Stanley Kubrick: Classic or Dud?

idnk kubrick invented instagram

Wow at that Hitchcock pic - have long wondered if Stanley had ever met Alfred - wonder if they ever met again. I get the impression that Kubrick was not especially a Hitchcock fan, but they sometimes seem quite alike.

Finally got to see Barry Lyndon in a cinema a few months back -- and really enjoyed its stately melancholy. Wrote this to try and explore why -- not really a review, just some stuff that struck me…

I totally agree about it never feeling like a "long movie", it is such an enjoyable oddysee that doesn't ever feel like more than 90 mins at all.

xp I liked your take Mark - that's me #1 in the comments section!

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-good-man-stanley/

What's the best book about Kubrick? I'd like to read mostly about the life, interested in the films as well of course but not in a dense theory-heavy way.

He is not the subject, but he makes a great cameo, well more than that, in the excellent Jim Thompson bio Savage Art, by Jon Polito.

Finally got to see /Barry Lyndon/ in a cinema a few months back -- and really enjoyed its stately melancholy. Wrote this🔗 to try and explore why -- not really a review, just some stuff that struck me…

Sorry, the author of Savage Art is Robert Polito.

But Jon Polito is still missed. Fly on, Brother Shamus.

Hm, clicking on that link doesn't seem to work in Zing.

Duh, I tried to click on the link in my quote, not in Mark's original post. Never mind.

There isn't an entirely satisfactory Kubrick biography. Alexander Walker's book (in its various revisions) is the closest thing there is to an authorised biography, in that Walker knew Kubrick, and was given some access and assistance by SK. Both the Vincent Lobrutto and John Baxter biographies are 'unofficial' and feature different secondary sources, with varying degrees of insight and relevance. None of them are especially 'theory heavy'.

there is a great 1966 interview on youtube w Kubrick, but I get the feeling he wasn't the type of guy who would have been interested in a lengthy sit-down for an auto/bio, or even write a memoir. As I am in the cult, I like that about him

The three interviews w/ Kubrick conducted by Michel Ciment around Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon and the Shining are almost certainly the best print interviews SK ever gave - - you can find them here:

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/interview.html

not quite what you asked for, but if you haven't seen it already jon ronson's documentary stanley kubrick's boxes is a pretty good look behind the curtain, and it seems to be available in its entirety on vimeo: https://vimeo.com/78314194

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C0iX2mpXUAAsVw4.jpg

watched barry lyndon for the first time at the weekend. i was completely floored by it. one of the best things i've ever seen. dunno if it's deliberate, but even though it was quite moving and intense especially in the second act, i have to say i found a lot of had real comic quality. like the tiny and ridiculous battles, a lot of it felt like it was lightly skewering pomposity, even with the narrator and the "interval" bit in the middle. prior to even seeing the "interval" part i also thought it seemed like it was meant to resemble a play. the music throughout was amazing also.

the other thing i thought at the end is that the cook the thief his wife and her lover felt very inspired by this. maybe the cinematography as painting feeling, maybe also the main musical motifs have a similarly grandiose feeling.

dunno if it's deliberate, but even though it was quite moving and intense especially in the second act

nah that Kubrick alwayd did things by accident

i quit the Thackeray book about 50 pp in bcz it was too overtly a comedy for me.

less questioning him than wondering if i'd misinterpreted it or found humour that was never supposed to be there.

i found it hilarious at times. like another ilxor said on twitter they'd annoyed friends by laughing at ostensibly unfunny parts and that was probably what i was doing. the quick cut from bullingdon having his tantrum to him caning bullingdon in his study, and also the scene where lyndon loses it and punches the head off bullingdon, i was actually in tears laughing, it was so over-wrought.

i'd kind of like to read the thackeray book after watching it.

i think Eyes Wide Shut is pretty funny in similar ways, and The Shining as well. he was definitely mining some unique form of humor after Dr. Strangelove.

