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It's 1964.
The cold war is raging. The conflict in Southeast Asia is
rapidly escalating. The Republican Party is grooming Barry
Goldwater for the presidency. The nuclear deterrent of MAD
- mutually assured destruction - taints our existence. And
as it so frequently does, film mirrors society's concerns.
That year sees the release of several excellent nuclear threat
dramas (whose release to DVD I eagerly await). Columbia's
Failsafe portrays the chilling consequences of an electrical
malfunction that triggers an attack on the Soviet Union. Warner's
Seven Days in May offers a conspiracy by top US military leaders
to overthrow the President of the United States simply because
he supports a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union.
But the first, and certainly the most sardonic entry, is Stanley
Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying
and Love the Bomb.
General
Jack D. Ripper (a wonderfully restrained performance by Sterling
Hayden) has become quite paranoid. Unfortunately, he commands
a wing of the Strategic Air Command. To preserve the American
way of life and to protect the purity of essence of our precious
bodily fluids, he issues the go-code at the failsafe point.
He orders his wing to attack the Soviet Union. He calls a
Red Alert, seals his base, confiscates all radios and televisions,
and warns his ground forces to be vigilant, to repel any attempt
to enter the base by anyone.
In steps
his executive officer, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter
Sellers) on special assignment in an officer exchange program.
Very British, very proper, spit and polish, aviator's moustache
neatly combed, he could have just stepped out a Spitfire fresh
from splashing a few Gerry's into the Channel. He's stumbled
on a portable radio that would seem to prove that the Red
Alert is a false alarm and rushes to see his commander. Ripper
locks his office door and takes the increasingly uncomfortable
Mandrake into his confidence. Ripper has intentionally ordered
an attack that would force the United States to follow his
lead and destroy the Soviet Union. He refuses to reveal the
prefix code required to recall the nuclear-armed bombers.
A semiautomatic handgun persuades Mandrake that he needs to
be discrete.
Air Force
General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott in a well-played and
uncharacteristic comic role), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, is called to the War Room under the Pentagon where
President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers, again) has called
a crisis meeting. Muffley invites Soviet Ambassador De Sadesky
(Peter Bull) to the meeting, an unprecedented action. Muffley
and Sadesky phone Soviet Premier Dimitri Kissov at his mistress's
dacha to report the bad news during one droll exchange after
another. Muffley offers to help the Soviets shoot down the
bombers. Turgidson nearly has a stroke.
Onboard
a B-52 bomber named The Leper Colony, Major T. J. "King" Kong
is piloting his crew to target (Slim Pickens brings a delightfully
deadpan approach to an amusing amalgam of serious import and
utter silliness). Intercut with the authentic sounding military
technobabble is such nonsense as checking the contents of
a survival kit with which "a feller could have pretty good
time in Las Vegas."
On the President's
orders, Ripper's base is attacked by Army troops, an airborne
division from a nearby facility, in an attempt to capture
Ripper and recover the recall code. Now over Soviet airspace,
Kong's plane is nearly blown out of the sky by a ground-to-air
nuclear-tipped missile. In the Pentagon War Room, vast global
maps show the progress of the B-52s as they inch closer to
their targets. Then, the Soviet Premiere reveals the unthinkable.
If one US bomber gets through, if one nuclear weapon detonates
on Soviet soil, a doomsday device, already operational and
impossible to disarm, will be triggered automatically.
The President
turns to his strategic adviser, an ex-Nazi named Dr. Strangelove
(Sellers in his third role) who's confined to a wheelchair
and whose right arm seems to have a mind of its own. Strangelove
confirms that such a device could easily have been built but
is a bit miffed since its value as a deterrent is useless
if it's kept a secret. You know how the Premiere likes surprises,
explains Sadesky.
Kong and
his crew press on, damaged by the ground attack. They're leaking
fuel and can't reach either their prime or secondary target.
In the best spirit of American resourcefulness, they turn
to attack a target of opportunity, the Laputa ICBM Complex.
They fly well below radar detection altitude, making finding
them damn near impossible. Ripper's Air Force base is overrun
by the Army, and Ripper, fearing his inability to stand up
under torture, decides not to face the music. Mandrake scrambles
to figure out the recall code and get it to the Pentagon while
Colonel Bat Guano (Keenan Winn) threatens to shoot the "prevert."
