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Ray Bradbury on Film and TV

This page shows film and television productions involving Ray Bradbury and his stories.

For an insight into the younger Bradbury's views on SF movies, click here.

Bradbury has written original material for the screen, adapted his own stories, and occasionally adapted the work of others. Bradbury's stories have also been adapted by other people.

In each case listed below, I have tried to give precise writing credits. Note that some scripts listed were never filmed.

I don't expect this to be a definitive catalogue of Bradbury on film (not at the moment, anyway), but I would welcome any information on productions or scripts not listed here - email me if you have any corrections or additions.

Follow the links to find out more on each production.

 

Year
Production Director Producer
1951

Tales of Tomorrow (TV series)

"Zero Hour"
"Marionettes, Inc."
script credits unknown, from Bradbury stories

These episodes were almost certainly never filmed - neither episode is listed in any of the standard episode guides for Tales of Tomorrow.

ABC

[Information sources: William F. Nolan, Ray Bradbury Companion (1975),
dandelion, http://epguides.com/TalesofTomorrow/ ]

 

 

1951

Lights Out (TV series)

Episode 100: "Zero Hour" (23 Jul 1951)
script by George Lefferts, from Bradbury story

NBC
30min/black & white

[Information sources:
http://www.cylist.com/List/400151201/
http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/LightsOut.htm]

 

 

unknown unknown
1951

Out There (TV series)

Episode 9: "The Man" (23 Dec 1951)
script credit unknown, from Bradbury story

CBS
30min/black & white

[Information source: http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-3701/]

 

 

unknown unknown
1952

Suspense (TV series)

Episode 136: "Summer Night" (19 Feb 1952)
script credit unknown, from the Bradbury story "The Whole Town's Sleeping"

CBS
30min/black & white

[Information source: http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-3701/]

 

 

unknown unknown
1952

CBS Television Workshop (TV series)

Episode 10: "The Rocket " (16 March 1952)
script by Mel Goldberg, from the Bradbury story "The Rocket"

CBS
30min/black & white

[Information sources:
http://www.imdb.com
http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/CBSWorkshop_1952.htm]

 

 

unknown unknown
1953

The Beast from Twenty Thousand Fathoms (film)

Screenplay by Lou Morheim & Fred Freiberger, from Bradbury short story (“The Fog Horn”)

Warner
80min/black & white

 

 

Eugene Lourie Hal Chester/Jack Dietz
1953

It Came from Outer Space (film)

Screenplay by Harry Essex, from a screen treatment (“The Meteor”) by Bradbury

Universal-International
80min/black & white

 

 

Jack Arnold William Alland
1954
Starlight Summer Theater (TV Series)    

"The Black Ferris" (prior to Dec 1954)
script by Mel Dinelli, from the Bradbury story

This episode (which William Nolan refers to as a series pilot) was aired locally (in California?), and the same teleplay broadcast nationally in Sneak Preview in 1956. It isn't clear whether the Sneak Preview version was a new production or just a re-run.

[Information sources: William Nolan, Ray Bradbury Companion; dandelion; Eller & Touponce, Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction (p261)]

 

unknown unknown
1954 - 56
Jane Wyman’s Fireside Theatre (TV series)    

"The Relentless Weavers" (30 Mar 1954)
said to be based on Bradbury's Dark Carnival (unconfirmed)

unknown unknown

"The Bullet Trick" (20 Nov 1956)
script "The Marked Bullet" by Bradbury

[Information source: http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Stage/2950/Anthology/FiresideTheatre.htm]

Revue/Lewman/NBC
30min bw

 

 

unknown unknown
1955
Star Tonight (TV series)    

"Zero Hour "
script credit unknown, based on Bradbury story

This episode may not have been made, as it is not listed in any of the standard episode guides for this series, such as TV.com

[Information sources: William F. Nolan, Ray Bradbury Companion (1975),
dandelion, http://www.tv.com/star-tonight/show/5828/episode_guide.html&season=1 ]

CBS
30min bw

 

 

unknown unknown
1955
Windows (TV series)    

"The World Out There" (22 July 1955)
script credit unknown, based on Bradbury story "The Great Wide World Over There"

[Information sources:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386991/
Eller, J.R. & Touponce, W.F. (2004) Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press (p.468)]

CBS
30min bw

 

 

unknown unknown
1955 - 62
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV series)    

Episode 18: "Shopping For Death" (29 Jan 1956)
script by Bradbury, based on his story "Touched with Fire"

