Part one ended with Kubrick going to Hollywood and making his first full-length feature film shot with a professional cast and crew. Even though it didn’t make any real money Kubrick's talent caught the eye of Dore Schary at MGM who offered Kubrick and his business partner James B. Harris $75,000 to write, direct, and produce a film for MGM.
The project that Kubrick and Harris developed was an adaptation of the 1935 novel
“Paths of Glory” by Humphrey Cobb.
Stanley collaborated on the screenplay with novelist Jim Thompson whom Kubrick had worked with on “The Killing” and the novelist / screenwriter Calder Willingham who would go on to write “Little Big Man” and co-write “The Graduate”.
Unfortunately, MGM passed on the project refusing to commit to another "anti-war" movie after “The Red Badge of Courage” ended up being MGM's least successful film of 1951.
Not letting that discourage them and knowing they were onto something good Kubrick and Harris managed to interest movie star Kirk Douglas in playing the lead role of Colonel Dax in the movie.
What people may not know is Kirk Douglas was a very powerful and influential film producer and general mover and shaker in Hollywood.
So to make this movie happen Douglas signed Harris-Kubrick Pictures to a three movie co-production deal with his film production company “Bryna Productions” this secured the financing for Paths of Glory and two subsequent films "Bryna Productions" had an ongoing distribution deal with United Artists... Sorted!
“Paths of Glory” (1957)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick, Calder Willingham, Jim Thompson, Based on the novel Paths of Glory by Humphrey Cobb, Produced by James B. Harris, Music by Gerald Fried, Cinematography Georg Krause, Edited by Eva Kroll, Starring Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, Wayne Morris & Richard Anderson. (Run Time 88m)
During World War I, the commanding officer orders his subordinate to attack a German trench position, offering a promotion as an incentive. Though the mission is foolhardy to the point of suicide he then commands his own subordinate to plan the attack. When it ends in disaster, The Commanding officer demands the court-martial of three random soldiers in order to save face.
For the battle scene, Kubrick lined up six cameras one after the other along the boundary of the no-man's land location, with each camera capturing a specific zone of the battlefield that was given an identifying number, Stanley briefed the hundreds of extras issuing them a zone number which he wanted them to die in.
Kubrick personally operated an Arriflex camera for the battle scene, zooming in and capturing footage of Kirk Douglas.
Paths of Glory became Kubrick's first significant commercial success and established him as an up-and-coming young filmmaker in Hollywood.
The film received critical praise for its unsentimental and unvarnished combat scenes and its raw, black-and-white cinematography. The film's subject matter was controversial in Europe. The film remained banned in France until 1974.
During the filming of Paths of Glory Stanley met and fell in love with German actress, dancer, painter and singer Christiane Harlan who played "German singer" in the film. Kubrick divorced his wife Ruth Sobotka and Christiane divorced her husband that year (1957) and they were married the following year.
I'm pleased to say that is the last time I need to write about his love life. Stanley remained married to Christiane for the rest of his life and they had three daughters
Marlon Brando asked Kubrick to direct a film adaptation of the Charles Neider western novel, “The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones” Brando was impressed saying,
"Stanley is unusually perceptive and delicately attuned to people. He has an adroit intellect and is a creative thinker—not a repeater, not a fact-gatherer. He digests what he learns and brings to a new project an original point of view and a reserved passion".
The two worked on a script for six months, Believe it or not! many disputes broke out over the project and in the end, Kubrick distanced himself from what they had written. The project would become Marlon's only outing as a director the movie
“One-Eyed Jacks” (1961).
In February 1959, Kirk Douglas called Kubrick and offered him $150,000 to come and finish directing the film “Spartacus” because Douglas had just fired director Anthony Mann from the project.
“Spartacus” (1960)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, Based on the novel Spartacus by Howard Fast, Produced by Edward Lewis, Music by Alex North, Cinematography Russell Metty, Edited by Robert Lawrence, Starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, John Gavin, Tony Curtis.
