party traitors who have
been rehabilitated by the government's Ministry of Love. Afterwards, Winston goes to a junk shop
to wonder at the objects of yesteryear that are now deemed worthless. Julia enters the shop,
sending Winston scurrying into the street, where he is stopped by the police and ordered to report
to Administration the next morning.

At the Administration the next day, a party officer reprimands Winston for socializing with the
common masses. Winston then proceeds to his job at the Records Department at the Ministry of
Truth. When Winston discovers a photo that would prove Jones and Rutherford innocent,
O'Connor, Winston's superior, instructs him to destroy it.

That evening, at a political rally, Julia passes Winston a note professing her love to him. Later,
they arrange to meet Sunday in a meadow outside London, far from the prying microphones and
monitors of Big Brother. There, they touch each other, an act prohibited by the Anti-Sex League,
and proceed to make love.

Two weeks later, Winston proposes renting a room at the junk store, one of the few places free of
the omnipresent monitors. In the sanctity of their quarters, Winston confides that he believes
O'Connor may be a member of the Underground.

One night, Winston finds a note written in O'Connor's handwriting that reads "down with Big
Brother." Convinced that O'Connor represents their only hope to break free of the tyranny of Big
Brother, Julia and Winston go to his apartment and declare that they want to join the
Underground. O'Connor instructs Winston to carry an empty briefcase with him at all times.

A few days later, during a rally to launch Hate Week, a man switches briefcases with Winston.
When Winston opens the case, he finds a copy of a treatise by the alleged leader of the
Underground. Back in their secret room, Julia muses that only love can defeat Big Brother. At that
moment, a telescreen hidden behind a mirror condemns Julia's sentiments, after which, the police
burst in to arrest them.

At the Ministry of Love, Winston is confined in a pit-like room. Soon after, Parsons is thrown into
the pit, his daughter having denounced him for muttering in his sleep "Down with Big Brother."
After Parsons is taken away, O'Connor enters the room and reveals himself to be a covert agent of
the state. Under O'Connor's direction, Winston is subjected to a brainwashing campaign. Still
resistant after a series of electroshock treatments, Winston declares that the party will never

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eradicate his love for Julia. Having ascertained that Winston's worst fear is being eaten alive by
rats, O'Connor confines him in a room filled with the squealing rodents, after which Winston
breaks down and begs them to feed Julia to the rodents instead.

After O'Connor authorizes his release, Winston mindlessly wanders through the streets, where he
spots Julia. After they confess their mutual betrayal, Big Brother broadcasts that the Eurasian
army has been routed in battle and that the war will be soon over. He goes to look and then finds
Julia gone after he looks back at her. The final shot has a rehabilitated and brainwashed Winston
fervently joining the crowd cheering "Long live Big Brother!"

An alternate ending was also produced, in which Winston rebels against his brainwashing and
starts to shout, "Down with Big Brother." He is then shot down. Julia runs to his aid and suffers
the same fate.

Cast
Edmond O'Brien as Winston Smith
Michael Redgrave as General O'Connor
Jan Sterling as Julia
David Kossoff as Charrington
Mervyn Johns as Jones
Donald Pleasence as Robert Parsons
Carol Wolveridge as Selina Parsons
Ernest Clark as Outer Party Announcer
Patrick Allen as Inner Party Official
Michael Ripper as Outer Party Orator
Ewen Solon as Outer Party Orator
Kenneth Griffith as Prisoner

Reception
The New York Times reviewer A.H. Weiler called this film adaptation "a stark, sober and
thoughtful, if not altogether persuasive, film." He said the "director and the scenarists have
adapted the book 'freely.' But they have retained its essential spirit and ideas in the film."[6] A
Boston Globe reviewer said that "the film had the same sense of bleak horror and black
apprehension that Orwell developed when freedom was allowed to die."[7]

See also
List of films featuring surveillance
List of films that depict class struggle

References
1. "1984" (http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/1984-1970-1). British Board of Film Classification.
Retrieved 29 January 2017.
2. Porter, Vincent (2000). "The Robert Clark Account: Films released in Britain by Associated
British Pictures, British Lion, MGM, and Warner Bros., 1946–1957". Historical Journal of Film,
Radio and Television. 20 (4): 469–511 [p. 510]. doi:10.1080/713669742 (https://doi.org/10.108
0%2F713669742). S2CID 161670089 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:161670089).
3. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/15/arts/1984-george-orwell-movies-television-theater.html
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4. McGee, Mark Thomas; Robertson, R.J. (2013). You Won't Believe Your Eyes. Orlando,
Florida: Bear Manor Media. p. 254. ISBN 978-1-59393-273-2.
5. Morris, Nigel. "Keeping It All in the (Nuclear) Family: Big Brother, Auntie BBC, Uncle Sam and
George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four" (http://framescinemajournal.com/article/keeping-it-all-in
-the-nuclear-family-big-brother-auntie-bbc-uncle-sam-and-george-orwells-nineteen-eighty-fou
r/). Frames Cinema Journal.
6. Weiler, A. H. (1 October 1956). "The Screen: '1984' Opens; Adaptation of Orwell's Novel at
Normandie" (https://www.nytimes.com/1956/10/01/archives/the-screen-1984-opens-adaptation
-of-orwells-novel-at-normandie.html). The New York Times. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
7. Adams, Marjorie (26 July 1956). "SCREEN ARRIVALS: Pilgrim Offers Grim '1984' " (https://ww
w.newspapers.com/clip/39863267/screen_arrivals_pilgrim_offers_grim/). The Boston Globe.
p. 19. Retrieved 30 November 2019.

External links
1984 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048918/) at IMDb
1984 (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1209731-1984) at Rotten Tomatoes

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