Yes, definitely - I think it's partly a result of him living/shooting in the UK and often working with great British comic character actors like Leonard Rossiter or Patrick Magee.

the music takes it up a notch. I need to watch it again.

i think he cast them once he knew what he wanted to do (tho did Magee ever ham it up like he did in ACO? seems the singular result of maybe 70 takes). xp

Magee also gives a pretty...florid...performance in Tales from the Crypt, and probably some of the other lower rent flicks he appeared in, though yeah, I think it's well known that SK generally favoured the larger than life takes out of the many he shot (definitely true w/ Nicholson in The Shining).

Magee does make a great show of being the blindest of the blind guys in that Crypt ep, yeah.

not to mention the first half of Full Metal Jacket is some of the funniest shit ever

Just ask Mary Jane Rottencrotch.

some amazing stuff in the CC supps for Barry Lyndon, ie the editor on the limits of having ten takes for each line of an actor's dialogue, and the fact that some of the costumes were ACTUAL 18th-century waistcoats, military uniforms, etc.

whoa

also revealed: Ken Adam snuck SK onto the set of The Spy Who Loved Me to help him light a scene.

I think I've known that for a long time but I don't know how.

Kubrick taking test shots of different droog hats

https://scontent.fman1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/24294435_10154799810011148_8219601497069974967_n.jpg?oh=925f65484a69be8cf31ae3e0b135d03e&oe=5A8D8547

Poll needed

The center one, second from bottom was the one Cleo chose in Cleo from 5 to 7. I vote that one.

A Hard Day's Fight

lmao

hah is that a Freemasons hat?

Todd Alcott, who was familiar to me as a NYC performance monologist before he wrote Antz, has written a SK book, and here breaks down Barry Lyndon.

http://www.toddalcott.com/articles/kubrick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbyclPOSpgc

Alex’s (Malcolm McDowell) long coat from Stanley Kubrick’s A
Clockwork Orange. This garment screen matches the scene where
Alex visited the record store and met two female companions.

The double-breasted coat is made of suede leather dyed purple with snakeskin pattern used for the lapels, pocket flaps, cuffs and the jacket buttons. The long, slim-fitting coat was designed by Milena Canonero, who designed for several of Kubrick’s films, and custom made specifically for McDowell in the role of Alex. This vintage coat displays some light marks near the hem on the rear. It remains otherwise in very good production-used condition. Dimensions: measures 52 cm (20 ½“) from armpit to armpit

£8,000-10,000

GOAT coat

The most unexpected image in the Kubrick photos show pic.twitter.com/eiW5evHJ9I

— Vadim Rizov (@vrizov) May 12, 2018

in NY now

http://www.mcny.org/exhibition/through-different-lens

Not sure why you'd be surprised. Lots of autists relate better with dogs and other animals.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIFxxbBXsAA_Zmw.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/dGB320V.jpghttp://shortscriptgods.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/stanley-kubrick-dogs.jpg

https://a1-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/3/027717a69752cff989902220a18df24c/300x300.jpg

also, the documentary about his longtime aide-de-camp Leon Vitali, Filmworker, opened in NYC today

This is a little gem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEt5uv7weXU

Today to celebrate July 4th I'm sitting in the Kubrick archives and I just learned SK was seriously considering Gene Kelly for Jack D. Ripper. (He thought the role was "too small" and would rather play multiple parts).

— Peter Labuza (@labuzamovies) July 4, 2018

btw I leafed through this Taschen book on the unmade Napoleon last week, def worth if if you can spare the $70 listprice and want to look at shit like SJK's letter to his historical consultant asking about horse showing of the era, how people addressed each other, etc. Plus all the test costumes, and a draft of the script.

https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/film/all/04973/facts.stanley_kubricks_napoleon_the_greatest_movie_never_made.htm

(I see looking at hidden posts that i am not the first)

I saw the Nolan print of 2001 today and yeah, it's good. Excellent experience to have at least once. The "journey beyond the infinite" benefits from the darker, refulgent colouring. There are lovely edit marks for scene ending top right, the screen is constantly flickering with light, and jumping with scratches on the film. It's a new thing.