Director's Chair #8 -- Day Two


LAMBs in the Director's Chair
Event #8 starring Stanley Kubrick
June 8th to 10th of 2010
Hi, hi, hi there! At last, we meet. Our brief govoreet through the letter hole was not, shall we say, satisfactory, yes? To what do I owe the extreme pleasure of this surprising visit?
What else could be more fitting of an introduction the second day of the Stanley Kubrick blogathon then a couple of quotes from A Clockwork Orange? The famous 1971 film starring Malcolm McDowell is the feature presentation for today along with a few sideline performances that are equally as entertaining and interesting. I must admit that the list of articles for today is short, but still holds an equal amount of importance with all of the other lists of articles that are included in the Director’s Chair series. Shall we begin with an oldie, but goodie? Jumping back to the year of 1956, we find Mr. Kubrick in his late twenties and working on his third feature length film. The Killing is not the first movie I think of when I hear his name. However, the film made such a strong impression with it was released that it encouraged actor and producer Kirk Douglas to track down Kubrick in order to collaborate on a film. Their co-production, Paths of Glory, was released the following year.

Here is a brief review of The Killing...
Working backwards in time may not be a logical maneuver, but let me direct your attention to a 1955 film Killer’s Kiss, which is Kubrick’s second feature film.
Nudity! We all love a good nudie film with hot celebrities and lots of sex. However, is a soft core porn film an odd selection to be the last film that Kubrick ever directed in his lifetime? I will let you decide for yourself. In the 1999 film Eyes Wide Shut, there were several well placed people to cover up the sexual acts in the film. Some of the “people” that were placed between the camera and the crude acts were digitally placed within the frame during post-production as part of a concern about the MPAA ratings board. I am unsure why this would be an issue since Kubrick is no stranger to sexually explicit scenes displaying frontal nudity (ahem, just like Clockwork). I appreciate the reviews of the film that have been submitted for this event. Honestly, I was a bit surprised that I received more than one review for it. I hope you enjoy these reviews.
By this point, would you think that A Clockwork Orange would need a proper introduction? Probably not. The film has a very strong cult following, which includes at least one of the LAMBs members that I know about. Without further ado, here is the entire list of reviews and editorial for the movie.
Well, now it is time to wrap it up. Tomorrow we will have a few more Kubrick related articles to read through and enjoy. It will be the third and final day of the current installment, which I hope you have been enjoying so far to this point. Make sure to stay tuned for the ax wielding good time that we will have tomorrow, because all work and no play makes the LAMBs a dull group.
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