Film Analysis

Stan Laurel

2005-02-23T04:35:00.000-08:00

Stan Laurel

Laurel and Hardy
Stan Laurel was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson on 16 June 1890.

He lived in Ulverston as a child. The town was then very much part of Lancashire - but today we proudly count him as a famous Cumbrian.

SEE ALSO

A guide to Laurel and Hardy from H2G2

WEB LINKS

Laurel and Hardy
The official website. A wealth on information plus downloads and competitions.

The Sons of the Desert official site

AskAway
'Stan Laurel and his brothers?' a question posed.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.

FACTS

Stan first met Oliver Hardy while filming 'The Lucky Dog' in 1919.

Oliver Hardy was born Norvell Hardy on 18 January 1892 in Harlem, Georgia. He was known to everyone by his nickname, Babe.

The first film to feature both Oliver and Stan was Forty-Five Minutes From Hollywood in 1926.

Laurel and Hardy officially teamed up in 1927 with the release of Duck Soup.

Laurel & Hardy made 117 films together between 1926 and 1952.

The Music Box 'won the 1932 Oscar for 'Best Live Action Short Subject.' It was the only Laurel & Hardy film to win such an award.

Oliver Hardy died on August 7, 1957.

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Two minutes from the market cross in Ulverston is the small museum dedicated to Stan Laurel who was born in the town. The famous comedian's film career spanned 35 years and an incredible 182 films.

The world's only museum dedicated to Laurel & Hardy.
He was the second of five children born to Arthur Jefferson (A.J.) and Margaret (Madge) Metcalfe.

His parents were both in the theatrical business. His father was skilled in all matters of the stage, from acting to make-up and theatre management.

Stan’s early years were spent living with his grandmother, Sarah Metcalfe, in Ulverston.

The house on Argyll Street where Stan was born and lived displays a commemorative plaque.

By the early 1900s, Stan had joined his family in Glasgow, and was working in a variety of administrative jobs at his father’s theatre, the Metropole.

A plaque on Stan Laurel's house in Ulverston.
His first official stage performance took place when he was 16 years old.
Stan polished his skills at pantomime and the performance of music hall sketches.

In 1910 he made his first trip to America as a member of the Fred Karno musical-comedy troupe, which also included Charlie Chaplin. For some time, he was Chaplin’s understudy.

Stan adopted a stage name as a result of a superstition. His real name - Stan Jefferson - contains the unlucky number of 13 letters. He chose the name Laurel - it is said to have been inspired by a wreath found by his partner and common-law wife, Mae.

He returned to Ulverston with Ollie in 1947. The duo gave a speech from the balcony of the Coronation Hall to a packed crowd below.

In 1961, Stan was honoured by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with an Oscar for his creative pioneering in the field of comedy. Stan's only regret was that Oliver was not there to share in the recognition.

Stan himself died on 23 February 1965 after suffering a heart attack.

Sons of the Desert
This isn't the name for a foreign legion - the Sons of the Desert is the most famous Laurel and Hardy appreciation society.

The name comes from a fictional lodge to which Stan and Ollie pledge allegiance in their 1933 feature film of the same name.

The society has been running for decades and has huge legions ('scuse pun) of members from all over the world. Local branches are called 'tents'. Find out more on the official website - see the Links on the left.

Looking down King Street from the Market Cross in Ulverston.

Contact details:
The Laurel and Hardy Museum
4c Upper Brook Street
Ulverston
Cumbria
LA12 7BH
Tel: 01229 582292
{Upper Brook Street is off King Street.]

How to get to Ulverston
By car: The town is around 35 miles from Junction 36 on the M6. Turn left onto the A590 (for Barrow) and follow signs for Barrow and Ulverston. The museum is clearly signposted.

By train: Ulverston train station is a stone's throw from the museum - trains leave regularly from Lancaster and Barrow.

Market days: Thursday and Saturday.

Tell us about your visit and send us your digital photos of Ulverston or other Cumbrian attractions.
E-mail cumbria@bbc.co.uk so we can include them for others to enjoy.

