Events

Come see Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb presented on 35mm film on the big screen in L3!

'Dr. Strangelove' might vie for the record for longest-named film, but it doesn't have the most complicated plot ever: A U.S. General (Hayden) goes slightly potty, and sends his bomber wing to destroy the U.S.S.R. (he suspects that the communists are conspiring to pollute the 'precious bodily fluids' of the American people). U.S. President Meffley (Sellers) then has to try to contend with both the Russians and his own fanatical military advisors. The Russians then reveal that they have constructed a 'Doomsday Device' to destroy all life on Earth if a nuclear bomb detonates... they had read reports in the New York Times of a sililar American device, and were worried about a 'Doomsday gap'. Oh dear.

In other words, this is a story about the end of the world.

However, what makes this film special is the brillaint black comedy, and Kubrick's trademark breathtaking imagery and photography. 'Dr. Strangelove' is shot in crisp black-and-white, with an accentuated sense of contrast. The resulting beauty of the film is undeniable.

Many of the comic moments in the film are absolute classics. Who could forget the telephone conversation between President Muffley and his Soviet counterpart in which Muffley nonchalantly mentions that they are about to start a nuclear war. Not to mention the altercation with the Coke machine (don't get any ideas!), or the airforce Major (Pickens) riding an A-bomb like a bucking bronco. Many of the characterisations are also masterpieces, like the title character Dr. Strangelove (also Sellers), a mad ex-Nazi nuclear scientist, or the British Captain Mandrake (sellers again) who has access to the mad General and could perhaps save the world.

This movie is a supreme piss-take of the incompetence or child-like nature of the great superpowers of the era, with moments of tragedy laced with one-liners, some of which are too dated to comprehend.

'Dr. Strangelove' is easily the funniest movie made about global thermonuclear holocaust - who else but Stanley Kubrick could make a film about nuclear Armageddon so light-hearted?

Tony Williams