Robert Stevens Norman Lloyd
Episode 20: "And So Died Riabouchinska" (12 Feb 1956)
script by Mel Dinelli, from Bradbury story of the same name
Robert Stevenson Norman Lloyd
Episode 123: "Design For Loving" (9 Nov 1958)
script by Bradbury, based on "Marionettes, Inc."
Robert Stevens Norman Lloyd
Episode 163: "Special Delivery" (29 Nov 1959)
script by Bradbury; later adapted into short story "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar"
Norman Lloyd Norman Lloyd

Episode 246: "The Faith Of Aaron Menefee" (30 Jan 1962)
script by Bradbury, story by Stanley Ellin

 

Norman Lloyd Norman Lloyd

CBS/Universal/Shamley; laterNBC/Universal/Shamley
25min/black & white

 

 

   
1956

Moby Dick (film)

Screenplay by Bradbury & John Huston, from the novel by Herman Melville.

John Huston
116min/colour

 

 

John Huston John Huston
1956
Studio 57 (TV series)    

"Cora and the Great Wide World" (20 May 1956)
script credit unknown, based on Bradbury story

Syndicated
30min bw

[Information sources:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046648/
Eller, J.R. & Touponce, W.F. (2004) Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press (p.468)]

 

 

unknown unknown
1956
Sneak Preview (TV series)    

"Merry-Go-Round" (10 Jul 1956)
script by Mel Dinelli, based on Bradbury story "The Black Ferris".

Dinelli's teleplay had been aired locally (in California?) in 1954 (see Starlight Summer Theater). It isn't clear whether the Sneak Preview version was a new production or just a re-run.

[Information sources: William Nolan, Ray Bradbury Companion; dandelion; Eller & Touponce, Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction (p261)]

NBC
30min bw

 

 

unknown unknown
1957
Playhouse 90 (TV series)    

Episode 43: "Sound of a Different Drummer" (3 Oct 1957)
script byRobert Allen Arthur, based on Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (uncredited - Bradbury sucessfully sued).

[Information sources:
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/EpisodeGuideSummary/showid-2182/season-all
http://www.geraldpeary.com/interviews/ghi/hayden.html ]

CBS
90min bw

 

 

John Frankenheimer unknown
1958
Rendezvous (TV series)    

"The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit"
script credit unknown, based on Bradbury story

This episode may not have been filmed.

[Information sources: William F. Nolan, Ray Bradbury Companion (1975),
dandelion]

ABC
30min bw

 

 

1958
Steve Canyon (TV series)    

Episode 13: "The Gift" (20 Dec 1958)
script by Bradbury, story by Bradbury and Sidney Carroll. Based on Bradbury's short story of the same name.

Pegasus/NBC
30min bw

 

 

Don Taylor David Haft/
Michael Meshekoff
1959
Trouble Shooters (TV series)    

Episode 12: "The Tunnel To Yesterday" (4 Dec 1959)
script by Bradbury

Meridian/Ziv/United Artists/NBC
30min bw

 

 

unknown Frederic W. Ziv
1959-62
The Twilight Zone (TV series)    

Here There be Tygers
(1959 - unsold script by Bradbury, based on his story of the same name)

   
A Miracle of Rare Device
(1960-61 - unfilmed script by Bradbury, later adapted into short story of the same name)
   

I Sing The Body Electric (1962)
script by Bradbury, later adapted into short story of the same name

James Sheldon/
William Claxton
Buck Houghton

Nothing in the Dark (1962)
script by George Clayton Johnson, based on the Bradbury story "Death and the Maiden" (not credited)

 

  Buck Houghton

CBS/Cayuga
25min/black & white

 

 

   
1961

King Of Kings (film)

Screenplay by Philip Yordan; narration written by Bradbury (uncredited).

MGM/Samuel Bronston
161min/colour

 

 

Nicholas Ray Samuel Bronston
1962
Alcoa Premiere (TV series)    

Episode 17: "The Jail" (6 Feb 1962)
Script by Ray Bradbury

Revue/ABC
60min bw

 

 

Norman Lloyd Joan Harrison
1962

Icarus Montgolfier Wright (animated short film)

Screenplay by Bradbury & George Clayton Johnson, from the Bradbury story

18min/colour

 

 

unknown Jules Engel/ Herbert Klynn
1963

The Story of a Writer (documentary/TV special)
(20 Nov 1963)

Includes dramatised story "Dial Double Zero", which has never been published in print.