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Your comments

From the photo of the plaque on Stan Laurel's house it would appear that he was born in 1800! The tail of the "9" needs polishing methinks.
Greetings
Mythili Sarkar

I went to the museum years ago and never forgot it!
the owner was fantastic - he wouldnt let me in unless i could place or match films with extracts he was reinacting...
if he reads this - thank you because theres no bigger fan than me (we all say that) - it was wonderful and i didnt want to leave !
im pleased to hear the place is still there as even in tokyo where i am now i can find a lot of the films in my local video store.. if you love laurel and hardy then you never get over it ! pod
Carl Merchant

Your Cumbrian historians appear to have airbrushed out Stans North Eastern ties.
Stanley Jefferson (Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy). Spent his childhood living in Dockwray Square, North Shields. His father was the manager of the Theatre Royal (demolished) in Prudhoe Street. A bronze statue of Stan now stands in the park at the centre of Dockwray Square.
Pete Whelan - London

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essay in process -dr strangelove

2004-11-14T08:26:00.000-08:00

Plot & Story

Cause & Effect

Openings, Closings & Patterns of Development

Genre

Mise-en-scene

Realism

Power of Mise-en-scene

Setting

Costume & Makeup

Lighting

Staging: Movement and Acting

Acting & Actuality

Acting: Functions & Motivation

Space

Time

Depth

Black & White Design

Frame Composition

Edits

Powers of Sound

STANLEY KUBRICK’S
Dr. Strangelove
Or:
How
I Learnt
To
Stop
Worrying
And
Love
The
Bomb

the hot-line suspense comedy

Peter Titterington
Film Analysis
XMC 04-6

Amin Jan Mohammed
0408866

MA – Media, Culture & Technology
University of Luton

January 19th, 2005.

‘DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNT TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB’
Directed by – Stanley Kubrick

Some viewers approach a film expecting to learn lessons about life. (see Bordwell & Thompson 2004)

Stanley Kubrick was interested in nuclear strategy and on the theme of nuclear war being started either by accident or madness. While filming Lolita, he paid a visit to the London’s Institute for Strategic Studies, where the director of the institute recommended him the novel ‘Red Alert’ by Peter George.

Dr. Strangelove was initially meant to be a serious suspense drama based on the novel, though Kubrick knew very well that nuclear was a sensitive issue, had to be dealt with great care and at the same time recognized that the film as a serious drama would be less effective. Therefore he suggested its co-producers that a matter of such intensity would make more impact as a suspense comedy instead, and continued to work on the screenplay with George to construct one of the finest satires to be ever produced enthused by the cold war and super powers accidentally going wrong with their nuclear inventions.

Satire – the debunking of prevalent social norms, institutions and mores – is clearly central to any theory or discussion of comedy’s socio-cultural role and significance. Comedy has often been viewed as either actually of potentially subversive, or at least an inherently positive force for social renewal and social change. (see Cook & Bernink 1999)

Kubrick decided to not only make an amusing film, but also question the integrity of the most powerful men, their countries and their so-called successful inventions that would end the world in a failure. As a comedy the film even today makes a very powerful impact and successfully survives to raise the same fear as it did 40 years ago, ‘the fear of the atom bomb’.

Coming from Pakistan, I can relate to such a fear. Citizens of Pakistan, India and their neighbouring countries have been living under a similar fear for such a nuclear capability going wrong, as it did in Dr. Strangelove. Both the countries have had several conflicts over the last fifty-five years and knowing both are nuclear capable today the possibility of an unfortunate mass massacre remains possible. Dr Strangelove even today is extremely credible during the cold war in my region.

A film does not just start, it begins. The opening provides a basis for what is to come and initiates us into the narrative. (see Bordwell & Thompson 2004)

Film begins with a monstrous B-52 bomber in mid air being re-fuelled for a long voyage the movie is about to take its audience along. The romantic and passionate soundtrack with soft dissolving edits between the various camera angles almost suggests an intimate love scene between the two enormous planes in mid air. Kubrick does not seem to wait for his titles to end to begin his story telling. The intimacy shown between the warplanes before the movie has actually began, visually suggests, ‘all is fair in love and war,’ and that I may say Kubrick is at its best without even saying a word.

In the classic narrative, events in the story are organised around a basic structure of enigma and resolution. (see Cook & Bernink 1999)

Kubrick also has his own recipe of constructing his world of cinema and narrating his stories, soon after the titles end, the film begins with an important phone call answered by a woman in a bikini in a room filled with mirrors all around her. Wide frame of the brilliantly constructed room visually coincides with the breaking news on the phone. It is as hard to believe the unexpected orders as it is to avoid the complex room with mirrors, though just like the room the unfortunate instructions are real and yet difficult to comprehend.

