Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #287684 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 303 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
This is not a book about Kubrick; it is a book about Kubrick's films. Much has already been written about the director of The Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut, and debate still rages about his controversial reputation and auteur style. The Complete Kubrick takes one step back from the fray. Taking each of the director's three short movies and 13 features in turn, David Hughes provides entertaining and easy-to-read companion studies for all. Conversational but still perfectly informed, the writing here is accessible and witty; certainly Kubrick beginners could sit back, learn and enjoy this after stumbling across 2001--A Space Odyssey during a visit to Blockbusters. Introductions to the themes and underlying sub-plots inherent in each movie will interest both these guys and general film buffs, as will Hughes' insight into the casting choices, production, influences and reviews of the time. Fanatics will appreciate the definitive cast lists and fact sections, while everyone else can take a lighter look at Kubrick's influences--learning each film's most quotable lines, or spotting The Simpsons' Kubrick references for ever more. Chapters can be read in order or according to preference, as each represents a complete entity in itself. By introducing each film then completing the reader's knowledge of it--placing it in the cultural context of the time of its release (paying particular attention to the outcry films like A Clockwork Orange and Lolita provoked) Hughes succeeds also in providing insight into a filmmaker's vision and drive. There is an eight page section of small-scale photos to illustrate, plus a substantial list of sources and impressive bibliography at the end. --Helen Lamont

Empire
'The level of research is astonishing, the cornucopia of trivia original and the passion for the movies unstinting...'

Film Review
'[The] user-friendly approach makes for an intensely satisfying read ... a genuinely informative page-turner'

Customer Reviews

Fascinating account of Kubrick's Films
A very readable and comprehensive account on Kubrick's films. Each entry gives the basic cast and crew credits before exploring aspects of the film in depth under general category headings.These begin by describing the title sequence and a plot summary before going into all the production history and even the marketing.Finally comes a more personal analysis by the author and a Kubrick on Kubrick final word. Also there is a lost Kubrick section which details films which were considered not made(including AI). Any 'gushing' by the author is avoided (unlike The Complete Spielberg which follows a similar format) by the factual but always readable style. Every film or especially Kubrick fan should have one.

Great reference for Kubrick fans and academics alike
As the Amazon review states, this is a study of Kubrick’s films as opposed to Kubrick the myth. This is enough to immediately set it apart from other Kubrick books available... though this particular publication still has a lot more going for it that that. Hughes’s degree of research is formidable, with every film (from Fear and Desire right through to Eyes Wide Shut) coming under inspection from the wordy academic as he pours over the various technical aspects of the films, the narrative reoccurrences, the various trademarks, casting decisions and pop-culture reference points that have given Kubrick’s work an even more relevant force in motion pictures that any of his faceless contemporaries.

The most interesting chapters are the ones that deal with the key masterpieces (Strangelove, 2001, Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon and the Shinning), with Hughes demonstrating how each film ties into the one that preceded it both thematically and artistically. Here we can trace the evolution of Kubrick from the early post-war crime thrillers such as Killer’s Kiss through to the dabbles with Hollywood on Paths of Glory and the epic Spartacus, right up to his years of self imposed exile in Britain and the creation of his landmark works. Never does Hughes allow the book to becomes a study of the man and his eccentricities... keeping the book rooted in the academic evaluation of the great man’s extensive, often jaw dropping body of work.

Whether or not you’re a film studies student, a writer of academic literature or simply a Kubrick devotee, then this book will easily become required reading. The tone of the piece is consistently enjoyable and always interesting, whilst any work that takes the opportunity to list EVERY Kubrick reference in the episodes of the Simpson’s has to be worth a look.