He's hot in Fahrenheit 451!!!
-
agentbach — 21 years ago(August 13, 2004 03:52 PM)
I agree. Oskar Werner was so hot. You can't find hot people like him anymore. I think when I saw a movie with Oskar Werner in it for the first time, it was Fahrenheit 451. He reminded me of a doll. The movie was really different from the book, I hated the ending and felt as if there was nothing solved and all was a waste. The music was good though.
-
pamhw — 21 years ago(November 15, 2004 03:56 PM)
Your perceptive criticsm of the ending of the Fahrenheit film is not often shown, at least on the internet. You deserve some plaudits for being so discerning. Did you ever read the novel by Ray Bradbury? If you did then you know that in that, while there is no sunny "happy ending," the "book people", instead of appearing to be just different kinds of robots from the "law abiding citizens", do act in a humanitarian way. They are different, they FEEL and CARE about humanity. In the film you are left with just human machines memorizing books as if that was the entire problem. In the book a war is being waged without the government acknowledging it to the citizenry. The firemen know it but are impassive and just carry on as always doing their government job of extinquishing the printed word. In the film the book people, living outside society by insisting on preserving literature are left in that state of suspension, progressing nowhere. The war itself is only mentioned once in the film. Truffaut did not understand and had not the background to know what Bradbury's targets were in writing the book. Oskar did and would gladly have helped. (his help was offered in the production of "Jules and Jim" and accepted, the result was the film that many consider Truffaut's best. Oskar cared nothing for acclaim or acknowledgement of his role with that film yet entire pages of dialogue had come from him.) But, by the time of the making of "Fahrenheit", Truffaut had reached a point where he would not admit he could use help or advice. So, the whole point of the book/plot was completely lost, that being informed ( by in this case, reading which stood for all kinds of interactive information being exchanged and shared) can unite a people for mutual good. In the end of the novel the "book people" are traveling toward a city which has been severely bombed (in the novel, set in the US, the city is Chicago) to offer their assistance. The novel has a timeless message, you can look around the earth today and see situations that are paralleled in the novel. Everytime I see someone driving or shopping while talking on a cell phone I think of the plot of the novel. That film could have become a true masterpiece for all time, but, sadly due to all too human lower traits it is classified as "Sci Fi Fantasy."
The only critiscim Oskar ever acknowledged in our relationship was that it was "a very unhappy collaboration." -
JaneWeatherfield — 20 years ago(January 02, 2006 07:09 AM)
I'm very confused now.. From every other source I have heard that it was Oskar's ego that created a problem during the filming of Farenheit. I don't really want rest the blame squarely on anyone.. But for some reason the thought keeps nagging at the back of my head.
I really like both Truffaut and Werner, and I hate the idea that they fought. Since you happen to know so much about 5b4it.. Can you enlighten me on weither or not they ever talked again or made up later on in life?
Like I said I can't get it out of my head for some reason.. So a response would be delightful. -
ilyamilstein — 18 years ago(September 17, 2007 03:37 AM)
I know you probably won't read this, but your suggestion that it was Werner who made Jules et Jim a success is idiotic. Your little rant is almost frightening in its subjectivity, and you're far too dramatic to deem Truffaut untalented by virtue of 451. The film had endless production problems, and probably wasn't his best, yet his career outshines Werner in its accomplishments and devotion.
Hopefully those who DO read this won't be warped to believe Truffaut was the person pamhw claimed him to be. -
pamhw — 21 years ago(September 19, 2004 01:35 PM)
I must say I am pleased that Oskar's gaining "fans" from "Fahrenheit 451". He and Truffaut fought like cats and dogs over that film. Truffaut (I suspect he knew Oskar was right but by now HE was a big name and wouldn't let himself admit it!) tried everything he could to discredit Oskar. He cut all Oskar's scenes that were true to the Montag character. He said he wanted a different actor originally first it was Jeam Paul Belmondo then later he said Terrence Stamp. He insisted Oskar argued over money. For those of us to have been priviledged to know Oskar (even if only via the mails as in my case) this is beyond a joke. Oskar was famous for turning down projects that would have paid him huge amounts of money just to do something else he believed in. As Stanley Kramer once said, he "didn't think money meant much to him." It didn't. What he was arguing about with Truffaut was his using Julie Christie in the dual role of Montag's wife and Clarisse. And, yes, the "book girl" in the book was a teenager. Truffaut had the opportunity of making a truly profound classic but his ego got the best of him. He should have turned to Oskar who had seen, as he related to me, "the Nazis burning the books in Vienna. It was a nightmare in the word's truest sense." You might have noticed too that in the book the "book people" are more fully human. In the end of the book they are on their way to try to help a city which has just been bombed in the "secret war" which is very present in the book but nearly non existent in the film. In the film the book people become nearly as robotic as the rest of the non reading citizens. You are quite right, the book is better! Incidently, Oskar would not have liked being thought "cute." It was a pet peeve of his.he didn't like it "when people look at my person.' He was very, very unlike the vast majority of actors of any time in any medium. He was an idealistic genius, plagued by guilt over the Holocaust. Though what he could have done at 15 at the time of the Aunschloss - the annexation of Austria by the Nazis- is hard to figure out. At the end of his live, dying slowly and tragically from alcohol poisoning he kept on trying to come up with ways to commemorate those who perished in the greatest war crime in history. Of course, as a pacifist, he felt war itself was a crime, something we agreed on!
-
biker74 — 20 years ago(February 05, 2006 08:21 AM)
Yes, I had heard that Truffaut and Oskar fought aswell. Infact, as a dig to Oskar, in the scene where he is hiding under the sheet on the boat, apparently this is just a standin and Truffaut made a point of getting someone who smoked with badly stained fingers to pull the sheet up - I believe it was changed and5b4 edited after everyone had seen the final rushes.
-
Grizeus — 16 years ago(October 20, 2009 08:58 PM)
I see it as a tad disrespectful talking about him like this when he's passed, but I'm so glad I watched the movie version of F451. I found him very attractive the whole time. And his accent was cute. There are no actors like him today so innocent looking and sounding and so genuine.
Energizer Bunny arrested, charged with battery.
