Stanley Kubrick, Director: A Visual Analysis [Hardcover]

Alexander Walker (Author), Ulrich Ruchti (Author), Sybil Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1999

An exclusive window on one of the most brilliant --and most secretive --filmmakers in history. No moviemaker has kept his world so tightly sealed against intruders as the late great Stanley Kubrick. While many of his films have turned into modern metaphors --we speak of "a 2001 world" or "a Clockwork Orange society" --the man himself has withdrawn into his own obsessive visions. Few have known him personally; fewer still have gained his confidence and seen him at work. For over thirty years, Alexander Walker, a renowned film historian, has been one such privileged observer. Stanley Kubrick Directs first appeared in 1971, giving readers the most authoritative view possible of Kubrick at work by providing an in-depth look at his films, his technique, and his often unpredictable genius. Now expanded, this unique cine-biography includes analysis and photographs of all of Kubrick's films, right up to his latest and final film, the erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Kubrick himself allowed the use of illustrations taken directly from the film's frames. In text and pictures, this fascinating book provides a rare glimpse into the work of one of the greatest and most eccentric directors of our time. This new edition now includes material on Kubrick's films Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A longtime friend of Kubrick's who remembers the days when the great director was mysteriously collecting Japanese science fiction movies in what turned out to be preparation for 2001, Walker rankled Warner Bros. and the Kubrick estate when he printed a rave review of Eyes Wide Shut weeks before the movie was released. In this book, he offers a similarly enthusiastic tour through the Kubrick oeuvre, from the first film (Fear and Desire, 1953) to the last (Eyes Wide Shut, 1999). Walker describes Kubrick as a guarded, suspicious, obsessive, controlling, paranoid workaholic, and makes us feel that he's bestowing a compliment. Each movie is given a thorough analysis, reinforced by the extensive use of stills in each case. He explains what that black obelisk in 2001 is and elaborates the various parallels between Kubrick and the character Jack Torrance in the filming of The Shining. Perhaps unavoidably, however, the section on Eyes Wide Shut seems merely to be a synopsis and lacks the detachment and detail that characterize the other chapters. One can only wish that Walker had waited for some critical perspective on his friend's final work. Nevertheless, its eulogistic tone aside, Kubrick fans everywhere will relish this as the definitive book on the director. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

One of many books on the director published this year, the revised and expanded edition of Walker's Stanley Kubrick Directs (LJ 12/71) was obviously timed to coincide with the highly anticipated mid-July release of his last film, Eyes Wide Shut. In addition to detailed analysis and background on his 13 films, the study contains a biography, an examination of the use of color in the films, and Walker's recollections of his friend in "Stanley: A Postscript," an excerpt of which was published in the Sunday Telegraph after Kubrick's untimely death in March. Walker employs solid research and film analysis skills, but he fails to capture his subject's essence, as he did in his celebrity biographies of Garbo, Dietrich, Leigh, and Rex Harrison, among others. The use of such hyperbole as "in recent years he has grown a ruff of black beard that adds a visible dimension of inscrutability to a disposition whose self-sufficiency seems at times almost monastic" ultimately results in reader apathy. John Baxter's Stanley Kubrick: A Biography (LJ 10/15/97) remains the best recent book on the enigmatic, driven, visionary director and his work. Recommended only for comprehensive performing arts collections.ABruce Henson, Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 376 pages
• Publisher: Norton; Revised & enlarged edition (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039304601X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393046014
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,430,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Full Paper Jacket, November 6, 2000

By 

S. Hendricks "S. Hendricks" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stanley Kubrick, Director: A Visual Analysis (Paperback)

This may be, as the notes above claim, the "most
comprehensive" book yet written on Kubrick. And it's clear the
author's personal relationship with him enhances understanding of his
films. But it's also obvious that the book was rushed onto the shelves
to capitalize on the publicity surrounding Kubrick's last film and the
director's death -- unless, of course, the typos and printer errors
are an artistic statement about mankind's pointless quest for
perfection...

The strongest part of the book is in finding subtle
similarities among the films, both in style and content, and in
tracing the evolution of the director's ability to put his ideas
onscreen.

But the writing is occasionally overblown, presenting
obvious points as if they were major revelations. The section on
'Kubrick's Use of Color' is almost laughable, looking like a
four-color decoy for the rest of the book's cheaply done b/w. its
analysis pretty much boils down to 'He used a lot of red.'

An
editorial description above refers to 'frame-by-frame' analysis, but
that's pretty misleading. There is some detailed technical insight,
but not for every film. And in sections that discuss particular
sequences, the accompanying photos are often on different pages. The
section on EWS is pretty splapdash.

But there is also some really
interesting stuff here. It's just too bad they didn't spend a little
more time sealing the cracks.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional Visual Analysis, November 6, 1999

By 

Michael LaRosa ([e-mail]) (Potsdam, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stanley Kubrick, Director: A Visual Analysis (Hardcover)

A very good book, really. Although I was rather unimpressed with its treatment of Eyes Wide Shut. I think the book owes a lot more to that film than what it had say. The book has a very interesting chapter entitled " Kubrick's Use of Color" which I found very intriguing. But still, again, the author leaves it a good deal short. Especially when an experienced viewer can think of so much more to say for it..... But nonetheless, the book offers invaluable analysis of Paths of Glory, 2001, A Clockwork Orange, to some degree the Shining, and Certainly Full Metal Jacket. Probably the best analysis of Full Metal Jacket that you'll read anywhere.... Overall, what impressed me the most was its utilisation of authentic stills to provide a clear, visual study of Kubrick's films. Something that should be done more often when studying Kubrick's work. So for that, I say it is rather impressive book. A must-read for any serious or aspiring Kubrick fan. At the very least, it's a complete, thouroughly-researched and commendable analysis....

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not definitive but still intriguing, August 30, 2001

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stanley Kubrick, Director: A Visual Analysis (Hardcover)

This is an interesting book, with a huge number of photographs detailing most of Kubrick's films. (The only ones not examined in depth are 'Fear and Desire,' 'Killer's Kiss,' 'The Killing,' 'Spartacus,' and 'Lolita.') The book is organized chronologically, with a small section in the middle of the book about Kubrick's use of color and an epilogue detailing Walker's personal encounters with Kubrick at the end. It is fun to read about Walker's stories about Kubrick, which shed some all-too-needed light on the personal life and motivations of the reclusive filmmaker.
On the whole, Walker's analyses of Kubrick's films are good, not great: I think he is really off-base in praising Tom Cruise's acting in 'Eyes Wide Shut' and in denigrating Kubrick's use of the occult in 'The Shining.' However, his analyses of 'Barry Lyndon' and 'Full Metal Jacket' were astute, and he successfully links certain themes and motifs throughout all of Kubrick's films.
Finally, although normally I don't like a huge amount of pictures in a book because of how they always jack up the price, here the pictures are well-chosen and either help jog your memory about the films or help you understand them if you haven't seen them. I will say that some of the pictures were much larger than they needed to be - I didn't need a full two-page spread of the atomic bomb exploding in 'Dr. Strangelove' - but that's a minor criticism.
All in all, a generally fun book.