The Cinema of Stanley Kubrick [Paperback]

Norman Kagan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0826404227 | ISBN-13: 978-0826404220 | Publication Date: December 1989 | Edition: Expanded edition

A major assessment of the great director's work.

"A must for all fans of Kubrick. Kagan chronicles all of Kubrick's work...with a wealth of background information on the filmmaker and his films". -- Boxoffice

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Stanley Kubrick is one of our most brilliant, innovative and difficult filmmakers. Norman Kagan's analysis cuts a lucid path through those difficulties. He summarizes the plots of each of Kubrick's films, providing a running commentary as he goes along. He moreover lists thematic obsessions that run through all the films he describes, offering an intriguing sense of Kubrick's career as a whole.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Continuum Intl Pub Group (Sd); Expanded edition edition (December 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826404227
• ISBN-13: 978-0826404220
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,554,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Shiner for Kubrick criticism., January 10, 2001

By 

Jerad Walters (Wheat Ridge, Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cinema of Stanley Kubrick (Paperback)

The main problem with this book is the overall sloppy job of writing. It is clear that the author failed to take notes during the films, for his descriptions are filled with incorrect statements about things as basic as the story and other errors. In his analysis of The Shining, for example, he spends a few pages recounting the plot. In doing so, however, he switches many of the events around and getting them out of order. Furthermore, he also has a habit of getting the names of characters mixed up, or getting the wrongs names altogether. If you're looking for a much better book on Kubrick, try Thomas Nelson's Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist's Maze.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worthless, June 19, 2004

By 

JR Dunn (New Brunswick,, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cinema of Stanley Kubrick (Paperback)

I don't know why film critics think they can get away with this kind of thing. Imagine if somebody tried to "critique" a novel, a CD, or any other type of work by retelling the narrative (or lyrics, or whatever) in his own words. Dismissed without a second thought, needless to say. But film critics write 'em and get 'em published. To what end, I don't know.

That said, this book plumbs new depths in that it's ALL the author does. There's no technical background or critical apparatus at all, merely scene by scene retellings of the films along with a bit of blather about "themes". The book's errors have been mentioned, but it should be reiterated that these are of a number and level of ignorance that's truly jaw-dropping. (My favorite is Kagan's identification of the drunken Shriners of "Killer's Kiss" as "some kind of street entertainers".)

One of these days, Kubrick will get the film-by-film analysis he deserves. This one ain't even a beginning.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good beginner's summary of Kubrick's work, October 11, 1998

By 

J. Steinberg (Long Island, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cinema of Stanley Kubrick (Paperback)

This book reads more like summaries of Kubrick's films than either analysis, or indepth reviews. It might be useful to anyone beginning to explore Kubrick's body of work, or anyone interested in having a mini-encyclopedia of cliff notes. Be warned that the book contains notes on all of the endings to Kubrick's films, so if you do not wish to ruin the endings, perhaps you shouldn't read it.