BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Black Comedy (Satire)	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 1 - 1.33:1, non-16x9, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1963	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	90:33 minutes	Other Extras	Filmographies-Cast & Crew Photo Gallery Poster Gallery
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region	2,4	Director	Stanley Kubrick
Studio Distributor	Columbia TriStar	Starring	Peter Sellers George C. Scott Sterling Hayden Keenan Wynn Slim Pickens Tracey Reed
Case	Transparent Amaray
RRP	$34.95	Music	Laurie Johnson

    For those who are unfamiliar with the film, it is the story of a slightly wacky anti-communist USAF General, Jack Ripper (Sterling Hayden) who hatches a scheme to unleash the nuclear power of the B-52 bombers under his command. He transmits the dreaded go code for Attack Wing Plan R to be instigated by his bombers, and nothing will stop them short of the correct stop code being transmitted to the bombers. After his plan is uncovered, General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) is forced to pass onto the President (Peter Sellers) the bad news that the planes cannot be stopped; he also espouses a view that an all out nuclear strike should be undertaken to take full use of the opportunity given. Ripper's 2IC, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers) is unable to extract the stop code from him before he shoots himself, so it is up to the Russians to stop the planes as best they can. Eventually Mandrake works out the stop code, which is transmitted to the 34 bombers: 30 acknowledge and stand down (3 having been shot down by the Russians) leaving one lone bomber under the command of Captain Kong (Slim Pickens) to deliver its load. Meanwhile Dr Strangelove (Peter Sellers) espouses to the President a plan to go underground to save the American way of life - at a ratio of 1 man for 10 women, all of whom should be chosen for their sexual traits in view of the large amount of work the small number of men will be doing!

    A brilliant satire of the cold war, which was so well brought to life by a great cast, most of whom are now unfortunately deceased. Peter Sellers in a triple role is at his very best and this is arguably George C. Scott's best performance outside of Patton. But if the film can be boiled down to one scene, it has to be the well known scene of Slim Picken's riding the nose of the nuclear missile like a bucking bronco, all the way down to ground zero. Stanley Kubrick developed a great reputation as a director, and this clearly illustrates that he had command of many genres, unlike many other great directors. Just be aware though: the effects are definitely passé nowadays! I almost thought at one time that I could see the line holding the model bomber for photography, but I could be wrong!

Video

    The transfer is presented in a variable aspect ratio, switching between 1.33:1 and 1.66:1; it is not 16x9 enhanced. Much is made of the variable aspect ratio, but to be honest I doubt that many will even notice the infrequent changing - I certainly did not.

    This is a quite clear and fairly sharp transfer throughout, although there are a few minor lapses probably more associated with age than anything else. Shadow detail at times was very good, but at others quite limited; this is probably a reflection of the way the film was shot by Stanley Kubrick.

    The black and white is mostly very vibrant, with a very nice clarity to it. On some odd occasions however, it was a little murky and lacked contrast. In general, I would suspect that this is partly to do with the way the film was produced. I should point out however that direct comparison with the Region 1 version indicates that this is a much clearer and more vivid transfer.

    There appeared to be a minor MPEG artefact around 80:38, but this was not too serious and did not unduly distract from the film. It appears as a line across the film that looks a little pixelated, and may possibly be a video artefact. Film-to-video artefacts comprised some relatively minor aliasing, most notably during the War Room scenes, but again this was not especially distracting. Film artefacts were a significant problem throughout the film, and at times were a little distracting.

Audio

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times.

    There did not appear to be any problems with audio sync with this transfer.

    The music is credited as being from Laurie Johnson, but it seemed to be little more than standard military type tunes that form the basis of any war film. Not especially original, but complementary to the on-screen action.

    Since this is a straight mono soundtrack, we get no use out of the surround or bass channels at all. The sound is very much central, but is for all that not too bad. Whilst some will no doubt lament the lack of 5.1 sound, despite it not having been thought of in 1963, this is a decently effective soundtrack that does not in any way interfere with the classic status of the film.
[Ed. Actually, multi-channel audio has been around for a long time with 70mm, Cinerama and experimental formats, even as far back as Fantasia.]

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Theatrical Trailer

Filmographies - Cast and Crew

Photo Gallery

Poster Gallery

• Nothing!

• Theatrical trailer
• Photo Gallery
• Poster Gallery
• Filmographies

    An acceptable video transfer for a film of its age.

    A slightly raw but effective enough mono audio transfer.

    An extras package that is reasonable enough for the age of the film.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ian Morris
13th November 1999