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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780792854968
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0792854969
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code: 1
Release Date: March 04, 2003
Running Time: 110 minutes
Sales Rank: 8740
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: December 14, 1984
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Michael Radford's adaption of George Orwell's foreboding literary premonition casts John Hurt and Suzanna Hamilton as lovers who must keep their courtship secret. Aside from criminalizing sex and interpersonal relationships, the ruling party in their country Oceania both fabricates reality and reconstructs history for the sake of oppressing the masses. They brainwash their citizens via large, propaganda-spewing TV monitors installed in their living rooms, which also inspect everyone's activities. Hurt and Hamilton are among the few we see desperately trying to fight the system by keeping control of their thoughts and beliefs. While the atmosphere becomes a bit too stifling at times, the images are quite striking with their muted colors and dilapidated sets. In an interesting bit of casting, Richard Burton costars (in his final role) as a government agent who surreptitiously exposes Hurt to the ideas of resistance. Unlike many like-minded films, 1984 does not offer a flashy vision of the future, but then that aspect makes it feel all the more real. In an age when more and more of our everyday activities are being scrutinized, Big Brother may not be so far off after all. --Bryan Reesman
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A nightmare worth watching
Michael Radford's adaptation of the well-known novel by Orwell is very faithful to its source material and very impressive. The cast is perfect in its leading trio: John Hurt as Winston Smith, Suzanna Hamilton as Julia and last but certainly not least in his last movie performance Richard Burton as O'Brien.
Orwell's dystopian vision of the future will be well known to most of us.
Winston Smith, the central character, lives in a totalitarian world, in which all pay homage to the ... Read More
Rating: - Out of print masterpiece...
I saw this film when it was first released; it was emotionally and spiritually devastating. I had just finished the book with the knowledge that this was due for release, and felt as if I could not draw breath when leaving the theater. What great actors. I wish this was widely in print; I keep searching for it every few years hoping it will be made available at some point, but it seems not to be. The prices listed are too steep for my blood; the movie will have to live on in memory only. Time to re ... Read More
Rating:  - Brilliantly concieved, yet fails to grasp the most important concepts of the novel.
3.5/5 - Beautifully crafted sets and spectacular acting are marred by an inability to grasp some of the most important concepts in the novel. Particularily the Novels final, perhaps most crucial chapter.
***Be forewarned I will deal with spoilers of the novel from here-out to illustrate my point.***
I will begin with the single most important concept this film does not deal with, and that is the novels final and most important Chapter. Nineteen Eighty-Four the film almost completely ... Read More
Rating: - "All of the confessions here are true, Winston..."
If there was any one single book I would peg for being inaccessible to a successful film adaptation, it would be George Orwell's "1984". How could any director bring to life Orwell's cautionary, almost unbearably nightmarish literary dystopia to the screen without screwing up even in the tiniest way? Orwell's body of work is remarkable not only for the scope of his political imagination, but the tiny idiosyncrasies of imagination which make the reader uncomfortable.
Well, kudos to Michael Radford, ... Read More
Rating: - Why no Re-release???
Brilliant acting, screenplay, sets, direction, etc. Obviously very well received and critiqued. Why is MGM dragging their feet on a DVD re-release???
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