DramaScience Fiction

Nineteen Eighty-Four

- George Orwell's terrifying vision comes to the screen.

George Orwell's novel of a totalitarian future society in which a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.

Release Date : 1984-11-09

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Atlantic Releasing CorporationUmbrella-Rosenblum Film ProductionVirgin BeneluxVirgin SchallplattenVirgin Films20th Century Fox

Production Country : GermanyNetherlandsUnited Kingdom

Alternative Titles : 1984

Cast

Character Name : Winston Smith

Original Name : John Hurt

Gender : Male

Character Name : O'Brien

Original Name : Richard Burton

Gender : Male

Character Name : Julia

Original Name : Suzanna Hamilton

Gender : Female

Character Name : Charrington

Original Name : Cyril Cusack

Gender : Male

Character Name : Parsons

Original Name : Gregor Fisher

Gender : Male

Character Name : Syme

Original Name : James Walker

Gender : Male

Character Name : Tillotson

Original Name : Andrew Wilde

Gender : Male

Character Name : Martin

Original Name : David Cann

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rutherford

Original Name : Peter Frye

Gender : Male

Character Name : Waiter

Original Name : Roger Lloyd Pack

Gender : Male

Character Name : Tillotson's Friend

Original Name : David Trevena

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jones

Original Name : Anthony Benson

Gender : Male

Character Name : The Telescreen Anouncer (voice)

Original Name : Phyllis Logan

Gender : Female

Character Name : Guard

Original Name : Garry Cooper

Gender : Male

Character Name : Winston Smith as a Boy

Original Name : Rupert Baderman

Gender : Male

Character Name : Winston's Mother

Original Name : Corinna Seddon

Gender : Female

Character Name : Winston's Sister

Original Name : Martha Parsey

Gender : Female

Character Name : Mrs. Parsons

Original Name : Merelina Kendall

Gender : Female

Character Name : William Parsons

Original Name : P.J. Nicholas

Gender : Male

Character Name : Susan Parsons

Original Name : Lynne Radford

Gender : Female

Character Name : Inner Party Speaker

Original Name : Pip Donaghy

Gender : Male

Character Name : The Whore

Original Name : Shirley Stelfox

Gender : Female

Character Name : The Instructress

Original Name : Janet Key

Gender : Female

Character Name : Artsem Lecturer

Original Name : Hugh Walters

Gender : Male

Character Name : Man in White Coat

Original Name : John Hughes

Gender : Male

Character Name : Shouting Prole

Original Name : Robert Putt

Gender : Male

Character Name : Soup Lady

Original Name : Christine Hargreaves

Gender : Female

Character Name : Guard

Original Name : Matthew Scurfield

Gender : Male

Character Name : Patrolman

Original Name : John Golightly

Gender : Male

Character Name : Patrolman

Original Name : Rolf Saxon

Gender : Male

Character Name : Eurasian Soldier

Original Name : Ole Oldendorp

Gender : Male

Character Name : Executioner

Original Name : Eddie Stacey

Gender : Male

Character Name : Man on Station Platform

Original Name : Norman Bacon

Gender : Male

Character Name : Youth Leader

Original Name : John Foss

Gender : Male

Character Name : Party Member

Original Name : Carey Wilson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Party Member

Original Name : Mitzi McKenzie

Gender : Female

Character Name : The Washerwoman

Original Name : Pam Gems

Gender : Female

Character Name : Aaronson

Original Name : Joscik Barbarossa

Gender : Male

Character Name : Goldstein

Original Name : John Boswall

Gender : Male

Character Name : Big Brother

Original Name : Bob Flag

Gender : Male

Character Name : Prole (uncredited)

Original Name : Keith Gale

Gender : Male

Character Name : Woman at rally (uncredited)

Original Name : Annie Lennox

Gender : Female

Character Name : Ministery Worker (uncredited)

Original Name : Lucien Morgan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Interrogation Room Soldier (uncredited)

Original Name : Michael Munn

Gender : Male

Character Name : Child at Rally (uncredited)

Original Name : Jason Savage

Gender : Male

Character Name : Prol (uncredited)

Original Name : Fred Wood

Gender : Male

Reviews

CharlesTheBold

@CharlesTheBold

2021-06-23

Based on George Orwell's dystopian novel from the 1940s, the movie was produced in the very year that Orwell had set it, 1984. Horrified by the recent atrocities by the Germans and Russians, and fearing that England and America might take a similar turn, Orwell had painted a frightening portrait of the ultimate dictatorship, and the movie faithfully followed him. Some of the details were: (1) Continual surveillance, in this case carried out by cameras hidden inside television sets. (2) Decaying infrastructure and shoddy merchandise produced by the Party's monopoly of the economy. (3) A political language, NewSpeak, full of euphemisms and code words for the government's activities. (4) A brutal law-enforcement system in which being suspected even of disloyal THOUGHTS can bring barbaric punishment. The movie stars John Hurt as the beaten rebel, Susanna Hamilton as his mistress, and Richard Burton as the government official on whom they pin their hopes (like Orwell himself, Burton was fatally ill during the production and died before the movie's release)

Peter McGinn

@narrator56

2021-06-23

Do not watch this movie if you are feeling pessimistic or depressed, because the kind of catharsis won’t help you. Nineteen-eighty-four is a bleak movie based on a dark novel that paints a totalitarian world that really sucks. Although they don’t merely tell lies over and over until devotees believe them - instead they actually rewrite historical details in newspapers — still it bears a striking and chilling parallel to the current moment. The acting is excellent and the sparing use of color is very effective, but I felt there were holes here and there details perhaps explained more fully in the novel. I want to read the book now for comparison, though I gather the film hovers close to its plot. It would be fascinating to know what the other societies were like, especially the ones they are alternately supposed to be at war with or allied to, but I imagine even the novel only deals with this thought-crime ridden hellhole. It is worth watching for sure, but not at 2 a.m. after your partner has broken up with you and you have lost your job.

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2025-01-27

This adaptation is a fairly faithful, if a little too abridged, version of the Orwellian story of absolute power, sedition and oppression but it's really John Hurt who makes this version stand out. His performance as the weedy "Winston" - a low level bureaucrat in the Ministry of Truth, is visceral as he depicts a character who has found his own way to rebel against the not so benevolent rule of "Big Brother". Everything they do, say - even think, is being monitored and so his life is conceivably now in considerable danger. That is only likely to increase after he encounters the like-minded "Julia" (Suzanna Hamilton) and together they begin to think the unthinkable! Richard Burton starts to make his presence felt around half way though with his perfectly pitched vocal tones and even more measured delivery creating a sense of torturous menace that you could cut with a knife, and though he features quite sparingly his contributions when the two are together put an whole new meaning on cat and mouse. It's a brutal watch, both physically and psychologically and the use of militaristic archive and the simplicity of it's own production help give this an edge that's gritty and philosophically quite savage as we head even deeper into a society controlled by machines, tyrants and indifference almost eighty years after it was written. It's bleak!