Narrator: The second half of the
20th century was marked by a profound existential malaise
brought about by the rise of the atomic bomb and its ability to
throw the world into a nuclear holocaust at the drop of a hat.
The Cold War transcended conventional notions of armed
conflict and became a permanent state of tension and caution,
where the slightest miscommunication could set off
the end of the world as we knew it. When faced with such a
morbid, seemingly hopeless existence, what can one do but
simply laugh at the absurdity of it all? Enter Kubrick Dr.
Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the bomb.
released during the height of nuclear escalation in 1964, and
arguably one of the most defining films of the 20th
century, Kubrick was fascinated with the idea of mankind acting
as the agent of our own demise through nuclear warfare. Ever
the dutiful researcher he read everything he could find on the
subject, eventually finding a story he wanted to tell and
Peter George's cautionary novel Red Alert in securing the film
rights cubic and Harris initially planned to create a
straight adaptation of George's thriller. However, Harris was at
this time beginning to aspire to a directing career of his own
and he amicably ended his partnership with Kubrick during
pre production. Left to his own devices, Kubik started toying
with the idea of transforming the film into a black comedy,
finding that acknowledging the utter absurdity inherent in
voluntary nuclear warfare actually enhanced the
effectiveness of his message. Towards this end, Kubrick
brought a noted playwright Terry Southern to fashion his script
into satire in the process, creating the eccentric titular
character of Dr. Strangelove and giving the film its absurdly
long name. Dr. Strangelove boasts one of the most eclectic
and talented casts to ever assemble under Kubik
supervision. Peter Sellars headlines the film and multiple
roles or development caused by Studio mandate. Columbia
Pictures rightly or wrongly attributed the success of a
Lolita to sellers playing multiple roles and dickweed
sellers do the same and Dr. Strangelove as a contingent of
their financing the film. It looks like we're in a shooting
war. Hell as RF Captain Mandrake Sellars channels the requisite
fussy errs of a British servicemen a strain politeness
that makes it a struggle to avert nuclear holocaust and
exercise and absurdity. He also plays United States President
Merkin roughly basing his physicality off the cell series
affectations, a presidential aspirant add life Stevenson.
However, both characters can't help but be overshadowed by the
eccentric mad scientist, Dr. Strangelove was modeled in the
grand tradition of German expressionist cinema. While
sellers would never collaborate again with Kubrick, his work
here serves as a fitting send off to their fruitful
partnership. To fill up the rest of his mostly male ensemble
qubic turned to actors both old and new. After their successful
collaboration in 1986 is the killing Kubrick was able to lead
Sterling Hayden out of retirement to play general
Jacques Ripper, and all around alpha male typical of the mid
century military industrial complex, who suddenly goes rogue
and orders a nuclear attack so that the Russians won't steal
their precious bodily fluids. venerated character actor George
C. Scott plays the ornery blustering role of general buck
targets and a man who is so eager to attack the Russians
that he dismisses the massive American casualties such an act
would create as a small price to pay for ensuring his beloved
country's dominance. American Actor slim pickins plays a role
of major con the pilot of the B 52, speeding towards Russia with
this fateful payload. James Earl Jones also appears in the small
world Lieutenant zog, one of cogs bombardiers, and the only
man on the beat 52 to question the validity of their command.
cubics films are normally praised more for their technical
proficiency than their acting, but Dr. Strange loves cast more
than holds its own against Kubrick's considerable visual
flair. Bringing it all home with a manic energy unparalleled and
even most screwball comedy cinematography of Dr.
