Director's Chair #8 -- Day Three


LAMBs in the Director's Chair
Event #8 starring Stanley Kubrick
June 8th to 10th of 2010

There is one particular scene from one of Stanley Kubrick’s films in need of being brought to your attention. It is relevant to the topic at hand for today. The scene is completely awe inspiring to me in terms of a technical standpoint. During the ninety seconds in which the scene unveils upon the screen, there is only a single character present for nearly the entire time and he does not say a single word. However, after viewing the scene the audience feels unnerved, even though nothing really happens. The audience is emotionally provoked. How is it possible? Why is the feeling of uneasiness specifically recalled by the scene? It is interesting to witness all the conversations that have revolved around this particular scene. By chance, are you able to guess what movie or scene that I am referring to here? I will let you know which one I am talking about in a moment, but first here are the contributions for the final day of the eight installment of the Director’s Chair series featuring the man with the plan: Stanley Kubrick. The first order of business would be a movie I was talking about in the report yesterday. Paths of Glory was released in 1957 with Kirk Douglas helming the lead role of the movie. It is the early flagship of the anti-war film within Kubrick’s career and I was considerably moved when I had watched it for the first time. We are fortunate enough to have the following review submitted for the film, which I recommend it to be read in addition to watching the movie if you have not seen it yet.
Okay, so it would be in poor form if I were to ignore the other heavyweight champion of war films that Kubrick has directed. I am talking about the one movie that has one of the best fifteen-minute open scenes that I find enjoyably entertaining. Honestly, I did not know they could even “stack shit that high” as so perfectly described by the drill sergeant from hell. For your own personal enjoyment, I would like to present to you the list of articles for Full Metal Jacket (1987).
All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. Is that why we love watching movies? Are we attempting to avoid becoming dull and boring? It sounds like a reasonable plan to me. I am sure you are completely aware of what the next film on the list will be. Word has it that Kubrick was completely engrossed in reading Stephen King’s book The Shining after suffering through a numerous collection of other novels he considered adaptability factor to be unfavorable. According to the story I heard, he was throwing book after book against his office walls upon reading the first few pages of each one and quickly finding an amount of boredom quickly settling in. Finally grasping a copy of King’s book and began reading it he became so quiet that his personal assistant grew worrisome if he was doing okay. Anyway, here is the list of articles and reviews that have been submitted for his film The Shining (1980).
The headlining film for today would be one of my favorite black comedy films. The humor in the film targets a very narrow demographic of people would find the material hilarious. It is a satire film with so many different sexual undertones. You would have to pay close attention to all the details in order to grasp the full spectrum of material that has been placed in the film. I am talking about Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). Hmm, would it be another anti-war film? Here are seven articles worth of material that you should definitely check out in addition to watching the film if you have not seen it before.
Referring back to the introduction, I would like to know if you were able to guess the movie scene that I was mentioning. The description of the scene was rather vague and not very helpful with listing any valuable hints or suggestions from which movie it could be found. Well, the one giant hint would be the mention of the scene being in one of the four movies that have been featured today. Okay, I will just right out mention that I am referring to the tricycle scene from The Shining. You can watch the entire scene on YouTube by following this link here:
Some of the elements that appear in the scene which just blows my mind would include they way they were able to place the film camera so low to the ground and perform a tracking shot of the tricycle through the hotel without picking up any sounds other than the noise from the plastic wheels of the toy. In addition, have you noticed how perfectly even the lighting is through every hallway without a single shadow or extraneous sign of the film crew anywhere? Then there is the tense building of the notoriously evil hotel suite that is merely implied as evil by the creepy music, a random flash frame of the twin girls, and the lengthy gaze of an innocent child staring at the door. It is so simplistic on screen, but there is so much emotional power behind it that audience is effectively unnerved by what they are watching. Crazy stuff!

In conclusion, I would like to offer a bit of thanks to everyone who has participated in the Director’s Chair series and to those who continuously stop by to read the articles that I link to within every installment. Make sure to stop by later for the announcement of the ninth installment of the series, because it will be another round of fun and excitement for everyone.
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