But it would seem that nothing can stop Kong. And in one of
the most memorable sequences in film, Major Kong finds himself
riding a 30-Megaton Hydrogen Bomb bareback to ground-burst
at Laputa.
What's mankind
to do? Go to ground for a hundred years, suggests Dr. Strangelove.
One hundred thousand top people, with a ten-to-one female-to-male
ratio, polygamously repopulating the Earth. The men are intrigued.
And halfway across the globe, the Soviet doomsday machine
begins to spray a deadly cloud of radioactivity into the atmosphere.
Dr. Strangelove
is a showcase for the chameleon-like talents of the great
Peter Sellers. His most financially successful role is Jacques
Clouseau, and that would seem to be his legacy. But this wonderfully
gifted comedian and actor could transform himself into a bewildering
number of characters, and in more than one film, played multiple
roles. Enjoy him at his prime.
The delightful
screenplay was written by Terry Southern, Stanley Kubrick,
and Peter George, who wrote the novel on which the film was
based. (Although all could have benefited from a lesson in
nuclear half-life.) This is a very dark comedy, brilliantly
satirical, that makes clear how impractical the policy of
MAD really is. Yet, it would take decades for the superpowers
to come to this same self-evident conclusion. And how much
has changed? Even as you read this, thousands of nuclear weapons
are poised to destroy. And insecure and distrustful countries
are hard at work developing weapons in a naive attempt to
catch up with existing nuclear powers. Perhaps a DVD player
and a copy of Dr. Strangelove should be sent to every deluded
leader who believes that such power is manageable.
A
Little Strangelove Trivia
After you've
enjoyed the film, go back to the scene in which Dr, Strangelove
is extolling the virtues of starting society afresh from underground.
As he pummels his right arm when it uncontrollably yanks on
the wheel of his wheelchair, watch great character-actor John
Bull's stern face. He nearly loses it. I'd bet that this was
Seller's best take, and Kubrick decided that since everyone's
attention would be focussed on Strangelove, no one would notice.
Ah, the pleasures of home theater.
In an interesting
coincidence, the embodiment of Darth Vader in the form of
David Prowse is in Clockwork Orange and the voice of Darth
Vader is in Dr. Strangelove. Look for James Earl Jones as
one of Kong's crew.
Kubrick
may have set a new special effects standard in his 2001: a
space odyssey released in 1968, but in this 1964 film, the
sad state of special effects is painfully apparent. Even the
continuity was sloppy. Note the shadow of a World War II B-17
on the ground during some of the simulated airborne shots
of the model B-52.
When the
navigator calls off the bomber's range to the Laputa ICBM
Complex as 10 miles, it takes almost four minutes to fly three
miles closer, damn slow for a plane that cruises as 600 MPH.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
When the
film was shown theatrically, the aspect ratio switched back
and forth between 1.66:1 and the Academy Ratio of 1.37:1.
To preserve this unusual creative decision, Strangelove is
presented on this DVD in 4:3 letterbox video. As I did with
Clockwork Orange, I tried to "open matte" the film, and viewed
it at 1.78:1, fully involving my 16x9 screen. Again, I feel
that I missed nothing, and once again I found this more satisfying
that projecting it as 4:3 with black bands frequently surrounding
the image. Sorry Mr. Kubrick, your film looks fine this way.
The quality of the video is excellent. The black and white
print may have a nick or scratch here and there, and I don't
like the visible line structure of 4:3 video, but the picture
is sharp and clear. Virtually no edge enhancement is visible.
The contrast is first rate, with deep blacks. My only suggestion
is similar to the one I made in my Clockwork Orange review;
I'd encourage Warner to create a new transfer matted to 1.78:1
and in anamorphic video.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
The Dolby
Surround audio is monaural. The quality of the 1964 sound
is a little nasal, but the dialog is crystal clear, every
cynical word.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There? As with
other Warner titles, one is rewarded with instant gratification
when the disc is started. After Warner's logo appears, the
show begins and uses the player's hardware settings. This
is the way all DVDs should be programmed. English and French
are available as spoken languages, Spanish for captions. Twenty-nine
chapter stops are offered. No theatrical trailer is offered.
(Editor's Note: This is actually a Columbia title repackaged.
Like all early Columbia discs, it defaults to the movie, not
the menu.)
Parting Thoughts
Minimal
extras, reasonable transfer, excellent film, one that deserves
to be in any film buff's collection. Recommended.
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