After my last post I went down stairs from my studio and turned on the Turner Classic Movie Channel. Some how the Gods of the universe must be telling me something because the 1964 movie Dr. Strangelove was on. I have to say it is one of my favorite movies of all time. Directed by Stanley Kubrick it stars Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove, Merkin Muffley and Mandrake. Sellers plays three characters in the movie that is punctuated by metaphor after metaphor. The film is a black comedy that portrays doomsday at the height of Cold War politics. Things have gone very wrong inside the Strategic Air Command. General Jack D. Ripper played by Sterling Hayden goes mad and orders his bombers to attack the Soviet Union. Mandrake played by Sellers is Ripper’s English Officer Aid that try s to reason with Ripper and engages him in a profound philosophical discussion about the dangers of nuclear war. Sellers also plays the president who attempts to manage an insane War Room in an attempt to avoid Doomsday. George C. Scott is the General in Charge, Scott is wonderful, he isn’t the least worried about Doomsday. Dr Strangelove also played by Sellers is a mad scientist who has invented the weapons of mass destruction and is consumed by the science. His other personality is one of reason while his dark evil side literally fights with his good moral side. Slim Pickens plays Major T.J. “King Kong” a B-52 Bomber pilot trained to carry out his mission at any cost.
Major T.J. King Kong, Slim Pickens riding the Bomb in Dr. Strangelove
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxrWz9XVvls&NR=1 But unknown to all of them the Russians have invented a Doomsday machine that is unstoppable. This is one movie that is worth watching. Like many old films they are lost in the caverns of film archives. I have added several links that review the film and also a Youtube preview. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8dUqlxm3_o&feature=related
Dr Strangelove Movie Review http://www.filmsite.org/drst.html
On the Beach filmed in 1959 starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins and was directed by Stanley Kramer is on of the most profound dramas about Doomsday you will ever watch. After a nuclear war most of the world has died from radiation exposure. Peck is a submarine commander that finds the last survivors on earth in Australia where they wait for the radioactive death to come as radiation circles the earth. The drama unfolds as the survivors try to cope with the end result of world gone insane. This film gets into the dirty reality of nuclear war from a human perspective. This is another must watch film that again was on Turner Classic Movies just the other day.
Fred Astaire sums it all up in this Youtube clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGm4yCov7nE&feature=related
Review Summary by Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Although there’d been “doomsday dramas” before it, Stanley Kramer’s On the Beach was considered the first “important” entry in this genre when originally released in 1959. Based on the novel by Nevil Shute, the film is set in the future (1964) when virtually all life on earth has been exterminated by the radioactive residue of a nuclear holocaust. Only Australia has been spared, but it’s only a matter of time before everyone Down Under also succumbs to radiation poisoning. With only a short time left on earth, the Australian population reacts in different ways: some go on a nonstop binge of revelry, while others eagerly consume the suicide pills being issued by the government. When the possibility arises that rains have washed the atmosphere clean in the Northern hemisphere, a submarine commander (Gregory Peck) and his men head to San Diego, where faint radio signals have been emanating. The movie’s all-star cast includes: Peck as the stalwart sub captain, Ava Gardner as his emotionally disturbed lover, Fred Astaire as a guilt-wracked nuclear scientist, and Anthony Perkins and Donna Anderson as the “just starting out in life” married couple. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The power of Art can shape the future as well as explain the events of the past. Perhaps it is time that we creative people begin to search for ideas, images and answers that will transform this global civilization into a world of hope. We all know the dangers and yet we chose to ignore the reality of the danger. Climate Change, War, Energy, Food are the threats. What should we do as individuals as Nations to ensure that “We” survive as One World. Or do we allow our fears to over come us, do we shrink away from the challenge and only look at our selfish needs. I think we are at the edge of great change, global change. How will we handle that change will be tomorrows history.
Filed under: Art, Environment, Media, Movies, Nuclear War, On Art, Photography, Politics, The Bomb, Uncategorized , Doomsday, Dr. Strangelove, Peace, Turner Classic Movies, War
