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George Orwell on Screen
Adaptations, Documentaries and Docudramas on Film and Television
by David Ryan
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Book Presentation:
British author and essayist George Orwell shot to fame with two iconic novels: the anti–Stalinist satire Animal Farm and the dystopian masterpiece Nineteen Eighty-Four.
A few years after his death in 1950, the CIA bankrolled screen adaptations of both novels as Cold War propaganda. Orwell’s depiction of a totalitarian police state captivated the media in the 1980s. Today, mounting anxieties about digital surveillance and globalization have made him a hot property in Hollywood.
Drawing on interviews with actors, writers, directors and producers, this book presents the first comprehensive study of Orwell on film and television. Beginning with CBS’s 1953 live production of Nineteen Eighty-Four that mirrored the McCarthy witch hunts, the author covers 20 wide-ranging adaptations, documentaries and biopics, including two lost BBC dramatizations from 1965.
About the Author:
Freelance journalist David Ryan is a former film critic, arts writer and features editor for London’s Ham & High newspaper series. He lives in Hartlepool, United Kingdom.
Press Reviews:
"An intriguing and magnificently researched book"—George Orwell Studies
"Orwell fans will appreciate the deep erudition and passion the author has for his subject… Written in a warm and engaging style, Ryan avoids a merely chronological progression of facts, figures, summaries and detail by sprinkling amusing and insightful anecdotes, gleaned from a wide variety of sources, about each production…shows us what has been lost from the historical, audio-visual record…essential reading for scholars, teachers, students and an ever growing legion of Orwell fans. It is both a good reference tool and enjoyable read."—The Orwell Society
"Punctiliously assembled every adaptation, documentary and ‘docudrama’ brought to film and television alongside a great deal of amusing commentary"—The Times Literary Supplement (England)
See the publisher website: McFarland & Co
> From the same author:
David Fincher's Zodiac (2023)
Cinema of Investigation and (Mis)Interpretation
by Matthew Sorrento, David Ryan, Christopher Sharrett and Jeremy Carr
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