Stanley Kubrick, Director

by Sybil Taylor, Ulrich Ruchti, Alexander Walker

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039304601X
• ISBN13: 9780393046014
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 376 Pages
• Weight: 2.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.5" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

Not definitive but still intriguing

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.

Full Paper Jacket

This may be, as the notes above claim, the "mostcomprehensive" book yet written on Kubrick. And it's clear theauthor's personal relationship with him enhances understanding of hisfilms. But it's also obvious that the book was rushed onto the shelvesto capitalize on the publicity surrounding Kubrick's last film and thedirector's death -- unless, of course, the typos and printer errorsare an artistic statement about mankind's pointless quest forperfection...The strongest part of the book is in finding subtlesimilarities among the films, both in style and content, and intracing the evolution of the director's ability to put his ideasonscreen. But the writing is occasionally overblown, presentingobvious points as if they were major revelations. The section on'Kubrick's Use of Color' is almost laughable, looking like afour-color decoy for the rest of the book's cheaply done b/w. itsanalysis pretty much boils down to 'He used a lot of red.'Aneditorial description above refers to 'frame-by-frame' analysis, butthat's pretty misleading. There is some detailed technical insight,but not for every film. And in sections that discuss particularsequences, the accompanying photos are often on different pages. Thesection on EWS is pretty splapdash.But there is also some reallyinteresting stuff here. It's just too bad they didn't spend a littlemore time sealing the cracks.

good, but not as exceptional as Cimet's book

This book doesn't quite stand up to Michael Cimet's long out of print book on Kubrick from the 80s, but it does a fine job. The analysis of the films are in-depth, but lack a true piercing analysis that would otherwise make it a masterpiece. Most of the book is in black and white, with a lone color section providing stills from 2001, Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut. The accompanying essay about Kubrick's color use is somewhat shallow and could use a lot more detail. This book is also loaded with pictures from the films, many of them behind the scenes, about 90% of them individual frame enlargements. Although they are black and white, they are clearly printed. If you've read other Kurbick books, you already how most of them use the same stills over and over and over. Since the subject is a film director, they took the time to gather together a ton of photographs.

Exceptional Visual Analysis

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....

A fitting tribute to a 20th century giant.....

Well-written essays are the highlight of this dream collection. Because it features "Eyes Wide Shut," it is an essential book for any Kubrick fan. Both analytical and entertaining, I was glad to find a book that respects the films of a complex director without reducing them to postmodernist Foucault-inspired nonsense.