Nineteen Eighty-Four (12 Dec. 1954)

Director:

Rudolph Cartier

Writers:

George Orwell (novel), Nigel Kneale (adapted as a television play by)

Stars:

Peter Cushing, André Morell, Yvonne Mitchell

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Cushing	...	Winston Smith
André Morell	...	O'Brien (as Andre Morell)
Yvonne Mitchell	...	Julia
Donald Pleasence	...	Syme
Arnold Diamond	...	Emmanuel Goldstein
Campbell Gray	...	Parsons
Hilda Fenemore	...	Mrs. Parsons
Pamela Grant	...	Parsons Girl
Keith Davis	...	Parsons Boy
Janet Barrow	...	Woman Supervisor
Norman Osborne	...	First Youth
Tony Lyons	...	Second Youth
Malcolm Knight	...	Third Youth
John Baker	...	First Man
Victor Platt	...	Second Man

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

sex | forbidden love | brainwashing | year in title | electrical torture | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 December 1954 (UK)

Box Office

Budget:

£3,249 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When first screened by the BBC there were numerous public complaints and these led to questions being asked in the House of Commons

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Goofs

In the canteen, after Winston has said goodbye to Syme, the camera settles back on him and moves forward, bumping into the dining table in the process.

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Connections

Featured in 1984: A Personal View of Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty Four' (1983)

User Reviews

'You may as well say goodbye'

I had heard of this programme but never seen it so was very pleased when BBC4 screened it recently.

In many ways the play was shockingly 'modern' with its allusions to sex and pornography...even the word 'orgasm' is mentioned which must have caused a few raised eyebrows in English drawing rooms! ('ask your father, dear....')

What struck me more though was how BBC drama has changed since this was broadcast in 1954. While the production values are minimal (the sets of Victory Mansions for example look like something out of a primary school play, and the opening 'exterior' shot of the Ministry of Love looks like it was drawn with crayon) the acting is superb and unlike anything you would get on a modern tv drama.

The sense of claustrophobia is intense and the 'stagey' feel adds to this. Cushing is brilliant as are the majority of the cast. While set in 1984 the atmosphere is clearly that of bombed out, austere post war London - the dinner lady 'Them's stew with salt; them's stew without' has an Edwardian proletarian twang which has now utterly gone from English speech. My one dislike was the scene when the 'proles' were reading a pornographic book - this looked like three RADA students pretending to be 'common'. Wilfred Brambell as the old man was suspiciously like 'Steptoe' - did Galton and Simpson get the idea from this, I wonder...!

And Orwell's story comes across excellently - the sense of hopelessness in the face of grinding totalitarianism - he would have been proud.