The exhibitor’s trailer for Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Dr Strangelove’
No one does it quite like Stanley Kubrick. The American filmmaker earned the title of one of the greatest filmmakers of all time through his utilisation of innovative cinematography, dark humour, realistic attention to detail and extensive set designs. His films derived from novel adaptations, reaching out to numerous genres and styles. Kubrick’s works have landed spots in numerous greatest films of all time lists, accentuated through consistent critical and commercial praise. This success can be cited as the director’s demanding perfectionist outlook, not letting a project go until it reached his ideal standard. Titles such as Dr Strangelove were filmed under this idealistic approach.
One of Kubrick’s most defining and acclaimed films is 2001: A Space Odyssey, a visual marvel of an adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel of the same name. This adaptation was heavily praised for its scientific realism and innovative special effects, earning Kubrick an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Furthermore, fellow acclaimed director Steven Spielberg hailed 2001: A Space Odyssey as his generation’s ‘big bang’. Another Kubrick classic is A Clockwork Orange, another novel adaptation, this time based on Anthony Burgess’s book. Despite initial controversy upon release due to its brutality and values, the film was re-assessed as a cult classic and is an apex in film pop culture. Who could forget The Shining? Kubrick’s visual retelling of Stephen King’s classic horror novel is recognised as one of the greatest of its genre. However, it misses as a straight-from-the-page King adaptation. Another surprising fact is that the Razzie Awards nominated Kubrick for the Worst Direct Award upon release.
Dr Strangelove, released in 1964, is another hit in Kubrick’s filmography. This black comedy tells the story of the Cold War with a satirical punch, as an overblown presentation of the fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States occupying the runtime. Dr Strangelove stars Peter Seller, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, and Slim Pickens, based on Peter George’s thriller novel Red Alert.
Despite being known as one of the greatest and most successful comedies of all time, the director believed Dr Strangelove’s subject matter to have been a miss with most of the audience. In a 2019 documentary on the film, Kubrick gives his outlook on audience engagement in an archival interview. “The atomic bomb is as much of an abstraction as you can possibly have,” Kubrick explains. “It’s as abstract as that you know that someday you’ll die, and you do an excellent job of denying it psychologically. I would say, in the minds of most people, it’s less interesting than city government.”
Dr Strangelove’s promotional material included simplistic but boldly designed posters with political figures and plane silhouettes printed against a white background. Exhibitor trailers also encapsulated and transmitted the ironic humour, giving audiences slight hints of the brilliantly executed story. However, one promo material piece went under the radar. For the film’s 50th anniversary, a nearly 20-minute promo reel was released, split into two parts. Kubrick provides a narration giving Dr Strangelove’s story. Even though the final product was drenched in absurd black comedy, he does so in an astonishingly flat, straightforward manner. Unfortunately, the footage has been made unavailable on sites, so here’s a brief outline of the reel.
Kubrick walks us through all the now-familiar elements, such as the B52-s circling constantly, refuelling in midair, the sudden order to bomb Russia and a General’s hour departure for the “War Room”. The reel also mentions the siege of Burpelson Air Force Base and Group Captain Lionel Mandrake’s struggle for the recall code. Following President Merkin Muffley’s bad news call, the director discusses the titular German expatriate scientist’s plan to restart society after a nuclear catastrophe. In Kubrick’s retellings of some of the most memorable cinema scenes from the 20th century, we see angles, cuts, and lines different from what we know. Even though Kubrick downplays the humour, this reel does hint at the material’s brilliance and Kubrick’s perfectionist approach.
As one of the best political satires of the century, Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove seemingly made a success of the impossible, blending a nuclear crisis with comedy. Kubrick employed something many Americans of the time were terrified of and addressed it with an unsuspecting lens, rejuvenating the circumstances to tell another side of the story. Dr Strangelove took a gamble and came out on the other side as one of the first great satires.
