Brave New World is an American television film first shown in 1980. It was also shown on the BBC that same year, and is an adaptation of the 1932 novel of the same name by Aldous Huxley.
Plot
In the future, pregnancy is outlawed, and citizens are required to engage in loveless sex and narcotics are used to ensure happiness in the population. Babies are created in the lab, and every child's future is predestined into one of five classes.
While most people are happy to retain this established order, including Thomas Grambell (Keir Dullea), a supervisor of human "hatcheries," resistance is growing, as evidenced by quirky malcontent Bernard Marx (Bud Cort) and other rebels.
Bernard and his girlfriend Lenina Disney (Marcia Strassman) go to a primitive reservation which holds to 20th century values, and while there meet a native named John (also called the Savage) (Kristoffer Tabori). They return with him to civilization, and his presence further upends conventional thinking. John is seen as a freak and this grants him some degree of celebrity. John develops romantic feelings for Lenina, which are considered highly inappropriate, bordering on the obscene.
John's parents are from the more technologically advanced part of the world, and he has educated himself using often banned works such as Shakespeare. John realizes that his sexual mores, based on the works he studied, are antiquated in this advanced society. He therefore asks to be assigned a solitary posting, but even as he mans the lighthouse alone, he cannot escape his memories of Lenina.
Cast
Kristoffer Tabori as John the Savage
Bud Cort as Bernard Marx
Keir Dullea as Thomas "Tomakin" Grahambell
Julie Cobb as Linda Lysenko
Ron O'Neal as Mustapha Mond
Marcia Strassman as Lenina Disney (Crowne) Dick Anthony Williams as Helmholtz Watson Jonelle Allen as Fanny Crowne Jeanetta Arnette as Dwightina Casey Biggs as Beta lighthouse guard Reb Brown as Henry Tara Buckman as Alpha Teacher Nigel Bullard as Plant Manager Shane Butterworth as John as a child Lee Chamberlin as Head Nurse Beatrice Colen as Gamma Female Patrick Cronin as Gamma Male Valerie Curtin as Chief Warden Stelina Shell Murray Salem as Chief Engineer Marneen Fields as Futuristic Factory Worker Aron Kincaid as J. Edgar Millhouse Carole Mallory as Miss Trotsky Tricia O'Neil as Maoina Krupps Victoria Racimo as Beta Teacher Delia Salvi as High Priestess
Production
Originally 4 hours long, it was cut down to three hours before being televised. Brave New World was directed by Burt Brinckerhoff for Universal Television and first shown on NBC on 7 March 1980. The screen adaptation was written by Doran William Cannon. It was filmed in Universal City, California.
Awards and nominations
Reception
TCM found the film ambitious but tedious, confusing and ultimately unsuccessful.
Home media
The film was released on DVD.
See also
Brave New World (1998 film) Brave New World (2020 TV series)