[Film] Favourite Director: Stanley Kubrick

"If you can talk brilliantly enough about a subject you can create the consoling illusion it has been mastered."


[Stanley Kubrick]     born July 26, 1928
in New York, New York, USA

died March 7, 1999
in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England, UK.
(heart attack)
The following part was partially translated with the Help of Altavista Babelfish [Babelfish].

The last Stanley Kubrick-movie is "Eyes Wide Shut", a deep-psychological dream thriller based on Schnitzlers "Traumnovelle". Did he know that this movie will become his testomony ? He left us a brilliant illustrated and top filled drama: Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in their probably most difficult and best film!



"If you can talk brilliantly enough about a subject you can create the consoling illusion it has been mastered."

This was the slogan of the perfectionistic master director along his career. And in such a way he operated several years long on the up-to-date conversion of Arthur Schnitzlers "Traumnovelle (dream novella)" (1926), whose cinema performance he did not experience no more. Briefly before the completion of "Eyes Wide Shut" he succumbed on March 7, 1999, seventy-year old, by a cardiac infarct.

Kubrick was never content with the conventional one: he was an ingenious film pioneer of the modern film with a preference for controversy of materials. He was his time always ahead. The standards set by him were often copied. If he did not animate an even category again, then he pointed out which quality e.g. "sandal movies" could have. He was in many genres at home, even if he created only thirteen films.

He began his career as photographer and a documentary film producer, which trained his eye for his outstanding precise picture compositions. During this time he created 1951 "Flying Padre" (9 minutes), "Day of the Fight" (16 minutes) and 1952 "The Seafarers" (30 minutes).
1953 he made his debut with the war film "Fear and Desire".
1955 came the hard thriller "Killer's Kiss" into the cinemas. One year later followed the crime film classical "The Killing", which is like a godfather for films such as Tarantinos "Reservoir Dogs".
1957 he turned the anti-war film of "Paths of Glory".
1960 he developed his only Hollywood job work "Spartacus". Disgusted by the behavior in the U.S.A. he shifted his New Yorker domicile to London and filmed from then on only in Europe.
1962 he provided with "Lolita" for excitement in puritan sets, and the 1964 developed bitter-bad nuclear war satire "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" in Hollywood would probably so never have developed.
1968 the high point: "2001: A Space Odysee" is still the Sci-Fi film absolutely. This innovative space opera is unequalled, and involved countless epigones.
With the cult classical "A Clockwerk Orange" Kubrick kindled 1971 an embittered discussion around force glorification, which was not terminated 1994 with "Natural Born Killers".
1975 followed the epic soldier portrait "Barry Lyndon", which is sometimes regarded as an (bad) exception in the complete work. But as with many Kubrick films, also here the opinions go apart.
1980 he surprised the movie experts with the Stephen King filming "The Shining".
And again the break became longer: only seven years later he produced the Vietnam war drama "Full Metal Jacket".
Ten years later he began with the turning work of its last film "Eyes Wide Shut", which should be cut then in 1999. But the final version Stanley Kubrick did not experience any longer. Now Kubricks eyes remain, which he kept open lifelong for us, on eternally closed. But his pictures live on!


Links

Every Internet-Search Engine offers a lot of links for "Stanley Kubrick". Main topics are I offer a little (commented) selection out of this mass:
Link Content english
german
Comment
Basis
http://www.imdb.com/Name?Kubrick,+Stanley Start by the Internet Movie DataBase.  e  Complete list of all movies where Kubrick was involved. A Must.
http://kubrickfilms.warnerbros.com/ Official WarnerBros site.  e  Pictures, Biographie, Filmographie, Store. Recommended.
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Kubrick,+Christiane Also his (2nd) wife is listed in IMDb.  e  just for info.
http://eyeswideshut.warnerbros.com/ck/ckgerman.htm She attempts to keep an authentic image of her husband, like this statement proves.  d  Warning against a not autorised book.
Family
http://www.christianekubrick.net/ Christiane Kubrick's Homepage.  e  at least one click worth.
The Director Kubrick
http://pages.prodigy.com/kubrick/ A private homepage.  e  SUPER! highly recommended! complete! a lot of pictures, including shots from different sets.
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/ A private homepage (Roderick Munday).  e  A well sorted collection of a lot of different material. Well suited for fans who wants more in deeper detail.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Ejbmorgan/look.html The unknown Kubrick.  e  John Morgan documents the early photos. Interesting.
http://www.scifistation.com/kubrick/kub_index.html Arnold Leibovits Kubrick Site.  e  informative collection of pictures and texts.
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/5784/5sk.html small collection of sounds, text, pictures.  e  a little unsorted but a few clicks worth.
http://www.swol.de/kategorie/unterhaltung/kino/starlexikon/k/kubrik.html Biographie, Filmographie.  g  short, links into an own movie-dictionary.
http://www.dem.de/entertainment/stars/s/stanley_kubrick.html short-info by Dirk Jasper.  g  Good German Summary but doesn't cover all movies.
http://home.ins.de/~fmj/Docs/DieWelt_Leben.html German Short-Bio.  g  first approach, short, no links.
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/8453/kubrick.html Evil's Horror Site.  g  Short-Bio.
Movies
http://www.indelibleinc.com/kubrick/ Multimedia Movie Guide.  e  Kubrick's Movies. A lot of links.Recommended.
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Underground/9798/piefight.htm alternative finish of Dr. Strangelove.  e  you never saw THIS in theatre ...
http://www.underview.com/2001/2001.html 2001: A Space Odyssey - Underman's 2001.  e  EVERYTHING about 2001. ALL words of HAL e.g. A MUST for all loving 2001.
www.palantir.net/2001/ 2001 Internet Resource Archive.  e  Pictures, Sounds, and more from 2001.
http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/%7Ebutting/kubrick/aco.html A Clockwerk Orange  e  A collection to Clockwerk Orange (especially some essays).
http://crash.simplenet.com/shining/ Shining - Analysis.  e  Good.
http://www.doc-h.demon.co.uk/shining.htm Making of The Shining.  e  Pictures and Audios.
http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ernet1/ Shining: 3D Views of the Overlook Hotel.  e  for enthusiasts.
http://www.uni-mainz.de/%7Eruscc000/eyeswideshutmain.html Eyes Wide Shut  e  a lot of information from this movie.
(Navigation could be better)
Epilogs
http://www.wendycarlos.com/kubrick.html Wendy Carlos Epilog
She worked with Kubrick on the soundtracks of "Clockwork Orange" and "The Shining".
 e  very intime. Shows the human Kubrick.
http://www.joblo.com/stanleykubrickremembrance.htm Remembrances.  e  a lot of personal "Tributes"
http://spielfilm.de/special/1999/Stanleykubrick/ Spielfilm.de Epilog  g  compact.
Kabel 1 Filmlexikon Abfrage kabel1.de Movie Lexikon  g  short, but a best suited photograph: Kubrick behind the lense.
http://www.artechock.de/arte/magazin/magaz910.htm artechock Epilog  g  a kind epilog.
http://www.jungefreiheit.de/archiv99/119aa31.htm Junge Freiheit Epilog  g  based purely on Kubrick's movies.
Pictures
http://www.kubrick.dk/ Collection of pictures n/a Pictures ... nothing more yet ...
Links (if not already named elsewhere)
http://nav.webring.yahoo.com/hub?ring=quilty&id=7&list Webring  e  it's a webring ...
http://members.aol.com/everfree/ressk.htm list of literature  e  clear.
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Studio/5139/kubrick.html Linklist  e  huge, mainly because of the many links to amazon.com ...
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last changed: 07.08.2002
© 2002 Andreas Schmidt