This film can be viewed and downloaded in its entirety from:
http://www.archive.org/details/RayBradburyStoryOfAWriterByDavidL.Wolper

David Wolper Productions
25min bw

 

 

 

1964
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (TV series)    

Episode 49: "The Jar" (14 Feb 1964)
script by James Bridges; from the Bradbury story.

Norman Lloyd Norman Lloyd

Episode 68: "The Life and Work Of Juan Diaz" (26 Oct 1964)
script by Bradbury, from his story "The Life Work of Juan Diaz".

 

Norman Lloyd Norman Lloyd

NBC/Universal/Shamley
50min/black & white

 

 

   
1964(?)

And the Rock Cried Out (unproduced screenplay)

Screenplay by Ray Bradbury

[Unproduced to date]

 

 

  Carol Reed
1965

El Marciano (short film)

Screenplay by Francisco Montolío, from a story by Bradbury

[Information source: Internet Movie Database]

 

 

Francisco Montolío  
1965

Out of the Unknown (TV series)

"The Fox and the Forest" (22 Nov 1965)
Teleplay by Terry Nation, Meade Roberts, from the story by Bradbury

[Information sources: Internet Movie Database;
http://www.625.org.uk/ootu/ootuag.htm; http://www.eofftv.com]

 

 

Robin Midgley Irene Shubik
1966

Fahrenheit 451 (film)

Screenplay by Francois Truffaut & Jean-Louis Richard, from the Bradbury novel.

Rank/Anglo Enterprise/Vineyard
112min/colour

 

 

Francois Truffaut Lewis M. Allen
1968

Journey to the Unknown (TV series)

   

Episode 10: "Somewhere in a Crowd" (5 Dec 1968)
script by Michael J. Bird; from the Bradbury story "The Crowd" (not credited).

Alan Gibson Joan Harrison/
Anthony Hinds

Hammer/ABC
60min/colour

 

 

   
1969

The Illustrated Man (film)

Screenplay by Howard B. Kreitsek, from the Bradbury stories.

Warner/SKM
103min/colour

 

 

Jack Smight Howard B. Kreitsek/Ted Mann
1969

Melodrama Infernal (short film)

Screenplay by Josefina Molina, Romualdo Molina, from Bradbury stories.

[Information source: Internet Movie Database]
Spanish film

 

 

unknown unknown
1969

The Picasso Summer (film)

Screenplay by Douglas Spaulding (pseudonym for Bradbury) and Edwin Boyd, based on the story "In a Season of Calm Weather"

90min/colour

[Information source:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064808/ ]

 

 

Serge Bourguignon Robert Sallin
1971
The Curiosity Shop (TV series)    

Episode 1: "The Groon" (Jan 1971)
script by Bradbury

ABC
30min colour

 

 

unknown unknown
1972

The Screaming Woman (TV film)

Screenplay by Merwin Gerard, from the Bradbury story. (First aired ABC Jan 29 1972)

Universal
73min/colour

 

 

Jack Smight William Frye
1975

Distant Early Warning (TV film)

Screenplay credit unknown, based on the Bradbury story "Mars Is Heaven" (not credited). First aired under the Wide World Mystery umbrella title, ABC 21 Oct 1975.

ABC
90min/colour

[Information source: Internet Movie Database]

 

 

Wes Kenney Unknown
1976

The Murderer (short film)

Screenplay by Andrew Silver, from the Bradbury story (first aired on PBS 12 Oct 1976)

[Information sources:
Internet Movie Database
Eller, J.R. & Touponce, W.F. (2004) Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press (p.471)]

 

 

Andrew Silver Andrew Silver
1978

Zero Hour (short film)

Screenplay credit unknown (possibly Darlene Chaffee), from the Bradbury story.

[Information source: Eric Carter, Thomas Petitpas]

BFA Educational Media/CBS
20min/colour

 

 

Darlene Chaffee unknown
1979

Gnomes (TV film)

Screenplay by Bradbury, Sam Moore, Maurice Rapf, from the book by Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet.

[Information source: Cinefantastique Vol 8 No 2/3 (1979); Internet Movie Database]

CBS
60min/colour

 

 

Jack Zander  
1979

The Veldt (TV film)

Screenplay credit unknown, from the Bradbury story.

[Information source: Thomas Petitpas]

CBS
24min/colour

 

 

Diane Haak  
197?

The Flying Machine (TV film)

Screenplay credit unknown, from the Bradbury story.

