Comments on: Face the telescreen

Face the telescreen

Abiezer — Sun, 06 May 2007 06:03:11 -0800

Nineteen Eighty-Four (YouTube) Nigel Kneale's BBC adaptation of the Orwell classic; made in 1954, with Peter Cushing as Winston Smith.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Sun, 06 May 2007 06:24:48 -0800

Wow, I had read about this but thought that it had been destroyed in the early seventies. I just watched the first segment but it looks like they did a great job with obviously not much of a budget.

By: Foci for Analysis

Foci for Analysis — Sun, 06 May 2007 06:45:36 -0800

Heh, did Orwendell really think something like this could happen?

By: mediareport

mediareport — Sun, 06 May 2007 08:16:04 -0800

I didn't know anything about this, thanks! Wikipedia has more info about the original BBC broadcast. It's easy to see from just the beginning of the 2nd part how powerful it must have been at the time. No wonder some folks in the government were worried. And the interview you linked is great, too: They were all broadcast live. Nothing could be recorded in those days except by aiming a movie camera at the television screen. It was at least another 10 years before they had any kind of recording medium. Consequently my early work like The Creature was wiped. It is a horrid experience to find that your favourite piece has gone. What a loss. It must have been such an exciting, creative time, working in early television, and it's truly awful that so much of the stuff is lost forever.

By: acro

acro — Sun, 06 May 2007 08:57:00 -0800

Thanks.... Youtube'rs got an interesting selection of other videos: here's Animal Farm (8 parts)

By: sneakin

sneakin — Sun, 06 May 2007 09:33:57 -0800

Thanks, Abiezer! I am an Orwell junkie. At first I thought there was no way I was watching a whole movie on YouTube. And now if you'll excuse me, I need to finish watching a whole movie on YouTube.

By: A189Nut

A189Nut — Sun, 06 May 2007 09:48:10 -0800

All copyright violations?

By: Mblue

Mblue — Sun, 06 May 2007 10:26:35 -0800

I'm thankful the colorization bastards never found this gem.

By: eustatic

eustatic — Sun, 06 May 2007 11:32:54 -0800

All copyright violations? posted by A189Nut at 9:48 AM on May 6 [+] [!] isn't the beeb public?

By: champthom

champthom — Sun, 06 May 2007 11:33:47 -0800

Thanks so much for finding this. I think this is the same one that was supposedly funded by the CIA with Winston shouting "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER!" in the end. I'll have to watch all of it later though.

By: rolypolyman

rolypolyman — Sun, 06 May 2007 11:43:26 -0800

This is incredible -- I had been looking for this very programme for years, even on YouTube. However putting "1984" in a search query at YouTube is an exercise in futility: 52,700 results. Search engines suck sometimes.

By: hodyoaten

hodyoaten — Sun, 06 May 2007 11:58:26 -0800

I found some torrents here and there (search for 1984 and cushing)... I'm not getting any activity from them. I wonder if we can get a torrent or a downloadable copy somewhere so I can make a DVD.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Sun, 06 May 2007 11:59:40 -0800

Weird, I was re-reading Ted Rall's 2024 the other day.

By: Mblue

Mblue — Sun, 06 May 2007 12:11:56 -0800

hodyoaten , use this YouTube downloader.

By: acro

acro — Sun, 06 May 2007 12:21:29 -0800

22 other ways to download flash videos

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Sun, 06 May 2007 13:19:54 -0800

I think this is the same one that was supposedly funded by the CIA with Winston shouting "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER!" in the end. I think the version you have in mind is the one directed by Michael Anderson, referred to by Kneale in the interview linked above. I've not seen it, but it appears it had a happy ending added. I'd heard of the CIA funding a version of Animal Farm; is the same true for 1984? I had read about the funding of independent leftist intellectuals through fronts like the Congress for Cultural Freedom. I see Orwell is mentioned here, but not exactly what was funded.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Sun, 06 May 2007 14:28:36 -0800

Oh wow! Thanks, Abiezer!

By: sebastienbailard

sebastienbailard — Sun, 06 May 2007 15:37:26 -0800

By: alasdair

alasdair — Mon, 07 May 2007 06:53:52 -0800

A189Nut: All copyright violations? In UK law, copyright for recordings and broadcasts (as opposed to novels, lyrics and scores) dates from recording/broadcast date, not author's death. So 1954 recordings and broadcasts are public domain in the United Kingdom. This may be different in your domicile. I am not a lawyer.