Dark comedy from the Cold War

Rating: 9/10 (1 May 2006)

When you think of the name Stanley Kubrick it conjures up a larger than life figure that few directors who have directed so few films have. A career of only 13 feature films, four in the 50's four in the 60's, two in the 70's, two in the 80's and only one in the 1990's before his death. It was the 1960's where in a span of four very different films, Sparticus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove and 2001 he forever established his legendary status. Four films that earned 15 Academy Award nominations including five wins, 10 Golden Globe nominations including two wins, and 13 BAFTA nominations including six wins. In Dr. Strangelove, he sets out to do an adaptation of the 1958 Peter George novel Red Alert but when he teamed with novelist and screenwriter Terry Southern it evolved into a satire. An irreverent, sarcastic, sardonic cold war satire filled with sexual innuendo and symbolism. A great cast with Peter Seller in three roles, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens and James Earl Jones in his film debut. Filmed in black and white by cinematographer Gilbert Taylor who had photographed A Hard Days Night and would go on to do such films as The Omen and Star Wars this film keeps your attention from beginning to end. Anthony Harvey is the film editor here who had worked on Kubrick's film Lolita and went on to be a director himself of such noteworthy films as The Lion in winter and They Might Be Giants. Ken Adam who did seven films in the James Bond series from Dr. No to Moonraker is the production designer. I've seen this film many times and have always been entertained. Interestingly this film and Fail-Safe both were put out in the same year by the same studio. The novel Fail-Safe by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler so closely resembled in premise Peter George's novel Red Alert that George sued Burdick and Wheeler and won an out of court plagiarism settlement. A flaw in this film is George's Red Alert was published in 1958 when the delivery of atomic bombs by B52s was fundamental to conducting nuclear warfare but by the time when Dr. Strangelove was made ICBMs launched from land and submarine was the primary way to conduct mutually assured warfare and B52s would be a 2nd strike facilitator. Look for great stage sets in this film. It's a great film with great pacing and direction and I would give it a 9.0 out of 10.