Fahrenheit 451 and Day for Night on DVD

While Francois Truffaut may seem an unusual choice to direct Ray Bradbury’s classic “science fiction” novel, the odd blend actually works well.

Guy Montage (Oskar Werner) is a fireman whose job, in this nightmare society that gives a glimpse of what the world could be like were liberals to have their unfettered way, is not to extinguish fires but to start them. Specifically, firemen are tasked with the job of burning books, which are banned because (to paraphrase Montag’s boss) they bring unhappiness by making people feel unsatisfied with their lives. How’s that for a modern liberal mindset?

Montag’s wife Linda (Julie Christie) lives the life preferred by the powers that be. She’s generally sedated and her dream is more big screens in their home (Hey! So’s ours!) and the most interesting thing she does in the film is “interact” with a banal TV play she thinks has a hole in its cast of characters meant for her.

One day, while returning home from a hard day of book burning, Montag meets Clarisse (Julie Christie, again), a free spirited woman who back then would probably be considered a liberal but who today would probably be considered a conservative. She challenges Montag, asking him if he’d ever read any of the books he’s burned and basically daring him to think for himself.

Montag starts reading, his mind begins expanding, and soon it won’t fit comfortably under his fireman’s hat any more.

Thus begins his downfall, so far as society is concerned. Eventually, and not surprisingly, one of the houses to which he’s called turns out to be his own. Montag goes on the run, a fugitive from the society he’s always known and loved but which he now sees as a stifling force on humanity.

In classic Bradbury, he ends up as a “book man” - a person dedicated to the preservation of the world’s great printed works who memorizes them so they can never be destroyed - barring a serious stroke, we presume.

It’s rather bizarre, in a poetic and prophetic way, which means it’s a pretty good translation of Bradbury’s prose.

Werner is good as Montag, though his German accent really gets in the way of this obviously British-set film. That said, however, he does bring a vulnerability to the part that works very well as his eyes open and he begins questioning all that he has hitherfore believed. Christie is very good in her dual role; we can easily understand Montag’s frustration with Linda, and his fascination with Clarisse.

Truffaut does a good job here, in what’s obviously a low budget but imaginatively conceived film. He kicks things off beautifully, with spoken opening credits that foreshadow the non-printed world of the movie, and though the film does seem more than a tad listless that does seem to be exactly the point the director was trying to get across.

And how can one not like a Bernard Herrmann score?

The DVD’s pretty good. The picture, presented in 16x9 TV compatible anamorphic widescreen, is mostly fine, though grainy in places but with good color. Audio is unremarkable Dolby Digital mono, but this doesn’t get in the way of your enjoyment.

Extras include a wonderful look at the story courtesy of its creator, Mr. Bradbury himself - a gentle soul whose experiences with the movie making industry haven’t always been pleasant. There’s also a running commentary with Julie Christie, a feature on Herrmann’s music (we wish it had dealt more with this great composer’s overall career, though can understand the focus on Fahrenheit 451), and a photo poster gallery. You also get a fascinating “Making of” feature, the original title sequence and the trailer.

Fahrenheit 451, from Universal Home Video
113 min. anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), 16x9 TV compatible, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
Starring Oskar Werner, Julie Christie
Produced by Lewis M. Allen,
Written by Francois Truffaut and Jean-Louis Richard, directed by Francois Truffaut

Day for Night

Day for Night, it can be argued, is more of a “Truffaut” film than Fahrenheit 451. Besides being very French, and in French, it’s a terrific comedy about the movie industry set against the movie industry and is full of wonderful moments and glimpses of the flakes who seem to gravitate toward “the magic store.”

Truffaut stars as - Surprise! - a French movie director working on what appears to be an extremely lightweight romance. Jacqueline Bisset, when she’s there, lights up the screen as the film’s female lead, a British actress coming off a nervous breakdown whose fragile psyche turns out to be one of the most stable things in the film-within-the-film.

Her character is part of a lover’s triangle (and to hear each actor explain what the movie’s about is hilarious - the story changes with each recounting, with each actor putting his own character as the film’s central focus) and her co-stars run the gamut from “elder statesman actor” to drunken faded rose to egotistical young up and comer. That pretty well describes the crew, too.

There are some great scenes, such as the souse trying to find the door to leave the shot and a cat that just won’t take direction, and Truffaut’s shots - the real, invisible director shooting himself as the pretend, all-too-visible director, are a hoot.

Day for Night (which refers to the technique of filming night scenes during daylight, using filters on the camera - and perfectly captures the unreality of moviemaking and this paean/lampoon of it) won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film and it isn’t hard to see why. It’s funny and charming, yet unafraid to skewer even the people who made it, along with some sacred cows.

And the DVD’s pretty good, too. It features an anamorphic widescreen transfer that’s generally very good, though grainy in a few places. Audio is Dolby Digital mono and, of course is in French with English (and French! And Spanish) subtitles.

There are plenty of extras, too, to sweeten the deal. You get four documentaries, one about director Truffaut, an intriguing conversation with Jacqueline Bisset, La Nuit American: The French Connection which features the film’s original co-stars and editor, and “Truffaut in the USA,” which features actor/producer Bob Balaban (Who co-starred with Truffaut in Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”).

There’s also a collection of material from the film’s 1973 era including a “Making of” featurette and interviews with the late director. You also get cast/crew highlights and the trailer.

Day for Night, from Warner Home Video
116 min. anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), 16x9 TV compatible, Dolby Digital mono
Starring Francois Truffaut, Jacqueline Bisset, Valentina Cortese, Dani, Alexandra Stewart, Jean-Pierre Aumont
Written by Francois Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard, Suzanne Schiffman, Directed by Francois Truffaut

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