Strangelove finds Kubik and a transitory phase of his visual
style. His aesthetic arguably serves as a bridge between the
Polish glamour of old Hollywood filmmaking and the rough edges
of the new wave, with Dr. Strangelove in a sense, becoming
a bridge inside of that bridge. While Kubrick and
cinematographer Gilbert tailors you Dr. Strangelove on black and
white 35 millimeter film and give it a relatively
straightforward polished presentation. The Maverick
director peppers the film with experimental cutting edge
touches, like raccoons that highlight information inside the
B 52. plane, or the chaotic handheld cinema verite, a
rendering of the Air Force Base battle, which predated the style
popularized by Steven Spielberg Saving Private Ryan by nearly 34
years. When working inside a studio set environment cubic
favors high contrast, low key lighting and compositions that
paver depth and minimal camera movements. The striking visual
presentation however, was less to the cinematography and more
to the iconic set designed by legendary production designer
Ken Adam. famous for his larger than life supervillain lair sets
on the James Bond series, Adam proves to be an inspired choice
to realize Kubrick's outsides division absurd grandiosity, he
echoes cubics propensity for depth, designing hard Angular
sets like the war room and general Reapers office with
strong lines that converge onto a singular point. The war room in
particular is an unassailable icon of set design perfectly
reinforcing the characters delusions of grandeur and in the
process, becoming one of the most recognizable sets in
cinematic history. The idea of Dr. Strangelove as a transitory
film and cubics filmography also extends to his treatment of
music. While Lori Johnson is credited as the film's composer,
the majority of the music stems from either pre recorded
material or adaptations of pre existing material. What Original
Score appears does so mainly during the B 52 bomber
sequences, but even then it is an appropriation of pre existing
material. The military him when Johnny comes marching home is
rendered in a mix of snare drums, trumpets and men humming
in low unison that suggests the steady unstoppable encroach of
war. cubics mischievousness nature also results in
bookending Dr. Strangelove with a pair of cheeky pop songs that
make ironic counterpoint to the images they accompany an
instrumental cover of try a little tenderness opens the film
under stock footage of jet fighters revealing in mid air,
further emphasizing the sexualized nature of the process
while also foreshadowing one of the film's key themes, the idea
of sex as a fundamental motivator behind conflict.
Kubrick then closes Dr. Strangelove with the mother of
all showstoppers, a cataclysmic nuclear war set the Vera lens
romantic ballad we'll meet again, only a sense of humor as
perverse as Kubrick's could have thought of this juxtaposition of
sound and image, and he found it so effective that he would
continue to break new ground with this technique for decades
to come. While Kubrick never really established a highly
identifiable visual style for himself, like say, David Fincher
or Wes Anderson, he nonetheless managed to make his stamp on his
work using recurring themes, camera techniques and
overbearing sense of dark irony. In that regard, Dr. Strangelove
is the first point in Kubrick's filmography where everything
coalesces into what is unmistakably a Kubrick film,
certain storytelling techniques, like the omniscient narrator
speaking in the third person, or favoring one point perspective,
in his compositions are present throughout Dr. Strangelove and
pointed, Kubrick's decidedly unique worldview. However, it's
in the exploration of the duality of sex and violence that
the director's mark is made truly apparent. The film
explores the idea of violence as a response that ultimately stems
from sexual frustration. All the characters in Dr. Strangelove
are sexually frustrated in one fashion or another. Gen Ripper
equates the male orgasm and intercourse with losing his
essence. Gen. Buck Jorgensen is caught in a distracting
schoolboy esque affair with his secretary. Dr. Strangelove is
obsessed with the morbid idea of playing a central role and
repopulating the earth with a bevy of beautiful women in the
aftermath of a nuclear war. Even the pilots and the B 52 are seen
ogling playboy centerfolds as they fly towards their target.
The character's sexual dysfunction bleeds over into
their professional lives as leaders of the free world and
the relatively easy access to nukes makes for quick,
convenient and effective bluffs when their fragile egos are
threat. Kubrick was well known for his brilliance at playing
chess, and he draws the story of Dr. Strangelove as a game of
chess writ large, where we are the pawns beholden to the whims
of our kings and knights were too involved in their petty
affairs to realize that they are actually court jesters instead.
Dr. Strangelove was originally supposed to debut to test
audiences on a very fateful day, November 22 1963, the day that
president john F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.
Naturally, this had a profound effect on such a politically
charged film. The biggest casualty was cubics original
ending, which would have seen an epic pie fight breakout in the
war room while George C. Scott explains that the President has
been struck down in his prime after President roughly takes a
pie to the face. The film was delayed until January of 1964,
where it was released a critical and commercial acclaim as well
as the best picture nomination at the Oscars, as the last black
and white film that Kubrick would ever make. Dr. Strange
loves importance not just to cinema but to 20th century
history cannot be overstated. The Library of Congress
presumably felt the same way selecting it as one of the first
films to be inducted into the National Film Registry in 1989.
No other film encapsulates the hopeless absurdity of the Cold
War as perfectly as Dr. Strangelove and as long as
nuclear weapons continue to exist squirreled away by the
hundreds and hidden silos and ready to launch at the push of a
button. cubics blackly comic cautionary masterpiece will
remain as relevant and important as ever.