The image, its presentation of an illusory time and space via shot composition, and the preservation or manipulation of that time and space in the form of editing, are in one way or another at the root of most critical and theoretical models of film analysis. (see Cook & Bernink 1999)

Brig. Gen. Jack D. Ripper had ordered all his fleet to destroy the USSR with nuclear weapons, confirming it is not a test and under no circumstances the ‘Plan R’ to be recalled. His unexpected orders result in a high profile meeting at the war room in Washington, where the US president Merkin Muffley decides to call the Russian President via their Ambassador who reveals that any nuclear attack on USSR will trigger the Doomsday device that will destroy all life on earth.

US president and all his senior advisers work in elevated stress to stop either of the inhumane attack on life.

Narratives may be communicated through various modes of expression. (see Cook & Bernink 1999)

Plot of the movie could easily be summed up in few words, though to write about the construction of the film is not going to be an easy task. Dr Strangelove gives us the opportunity to first laugh but later think, talk and question about the powers of the countries in the world today. It makes us question the terrible human invention, ‘the atom bomb’. It questions our importance in the world, ignites the imagination of the audience and curiosity about the human inventions, those who create weapons of mass destruction, those who allow it, those who manage it, those who are responsible for it and the worse, those who will suffer from it.

When you describe a book as “hard to put down” or a piece of music as “absorbing,” you are implying that a pattern exists there, that an internal system governs the relations among parts and engages your interest. (see Bordwell & Thompson 2004)

Not too many comedy films leave an impact as strong as Dr Strangelove did. Several countries are nuclear capable today and violence across the globe questions the unfortunate powers of the countries that not only produce such weapons of destruction but also export them for monetary reasons. Innocent men, women and children are killed everyday to justify hypocrisy of the powerful nations claiming it to call it a peace process.

‘Peace is our Profession!’

40 years ago, Stanley Kubrick made sarcastic comments on such powers and questioned their capabilities, and because not much has changed, is why the film continues to make a similar impact even today.

Discussions of comedy have drawn on a variety of disciplines – from philosophy to narrative theory, from anthropology to psychology, and psychoanalysis. (see Cook & Bernink 1999)

Once Kubrick decided he wanted to address the nuclear issue in a genre of comedy, he hired the brilliant Peter Sellers for four different parts all of which call for the same high degree of comedy acting skill. As originally planned, Sellers was to play, an ex Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove, US President Muffley, British Captain Mandrake and Major Kong from Texas. Unfortunately, due to an accident Sellers was not able to play the part of Major T.J. Kong.

Peter Sellers name has been synonymous with the genre of comedy. He acted with passion proving his brilliance by playing the diverse characters. He not only had the three accents perfected but even the body languages of all were diversely performed. At most times, he acted over the top, contributing to the confusion and the suspense in the film. Even when delivering dialogues of serious intentions he would seem mysteriously funny to be trusted by the viewer and that is probably why Kubrick made him play several parts.

Actors act with their bodies as well. How a character walks, stands or sits conveys a great deal about personality and attitude. (see Bordwell & Thompson 2004)

Dr Strangelove has a male dominated cast except for Miss Scott, who only appears once on screen for a short yet an attention-grabbing phone conversation at the very beginning. George C. Scott [General Buck] and Slim Pickens [T.J. King Kong] play their parts over the top and extremely theatrical. The body language of General Buck [the senior most general in the US army] is very well choreographed and sarcastically militarised. Kong [the bomber pilot] plays almost an outlaw from Texas as if a cowboy about to attack or rob a town on his way. Sterling Hayden [Brig. Gen. Jack D. Ripper] plays the madman who calls for the attack on USSR. Peter Bull plays a stereotypical Russian Ambassador, who secretly tries to photograph the war room.

It is quite obvious that Kubrick tried to show as many diverse stereotypes as his script could allow, making sure to entertain his audience well with diverse characters and at the same time question the credibility of such powerful men. Kubrick also made sure the acting at times was extremely theatrical and over the top almost orchestrating the most powerful men to make a fool out of themselves.

One of my favourite scenes in the film has to be the phone conversation between the US and the Russian President; Kubrick constructs a perfect stereotypical image of the Russian President, even though one does not see or hear him at all. Diplomatic yet a hilarious conversation is wonderfully performed one-way by Sellers, convincing the existence of the Russian President at the other end of the phone.