[Information source: Thomas Petitpas]

16min/colour

 

 

   
1980

Omnibus: "Ray Bradbury - The Illustrated Man"

(TV documentary)

Interviews, Bradbury reading from his stories, brief dramatisations

BBC TV 15 Jan 1980
50min/colour

 

 

  David Wheatley
1980

The Martian Chronicles (TV series)

Screenplay by Richard Matheson, from the Bradbury novel.

NBC/Charles Fries Productions
3x75min/colour

 

 

Michael Anderson Andrew Donnelly/ Nelson Subotsky

1982

All Summer in a Day (TV film)

Screenplay by S. Murdock Donaldson, from the Bradbury story

Learning Corporation of America
25min/colour

 

 

Ed Kaplan

Karl Epstein

1982

Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby is a Friend of Mine (TV film)

Screenplay by Mary Trimble, from the Bradbury story "Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby's is a Friend of Mine"

[Information source: Internet Movie Database]

55min/colour

 

 

Ralph Rosenblum

Morton Neal Miller

1982

The Electric Grandmother (TV film)

Screenplay by Bradbury and Jeffrey Kindley, from the Bradbury story "I Sing the Body Electric"

Learning Corporation of America
55min/colour

 

 

Noel Black

Doro Bachrach

1982

The Invisible Boy (TV film)

Screenplay by Bruce Harmon, from the Bradbury story

Learning Corporation of America
25min/colour

 

 

Mark Cullingham

unknown

1982

Little Nemo in Slumberland (unproduced screenplay)

Screenplay by Ray Bradbury, from the comic strip by Winsor McKay

[See 1992 for more information]

 

 

 

Gary Kurtz

1983

Quest (short film)

Screenplay by Ray Bradbury

[Information source: Starlog No 84/Internet Movie Database]
c.30min/colour

 

 

Saul Bass

Saul Bass/Elaine Bass

1983

Savannen (TV film)

Screenplay by Tord Pååg, based on Bradbury's "The Veldt"

[Information source: Internet Movie Database]
Swedish TV production

 

 

Tord Pååg

 

1983

Something Wicked This Way Comes (film)

Screenplay by Ray Bradbury, from his novel.

Walt Disney-Bryna Co./Buena Vista
94min/colour

 

 

Jack Clayton

Peter Douglas

1984

There Will Come Soft Rains (animated short film)

Adapted from the Bradbury short story.

[Information source: The Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction CD-ROM]
Uzbek film
11min/colour

 

 

Nazim Tulyakhodzayev

 
1985-92

The Ray Bradbury Theater (TV series)
All episodes scripted by Ray Bradbury, based on his short stories.

 

  Various
            Marionettes, Inc.  Paul Lynch  
            The Playground William Fruet  
            The Crowd Ralph L. Thomas  
            The Town Where No One Got Off Don McBrearty  
            The Screaming Woman Bruce Pittman  

           -  Banshee

Douglas Jackson  
            The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl    
            -  Skeleton    
            -  The Emissary    
            -  Gotcha    
            -  The Man Upstairs    
            The Small Assassin Tom Cotter  
            -  Punishment Without Crime    
            -  On the Orient, North    
            -  The Coffin    
            -  Tyrannosaurus Rex    
            -  There Was an Old Woman    

            -  And So Died Riabouchinska

   
            -  The Dwarf    
            -  A Miracle of Rare Device    
            -  The Lake    
            -  The Wind    
            -  The Pedestrian    
            A Sound of Thunder Costa Botes  
            -  The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone    
            -  The Haunting of the New    
            -  To the Chicago Abyss    
            -  Hail and Farewell    
            -  The Veldt    

            -  “Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar!”

   
            -  Mars is Heaven    
            -  The Murderer    
            -  Touched with Fire    
            -  Usher II    
            -  Touch of Petulance    
            -  And The Moon Be Still As Bright    
            -  The Toynbee Convector    
            -  Exorcism    
            -  The Day It Rained Forever    
            The Long Years Paul Lynch  

            -  Here There Be Tygers

   
            The Earthmen Graeme Campbell  
            -  Zero Hour    
            The Jar    
            -  The Long Rain    
            -  Colonel Stonesteel and the "Desperate Empties" (based on "Colonel Stonesteel's Genuine Home-Made Truly Egyptian Mummy")    
            -  The Concrete Mixer    
            -  The Utterly Perfect Murder    
            -  Let's Play Poison    
            -  The Martian    
            -  The Lonely One (based on "The Whole Town's Sleeping")    
            -  The Happiness Machine    
            -  Tomorrow’s Child    
            -  The Anthem Sprinters    
            -  The Long Rain    
            -  The Dead Man    
            -  Sun and Shadow    
            -  The Silent Towns    
            -  Downwind from Gettysburg    
            -  Some Live Like Lazarus    
            -  The Handler    
            -  Fee Fie Foe Fum    
            -  The Great Wide World Over There    

