Back in the day, television was broadcast live, and in 1954 the BBC aired a television adaptation of “1984”. The screenplay adaptation from Orwell’s novel was done by Nigel Kneale (best known for his creation of the Quatermass character and stories). You can find this version of “1984” on YouTube – the condition isn’t great given its age and origins, but it’s watchable. It’s also very good.

The film stars Peter Cushing in the role of Winston. This is four years prior to his first appearance in Hammer’s “Frankenstein” but he was already a well-known actor in Britain. Winston is a very understated character, not a grand hero in any sense, and Cushing is excellent in his portrayal. His doubts and concerns are depicted on screen by quiet voice-overs while other things are happening, for example when the “two minute hate” is on screen and the watchers are supposed to scream at the depicted ‘bad guy’ and then change to calmness and love when the picture of ‘Big Brother’ comes on the screen. He portrays his part with the rest, but the thoughts intrude, the doubts and dissent. Cushing is on top of showing this on his face even though the voice-over was recorded separately. He is completely aware of where it stands in the narrative and how he should be behaving to indicate what is going on in his mind.

The other depictions of the state of society are done very well. A young actor called Pamela Grant plays the ‘Parsons girl’ and we see her out of control, screaming abuse at her parents who are too frightened of her to control her. Why? It is a similar idea to Hitler Youth – the children are being indoctrinated, encouraged to spy on each other and their families, and to turn them in if they have any doubts. In the end the girl’s father is arrested, reported by her. He is so indoctrinated he says he is proud of her. Pamela Grant was excellent in this small role – her scheming face, her barking of orders, is well done without being too much like a young actor might be tempted to do.

In the ‘prole’ sector some men are seen sniggering over a dirty book. Shortly we find out that the dirty books they are fond of are being created by machine (shades of AI) and distributed in order to give them distraction, a form of bread and circuses. They appear to have a lot less surveillance, few video screens are present and one person tells Winston that it’s too expensive. In the end, this is found to be a lie, so the apparently lack of surveillance is deceptive.

When the rewriting of history is discussed, it is seen to be a destruction of history, creating instead an eternal present, no past, no future, everything the same. The creation of ‘Newspeak’ which Syme (Donald Pleasance) discusses, is seen as a narrowing of the thought process. They ban and reduce words, especially adjectives. Ultimately people will not be able to describe love or beauty because these words will not exist. Poetry and literature die, creative thought dies. It’s a horrifying idea. Syme himself is arrested eventually, leading to a rather Kafkaesque idea (“The Trial”) where he is entirely bewildered as he has no idea what he is supposed to have done.

Upon arrest, Winston tells his lover Julia (Yvonne Mitchell, another great performance), “They can make you say anything but they can’t make you believe it”. This statement is a tragic one as it is shown to be completely wrong. Certainly torture can make a person say anything and this is demonstrated in history over and over again. But in the course of this story the confessions of treason etc are not the end goal. The goal is to change the person’s thought processes, to break their bonds with others, and this is achieved in the end, where Winston is taken to the much feared Room 101 where he will be forced to confront his greatest fear (rats, based on a childhood trauma). The moment of break comes when he begs for them to do it to Julia. This severs his love for her, leaving him empty.

In the end his brave words are all destroyed. He hated Big Brother, now he loves Big Brother. It’s an insidious indoctrination/brainwashing process that is all the more frightening for its believability.

Andre Morell plays O’Brien, the main antagonist, who pretends to be friendly to Winston and Julia, and ultimately is their captor and interrogator. His words are very matter of fact, he never shouts or gives orders. He simply continues to explain to Winston that he is wrong and the Party is always right, as demonstrated by holding up four fingers and saying if the Party states that four is five then it is five. (This idea was used to some effect in an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.) Morell is so good, giving more power to the role with his lack of overt bullying or bombast. He is chilling because he is clearly a true believer, certain in the rightness of everything he says.

This is a stripped-down production, with very little money spent on it, but the beauty of “1984” is it doesn’t need a lot of money. Screens and loudspeakers, big rooms where people gather to listen to speeches, the perfectly ordinary environment of the Prole Sector, and various mysterious equipment for the characters’ work, and later, their torture, is all that is required, and none of it very costly. For all the loud declamatory voices from the speakers and video screens, it’s a small and silent world where no one is allowed to think.