Stanley Kubrick, Director: A Visual Analysis [Paperback]

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

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2000

Alexander Walker's Stanley Kubrick, Director is the only book ever written with Kubrick's cooperation.

This new edition, revised and expanded to discuss all of Kubrick's films—including Eyes Wide Shut—again received the approval of the reclusive director, who before his death allowed the use of illustrations taken directly from his films' frames. The result is a frame-by-frame examination of the inimitable style that infuses every Kubrick movie, from the pitch-perfect hilarity of Lolita to the icy supremacy of 2001: A Space Odyssey to the baroque horror of The Shining. The book's beautiful design and dynamic arrangement of photographic stills offer a frame-by-frame understanding of how Kubrick constructed a film. What emerges is a deeply human study of one remarkable artist's nature and obsessions, and how these changed and shifted in his four decades as a filmmaker. Black-and-white illustrations throughout, 8 pages of color.

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. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Rev Exp edition (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393321193
• ISBN-13: 978-0393321197
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #691,487 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.