            -  The Tombstone

 

   

[Information sources: Starlog Nos. 104,110,128,153; Cinefantastique Vol 16 No 2 (May 1986)]

HBO/Wilcox Productions/Atlantis Productions; later episodes: USA Network/Wilcox/Atlantis/others
25min/colour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1985
The (New) Twilight Zone (TV series)    
The Burning Man
script by J.D. Feigelson, from the Bradbury story
J.D. Feigelson Phil DeGuere/
James Crocker

The Elevator
script by Bradbury

 

Ralph L. Thomas Phil DeGuere/
James Crocker

CBS
c.15min/colour

 

 

   
1986
A&E Short Stories (TV series)    

Episode ??: "The Inspired Chicken Motel"
script credit unknown, from the Bradbury story (either unproduced, or produced but never broadcast)

[Information source:
Eller, J.R. & Touponce, W.F. (2004) Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press (p.485)]

NBC/Universal
25min/colour

 

 

unknown





unknown
1986
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV series)    

Episode 23: "The Jar" (6 Apr 1986)
script by Larry Wilson and Michael McDowell, from the Bradbury story

NBC/Universal
25min/colour

 

 

Tim Burton





unknown

1986

WonderWorks (TV series)

 

 

Walking on Air
teleplay by Ed Kaplan, from a Bradbury story

[Information source: Internet Movie Database]

 

 

Ed Kaplan

Ricki Franklin

1987

Vel’d (film)

Screenplay by Nazim Tulyakhodzhaev, from stories by Bradbury (including “The Veldt”, “The Garbage Collector”, “Hail And Farewell”, “The Dragon”, and parts of Dandelion Wine).

[Information source: The Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction CD-ROM]

Uzbek film
90mins/colour

 

 

Nazim Tulyakhodzayev

unknown

1988

Trinadtsatyj apostol (film)

Screenplay by Suren Babayan, Georgi Nikolayev; based on Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles.

[Information source: Internet Movie Database]

 

 

Suren Babayan

unknown

1992

Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (animated film)

Screenplay by Bradbury, Chris Columbus, Richard Outten; story by Yutaka Fujioka, Jean Giraud; based on the comic strip by Winsor McCay.

[See 1982 for more information]

[Information source: Internet Movie Database]

Japanese production, distributed by Hemdale.
85mins/colour

 

 

Masami Hata, Masanori Hata, William T. Hurtz

Yutaka Fujioka

1993

The Halloween Tree (animated TV film)

Teleplay by Bradbury, from his short novel (first aired 30 Oct 1993)

[Information sources:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0191173/
Eller, J.R. & Touponce, W.F. (2004) Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press (p.486)]

Hanna-Barbera/Cartoon Network
??mins/colour

 

 

Mario Piluso  
1995

Ray Bradbury: an American Icon (documentary film)

Atlantis/Sci-Fi Channel
4 7 mins/colour

 

 

Robert Duncan  
1997

Vino Iz Oduvanchikov (film)

Screenplay by Igor Apasyan, Aleksei Leontyev; based on Bradbury's Dandelion Wine.

[Information source: Internet Movie Database]

 

 

Igor Apasyan Igor Apasyan
1998

The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (TV film)

Teleplay by Bradbury, from his short story and play.

[Information source: Internet Movie Database]

77mins/colour

 

 

Stuart Gordon Roy E. Disney/Stuart Gordon
2004

A Sound of Thunder (film)

Screenplay by Thomas Dean Donnelly, Clement Enlatarne, Joshua Oppenheimer, Gregory Poirier, from Bradbury story.

[Information source: Internet Movie Database]

 

 

Peter Hyams
2006

A Piece of Wood (short film)

Screenplay by Tony Baez Milan, from Bradbury story.

[Information source: http://www.urbanarchipelagofilms.com]

 

 

Tony Baez Milan
2006

The Small Assassin (short film)

Screenplay by Brian Caunter, Josh Staman, from Bradbury story.

[Information source: Nard Kordell via Ray Bradbury Message Board.]

 

 

Chris Charles
2008

Chrysalis (film)

Screenplay by Tony Baez Milan, screen story by Roger Lay Jr & Tony Baez Milan; from Bradbury story.

Tony Baez Milan Roger Lay Jr



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