Even the one sided phone conversation at the beginning of the film performed by Tracy Reed in her bikini is brilliantly choreographed. Her getting an artificial tan in a room that looks like out of a fancy casino or a hotel in Las Vegas also comments on the stereotype of the American culture. Even though she only appears for a short moment to answer and convey an important message to General Buck performs her character really well.

Along with the script, all the characters were very well constructed to contribute a classic story of errors. And to have a brilliant actor such as Peter Sellers on set and making him do the three diverse characters it was not only very inspiring for the other crew members but also made the film more powerful and spontaneously convincing by improvising at several occasions. Not to forget it is a film about a super power going accidentally wrong.

Realism as a standard of value, however raises several problems. (see Bordwell & Thompson 2004)

From the initial idea until the final production, Kubrick made sure the film would make a blunt impact. His sets are so brilliantly constructed, that for example the cockpit of the B-52 raised questions in the US defence department. On the other extreme, there is no such room as the war room in either the pentagon or the white house. Nevertheless, the existence of such a room almost the size of an airplane hanger is extremely convincing.

Setting, costume, lighting, and staging – these are the components of mise-en-scene. Yet seldom does one element appear in isolation. Each usually combines with others to create a specific system in every film. (see Bordwell & Thompson 2004)

Stanley Kubrick was a man of details to an extent where the production designer was asked to use green cloth on the large donut shape conference-table in the war room, when asked what difference it would make in a black & white film. Kubrick shared he wanted the 30 plus powerful men sitting on the large table to feel there were on a poker table playing a game, or more so gambling the life of millions across the globe.

Lighter and darker areas within the frame help create the overall composition of each shot and thus guide our attention to certain objects and actions. (see Bordwell & Thompson 2004)

Kubrick with great wit in the powerfully constructed script uses his photographic skills really well as well to construct every frame like still photographs. The compositions are beautifully lit and well composed. At most times the camera does not move, instead the subject is choreographed to move in and out and within the frame of a balanced photograph.

The classic black and white film travels between intense yet bizarre instructional conversations amongst young military men in a highly mechanised and claustrophobic cockpit, the sombre room of Jack D, Ripper with strangely confused British Group Captain Lionel Mandrake at his base, and the war room filled with the most powerful men of the US.

In analyzing films, we ought to look for similarities and differences. Shuttling between the two, we can point out motifs and contrast the changes they undergo, recognize parallelisms as repetition, and still spot crucial variations. (see Bordwell & Thompson 2004)

Kubrick was known to be a good chess player and very fond of the strategic game, to the extent where at times it feels like the edits are inspired by it. Most shots are long and static, and seem to take its time to think and then make a strategic move to another event before returning to a previous event. Like his other films Kubrick’s seems to carry his classic trio conflicts in different ways with him. In Dr. Strangelove, he very strategically shuffles his events between the cockpit, the air base and the war room keeping his audience on their edge of their seats with the suspense he constructs.

Cold war was as intense issue in America and Russia as it was in most other parts of the world, the after effects of the brutal World War 2 were still fresh in many countries, and a nuclear war was the last thing any country anticipated. Kubrick attempts to address the nuclear capability of the two most powerful countries during the climax of a cold war.

One of the liveliest areas of inquiry in cinema studies involves investigating and defining models of spectatorship. Even posing a simple question like: ‘If films create meaning, what is the spectator’s role in that process? (see Cook & Bernink 1999)

As a traditional Hollywood closure, one would have expected an American hero to show up in the end with a winning resolution. However, Kubrick prefers to end the film in a failure, commenting and questioning the collapse of human success.

Just like the contradiction in the beginning the film where he made airplanes look intimate with the romantic music, he ends with a romantic track as well but this time showing mushrooms from nuclear blasts forming on earth. Kubrick ends the comic journey filled with suspense in a failure, suggesting all life has ended and lets his audience walkout with an opportunity to question the terrible human inventions and start fresh.

“the most shattering sick joke I’ve ever come across [and] at the same time, one of the cleverest and most incisive satiric thrusts at the awkwardness and folly of the military that [has] ever been seen on the screen.”
- Bosley Crowther of The New York Times.

Word Count:
© Amin Jan Mohammed 2005
University of Luton

References

Books

Pam Cook and Mieke Bernink,
The Cinema Book,
London, BFI 1999.