(Run Time 197m)
The rebellious Thracian Spartacus, born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill for the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and return to their homes.
Disputes broke out during the making of this film. Kubrick was frustrated with inheriting a project that was already underway and was vocal about not having full creative control over aspects of the production. Not being happy with the script Stanley started to insist on actors improvising extensively during filming. Despite the unwanted on-set drama Spartacus was a huge success at the box office and established Kubrick as a major director.
The film went on to receive six Academy Award nominations and won four Oscars.
This experience further emboldened convincing him that if he could achieve so much with such a problematic production, he could achieve anything.
It will come as no shock that “Spartacus” marked the end of the working relationship between Kubrick and Douglas.
It’s safe to say lessons were learned by Kubrick while making Spartacus around his inability to step into a pre-existing production and it established that he could not be satisfied with a project if he didn't have complete creative control.
For their next project, Stanley Kubrick and James Harris acquired the film rights to Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita. Published in September 1955 in Paris by Maurice Girodias' Olympia Press a company that specialised in pornographic literature. Nabokov had submitted the novel to Girodias after it was rejected by pretty much all mainstream publishers.
Lolita was Initially considered a "dirty book" and in the mid 50’s publishers that were seen to be publishing “improper materials” could face heavy fines and even imprisonment.
The book received no reviews until acclaimed author Graham Greene ranked it number one of the three best books of 1955 in the London Sunday Times.
London Sunday Express editor John Gordon, in response to Greene, called it,
"the filthiest book I have ever read" and "sheer unrestrained pornography".
The book was deemed pornography by the Home Office and British Customs officers were instructed to seize all copies entering the United Kingdom.
France banned the novel until 1958. Lolita was not published in the United States until August 1958 after it had gradually established a literary reputation.
The UK government did not remove their ban until 1959 finally letting the novel be published in the UK.
Due to all the hubbub, the novel was viewed as unfilmable but Kubrick was never one to shy away from a bit of good old controversy.
Via some slightly baffling movie production wheeling and dealing Kubrick and Harris could secure funding for the project and Stanley could retain full creative control over the project but to achieve this he had to make the film in England.
“Lolita” (1962)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Screenplay by Vladimir Nabokov, Based on the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, Produced by James B. Harris, Music by Nelson Riddle, Cinematography Oswald Morris, Edited by Anthony Harvey, Starring James Mason, Shelley Winters, Peter Sellers & Sue Lyon. (Run Time 152m)
Stanley Kubrick brings Vladimir Nabokov's controversial tale of forbidden love to the screen. Humbert Humbert is a European professor who relocates to an American suburb, renting a room from lonely widow Charlotte Haze. Humbert marries Charlotte, but only to nurture his obsession with her comely teenage daughter, Lolita. After Charlotte's sudden death, Humbert has Lolita all to himself… or does he?
Principle photography for Lolita began in October 1960 and the shoot took place over 88 days at Elstree Studios, England on a budget of $2 million.
Kubrick often had on-set clashes with Shelley Winters, who found Kubrick "very difficult" and “demanding” Kubrick also came close to firing her from the production.
These interactions with acting talent became a regular accordance in Kubrick's career because he was demanding because he was always striving for perfection.
Due to the novel's provocative reputation the film did draw some controversy.
Even though he was no stranger to some controversy, he was forced to comply with censors and remove much of the erotic element of the relationship between Humbert and Lolita which was front and centre in Nabokov's novel. Which I feel did disappoint critics and film goers alike.
The film was not a major critical or commercial success, only earning $3.7 million at the box office on its initial release but as with all great cinema Lolita has since become reassessed and now being distanced by time from the controversy of the original text this film is critically acclaimed and appreciated by film fans.
Two significant things about this production as far as Kubrick was concerned was,
Coming to England to work for the first time. Taking the Lolita production to England and his experience working with a British crew planted the seed that would eventually lead to Kubrick and his family deciding to move to England permanently fuelled by his dislike of Hollywood and the “Hollywood System” on the West coast and Kubrick’s concern with the ever-rising rates of violent crime in New York on the East coast.
