...quite certainly the best black comedy ever produced for the screen.
Audio:
The sound is quite limited by today's standards, but the film is mainly about dialogue and its monaural soundtrack suffices.
Extras:
For the Special Edition, Columbia have added several notable bonus features. The first is a short, fourteen-minute documentary called "The Art of Stanley Kubrick from Short Films to Strangelove." It covers Kubrick's career from his youth through 1964. Among its many insights is the comment that Kubrick started his career as a still photographer, which perhaps explains his later fascination with telling stories so visually and with such attention to the compositional requirements of every frame. A second, forty-five minute documentary, "Inside the Making of Dr. Strangelove," delves into the actual production of "Strangelove," with numerous anecdotes about its director and stars. For instance, based on the novel "Red Alert" by Peter George, "Strangelove" started out as a serious suspense thriller before Kubrick realized the story could be told more persuasively as a "nightmare comedy." Both documentaries are relatively new, having been made in 2000. Then, there are split-screen mock interviews with Peter Sellers and George C. Scott, made at the time of the film's shooting; a gallery of advertising posters; talent files; production notes in the booklet insert; and twenty-eight chapter selections. Three theatrical trailers accompany the disc, one for "Strangelove" and two others for "Fail-Safe" and "Anatomy of a Murder." English, Spanish, and French are the spoken languages provided; English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai the subtitles.
Parting Thoughts:
I have to admit that I was unimpressed by the film's humor the first time I saw it in 1964, but with repeated viewings its subtleties became more and more hilarious to me. I didn't I recognize until I'd seen it the second or third time, for example, that the table around which the country's leaders sit in the War Room is a gigantic poker table, with the leaders playing for the fate of the world; and I didn't know until I watched the documentary that Kubrick insisted on heightening the effect by having the table the proper shade of green, even though the film is in black-and-white! Nor did I know that the President's name, Merkin Muffley, is more than just a silly concoction--that a "merkin" is the name for a female pubic-hair wig, which also helps to explain the President's last name. These kinds of subtle details go on and on in "Strangelove," making it infinitely more rewarding each time one watches it.
"Dr. Strangelove" is a satire that has the guts to stay the course and show us the inevitable consequences of our folly. You'll find no happy endings here. It was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay Adaptation. It was also selected by the American Film Institute as the third best comedy ever made and the twenty-sixth best movie of all time.
The film may be purchased separately, or it can be found in the big Kubrick boxed set that also includes "Lolita," "2001," "A Clockwork Orange," "Barry Lyndon," "The Shining," "Full Metal Jacket," "Eyes Wide Shut," and the excellent documentary, "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures." In any case, "Dr. Strangelove" is a treasurable issue on every level, and with its new Special Edition bonuses, an absolute must-buy
The sound is quite limited by today's standards, but the film is mainly about dialogue and its monaural soundtrack suffices.
Extras:
For the Special Edition, Columbia have added several notable bonus features. The first is a short, fourteen-minute documentary called "The Art of Stanley Kubrick from Short Films to Strangelove." It covers Kubrick's career from his youth through 1964. Among its many insights is the comment that Kubrick started his career as a still photographer, which perhaps explains his later fascination with telling stories so visually and with such attention to the compositional requirements of every frame. A second, forty-five minute documentary, "Inside the Making of Dr. Strangelove," delves into the actual production of "Strangelove," with numerous anecdotes about its director and stars. For instance, based on the novel "Red Alert" by Peter George, "Strangelove" started out as a serious suspense thriller before Kubrick realized the story could be told more persuasively as a "nightmare comedy." Both documentaries are relatively new, having been made in 2000. Then, there are split-screen mock interviews with Peter Sellers and George C. Scott, made at the time of the film's shooting; a gallery of advertising posters; talent files; production notes in the booklet insert; and twenty-eight chapter selections. Three theatrical trailers accompany the disc, one for "Strangelove" and two others for "Fail-Safe" and "Anatomy of a Murder." English, Spanish, and French are the spoken languages provided; English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai the subtitles.
Parting Thoughts:
I have to admit that I was unimpressed by the film's humor the first time I saw it in 1964, but with repeated viewings its subtleties became more and more hilarious to me. I didn't I recognize until I'd seen it the second or third time, for example, that the table around which the country's leaders sit in the War Room is a gigantic poker table, with the leaders playing for the fate of the world; and I didn't know until I watched the documentary that Kubrick insisted on heightening the effect by having the table the proper shade of green, even though the film is in black-and-white! Nor did I know that the President's name, Merkin Muffley, is more than just a silly concoction--that a "merkin" is the name for a female pubic-hair wig, which also helps to explain the President's last name. These kinds of subtle details go on and on in "Strangelove," making it infinitely more rewarding each time one watches it.
"Dr. Strangelove" is a satire that has the guts to stay the course and show us the inevitable consequences of our folly. You'll find no happy endings here. It was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay Adaptation. It was also selected by the American Film Institute as the third best comedy ever made and the twenty-sixth best movie of all time.
The film may be purchased separately, or it can be found in the big Kubrick boxed set that also includes "Lolita," "2001," "A Clockwork Orange," "Barry Lyndon," "The Shining," "Full Metal Jacket," "Eyes Wide Shut," and the excellent documentary, "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures." In any case, "Dr. Strangelove" is a treasurable issue on every level, and with its new Special Edition bonuses, an absolute must-buy
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[release]6499[/release]