David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson,
Film Art, An Introduction,
McGraw Hill, 2004.

Paul Duncan,
The Pocket Essential, Kubrick,
Harpenden, 1999.

Luis M. Garcia Mainar
Narrative and Stylistic patterns in the films of Stanley Kubrick
New York, Camden House, 1999

Internet Sites

http://kubrickfilms.warnerbros.com/
The Authorized Stanley Kubrick Web Site

http://0-fii.chadwyck.co.uk.brum.luton.ac.uk/home
Film Index International is a major information resource for entertainment films and personalities produced in collaboration with the British Film Institute.

http://us.imdb.com/
An Internet Movie Data Base

http://www.indelibleinc.com/kubrick/
Kubrick Multimedia Film Guide

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/
The Kubrick Site

COLUMBIA PICTURES PRESENTS PETER SELLERS GEORGE C. SCOTT IN
STANLEY KUBRICK’S “DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB”
ALSO STARRING STERLING HAYDEN KEENAN WYNN SLIM PERKINS AND INTRODUCING TRACY REED AS “MISS FOREIGN AFFAIRS”
SCREENPLAY BY STANLEY KUBRICK, PETER GEORGE & TERRY SOUTHERN BASED ON THE BOOK “RED ALERT” BY PETER GEORGE
PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY STANLEY KUBRICK

© 1964 COLUBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC. ALL RIGHT RESERVED.

Ridley Scott [1937]

2004-10-21T06:49:00.000-07:00

[b. Nov 30th, 1937]

Filmography as: Producer, Director, Miscellaneous Crew, Production Designer, Writer, Cinematographer, Himself, Archive Footage, Notable TV Guest Appearances
Producer - filmography

Paul Schrader [1946]

2004-10-21T06:41:00.000-07:00

[b. Jul 22nd, 1946]

Filmography as: Writer, Director, Miscellaneous Crew, Producer, Himself

Director - filmography (2000s) (1990s) (1980s) (1970s)

Peter Bogdanovich [1939]

2004-10-21T06:38:00.000-07:00

Peter Bogdanovich [b. Jul 30th, 1939]

William Friedkin [1935]

2004-10-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

William Friedkin [b. Aug 29th, 1935]

Dennis Hopper [1936]

2004-10-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Dennis Hopper [b. May 17th,1936]

Bob Rafelson [1933]

2004-10-21T06:21:00.000-07:00

Bob Rafelson [b. Feb 1st, 1933]

Stanley Kubrick [1928-99]

2004-10-21T05:11:00.000-07:00

[b. Jul 26th, 1928 - d. Mar 7th, 1999]

Filmography as: Director, Writer, Producer, Miscellaneous Crew, Cinematographer, Editor, Sound Department, Actor, Special Effects, Second Unit Director or Assistant Director, Himself, Archive Footage

Director - filmography (1990s) (1980s) (1970s) (1960s) (1950s)

George Lucas [1944]

2004-10-21T04:54:00.000-07:00

George Lucas [b. May 14th, 1944]

Martin Scorsese [1942]

2004-10-21T04:45:00.000-07:00

Martin Scorsese [b. Nov 17th, 1942]

Brian De Palma [1940]

2004-10-21T04:39:00.000-07:00

Brian De Palma [b. Sep 11th, 1940]

Oliver Stone [1946]

2004-10-21T04:33:00.000-07:00

Oliver Stone [b. Sep 15th, 1946]

Francis Ford Coppola [1939]

2004-10-21T04:04:00.000-07:00

Francis Ford Coppola [b. april 7th, 1939]

He was born in Detroit, USA, but he grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family.

Francis Ford Coppola is one of America's most erratic, energetic and controversial filmmakers.

Bob Rafelson

Dennis Hopper

William Friedkin
Peter Bogdanovich
Brian De Palma
Martin Scorsese
Paul Schrader

Hal Asbby
Michael Cimino
Steven Speilberg
George Lucas
John Millius
Roman Polanski

Arthur Penn
Robert Altman
Stanley Kubrick
Sam Peckinpah

Oliver Stone
David Lynch
Jonathan Demme
David Fincher
Spike Lee
John Singleton
Steven Soderbergh
Coen Brohers
Quentin Tarantino
P. T. Anderson
Ridley Scott