The second significant thing about the Lolita production was that Kubrick met and cast Peter Sellers as villain Clare Quilty.
Kubrick was hugely impressed with Sellers as an actor and Stanley was the first director who let Sellers off his leash and let him improvise in front of the camera.
Kubrick’s next project was another satirical black comedy, Throughout the 1950’s Stanley like many people had become increasingly concerned over the risk of nuclear war as the Cold War continued.
Kubrick purchased the rights to the novel “Red Alert” by author Peter George to adapt for the screen. Stanley collaborated with the author on the script and the two turned out a serious political Cold War thriller.
Kubrick was struck by the notion that some of the most serious points in the script were rife with comedic potential and to approach the subject straight would make the film unbelievable.
This was a choice that Stanley’s long-time producer and friend James B. Harris could not get behind believing the film should remain serious like the subject matter and the two amicably parted ways over this difference of opinion ending their nine-year working relationship.
Kubrick and Red Alert author George set about reworking the script as a satire renaming it
"The Delicate Balance of Terror" in which the plot of Red Alert was situated as a film-within-a-film made by an alien intelligence but this idea was scraped and Kubrick decided to make the film "an outrageous black comedy". Immediately before filming began, Kubrick hired noted journalist and satirical author Terry Southern to do a pass on the script and load it with black comedy and sexual innuendo and another title change...
“Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” (1964)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern & Peter George, Based on the novel Red Alert by Peter George, Produced by Stanley Kubrick, Music by Laurie Johnson, Cinematography Gilbert Taylor, Edited by Anthony Harvey, Starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens & Tracy Reed. (Run Time 94m)
U.S. Air Force General Jack Ripper goes completely insane and sends his bomber wing to destroy the U.S.S.R. He thinks that the communists are conspiring to pollute the "precious bodily fluids" of the American people. The film follows the events that take place while the US bombers are heading to Russia, US president Merkin Muffley is hunkered down in his “War Room” surrounded by his advisers and the Joint Chiefs of Staff with their hotline to the Kremlin while Royal Air Force Group Captain Lionel Mandrake attempts to negotiate with the unhinged General Ripper to try to recall the bombers to prevent a nuclear apocalypse.
Famously Peter Sellers plays three characters in this film, U.S. president Merkin Muffley,
The Royal Air Force Group Captain Lionel Mandrake as well as the titular Dr Strangelove, the president’s scientific adviser and an ex-Nazi scientist who is now a naturalised U.S. citizen.
Sellers as Stranglove is truly absurd and brilliant in equal measure Stranglove is confined to a wheelchair and constantly slips up calling the president “Mein Fuhrer” and his right arm persists in giving the Nazi salute as if it is malfunctioning.
As you can imagine the film ruffled a few feathers highlighting the absurd nature of the cold war nuclear standoff and highlighting it as the “pissing contest” that it was.
This film with other films and novels at the time got the public to ask questions and challenge the government regarding the security of nuclear weapons and how thorough the safety protocols were causing the U.S. Air Force to make a documentary to demonstrate its responsiveness to presidential command and its tight control over nuclear weapons.
It was later proved via the study of declassified documents by academic researchers that during the early years of the Cold War the U.S. military command did have the access and authority that would have made aspects of the plot of Dr Strangelove plausible.
I’m sure we all know the film proved to be a huge hit and has gone down in history as one of the greatest motion pictures ever made. It constantly appears on “Best Films” and “Most Influential Films” lists.
In 1965, the Kubricks bought Abbots Mead on Barnet Lane, just southwest of the Elstree/Borehamwood studio complex in England.
Stanley kitted out the house with office spaces, workshops, a research library and a full editing suite. Kubrick went on to work almost exclusively from this home for the next 14 years.
Kubrick now had a base of operations to develop his projects.
He just needed a production.
End of part two…
