1984 (1956)
Article #539 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 9-5-2002
Posting date: 1-29-2003

A man of the future defies his oppressive government by taking a lover.

I’ve read the famous George Orwell novel on which this novel is based, and after having done so, I must admit that I have very little impetus to see any of the movie adaptations of it; not that I didn’t like the novel or that I thought it was unfilmable, but more because any movie adaptation would either have to capture the feel of the book, or it would fail; if the latter, it seems a bit of a waste to see the movie, and if the former, I’m not sure that I would WANT to go through the experience again. This version of the movie is more or less faithful to the novel, but the scenes in the Ministry of Love lack the harrowing brutality of the novel, though in all honesty, I didn’t expect the scenes would do so. However, it is worth catching for some fine performances by all, and it is nice to catch an early performance by Donald Pleasence. Of the remaining versions of 1984 out there, I will admit to being curious about the Peter Cushing version, and undoubtedly I’ll have to catch that one of these days.