3.Photographic career

Kubrick's photo of Chicago, published for Look magazine in 1949

While still in high school, Kubrick was chosen as an official school photographer for a year. In 1946, since he was not able to gain admission to day session classes at colleges, he briefly attended evening classes at the City College of New York (CCNY).33 Eventually, he sought jobs as a freelance photographer, and by the time of his graduation, he had sold a photographic series to Look magazine, having taken a photo to Helen O'Brian, head of the photographic department of Look, who purchased it for £25 on the spot; it was printed on June, 26 1945. To supplement his income, Kubrick played chess "for quarters" in Washington Square Park and various Manhattan chess clubs.

Stanley Kubrick with his camera, age 21

In 1946, Kubrick became an apprentice photographer for Look and later, a full-time staff photographer, where he became known for his story-telling in photographs. In 1948, Kubrick's photos were published "N.Y. World Art Center", including one of anti-Nazi German artist George Grosz sitting on a chair in the street. Kubrick, a boxing enthusiast, eventually began photographing boxing matches for the magazine. His earliest, "Prizefighter", was published in 1949 and captured a boxing match and the events leading up to it. Also in 1949, he published a photo essay named "Chicago-City of Extremes" in Look, which displayed an early talent for creating atmosphere with imagery, including a photograph (pictured) taken above a congested Chicago street at night.

During his Look magazine years, Kubrick married his high-school sweetheart Toba Metz in May 1948. They lived together in Greenwich Village. During this time, Kubrick began frequenting film screenings at the Museum of Modern Art and the cinemas of New York City. He was inspired by the complex, fluid camerawork of the director Max Ophüls, whose films influenced Kubrick's later visual style, and by the director Elia Kazan, whom he described as America's "best director" at that time, with his ability of "performing miracles" with his actors. Friends began to notice that Kubrick had become obsessed with the art of filmmaking, spending many hours reading film theory books and taking notes.

4.Film career

In 1951, encouraged by a high school friend, Alex Singer, Kubrick made a few short documentaries, beginning with The March of Time newsreels sold to movie theatres.His first was the independently financed Day of the Fight (1951), notable for using reverse tracking shot, later to become one of Kubrick's characteristic camera movements.[16] Inspired by this early success, Kubrick quit his job at Look and began work on others, including, Flying Padre (1951) and The Seafarers (1953), Kubrick's first color film. These three films constitute Kubrick's only surviving documentary works, although some historians believe he made others. He also served as second unit director on an episode of the TV show, Omnibus, about Abraham Lincoln, clips of which are included in the documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001).

Kubrick knew he could make a film for much less than the company was paying other filmmakers, telling an interviewer, "I can't believe it costs that much to make eight or nine minutes of film". He began learning all he could about filmmaking on his own, calling film suppliers, laboratories, and equipment rental houses. Kubrick decided to make a short film documentary about a boxer, the same one he wrote a story about for Look a year earlier. He rented a camera and produced a 16-minute black-and-white documentary, Day of the Fight.

To supplement his income to pay for the production, he sometimes played competition chess in Washington Square.And to save on cost, he handled various duties for the film: "I was cameraman, director, editor, assistant editor, sound effects man—you name it, I did it. It was invaluable experience, because being forced to do everything myself I gained a sound and comprehensive grasp of all the technical aspects of filmmaking."

Film historian Paul Duncan notes that the film was "remarkably accomplished for a first film", and was notable for using the reverse tracking shot.Some who worked on the film alongside Kubrick observed his production style: "Stanley was very stoic, impassive but imaginative type person with strong, imaginative thoughts. He commanded respect in a quiet, shy way. Whatever he wanted, you complied, he just captivated you. Anybody who worked with Stanley did just what Stanley wanted".

Fear and Desire (1953)

Fear and Desire (1953), Kubrick's first feature film, was a low-budget production about a team of soldiers caught behind enemy lines in a fictional war. Kubrick and his wife Toba Metz were the only crew on the film, which was written by his friend Howard Sackler. It garnered some respectable reviews but was still a commercial failure. Kubrick was later embarrassed by the film as an amateur effort and tried to keep it out of circulation. He called it a "bumbling, amateur film exercise ... a completely inept oddity, boring and pretentious."

The film is said to demonstrate Kubrick's early interest in warfare and, observes film historian James Naremore, "He's especially interested in how rational, militaristic planning spins out of control and becomes irrational." Kubrick's later films expressed different aspects of that same theme, including Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, and Full Metal Jacket.The film was shown on television for the first time on Turner Classic Movies in December 2011,and four of his early films, including this one, became available in the fall of 2012.

Killer's Kiss (1955)

Following Fear and Desire, Kubrick began working on ideas for a new boxing film. Due to the commercial failure of his first feature, Kubrick avoided asking for further investments, but began working on a film noir script with Hward O. Sackler. Originally under the title Kiss Me, Kill Me, and then The Nymph and the Maniac, Killer's Kiss is a 67-minute film noir film about a young heavyweight boxer's involvement with a woman being abused by her criminal boss. Like Fear and Desire, it was privately funded by Kubrick's family and friends, with some $40,000 put forward from Bronx pharmacist Morris Bousse.Kubrick began shooting footage on Times Square, and on one night he was approached by curious policeman on Wall Street, to which he gave them $20 each to keep quiet. Kubrick had the time to do much exploration during the film, discovering new angles and ways to generate imagery, and experimenting with lighting. He initially decided on recording the sound on location but encountered difficulties with shadows from the microphone booms, restricting camera movement. His decision to drop the sound in favor of imagery was a costly one; and 12-14 weeks shooting the picture, he spent some seven months and $35,000 working on the sound.

Although the film met with limited commercial success, with mediocre acting,film historian Alexander Walker finds it was "oddly compelling".45 The film's striking aspects, states Walker, include Kubrick's lighting and photography, and the tone of the film with its urban loneliness and melancholy.45 One of the film's most prominent scenes is a finale fight in a mannequin warehouse, which while unusual was an intentional metaphor for the way the central characters become other people's puppets and are forced to act against their own will earlier in the film.

The Killing (1956)

The Killing is a fictional story of a meticulously planned racetrack robbery gone wrong, starring Sterling Hayden. This is Kubrick's first full-length feature film shot with a professional cast and crew. Its non-linear narrative had a major influence on later directors, including Quentin Tarantino. The Killing followed many of the conventions of film noir, in both its plotting and cinematography style, and although the genre peaked in the 1940s, many critics regard this film as one of its best. Not a financial success, it still received good reviews, and brought Kubrick and his producer partner, James B. Harris, to the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which offered them its collection of stories from which to choose their next project.

Paths of Glory (1957)

Kubrick (standing) looking into camera, preparing for a classic reverse tracking trench scene

Kubrick's next film, Paths of Glory, set during World War I, is based on Humphrey Cobb's 1935 antiwar novel, and stars Kirk Douglas. It follows a French army unit ordered on an impossible mission by their superiors. The film was his first significant commercial success, and established Kubrick as an up-and-coming young filmmaker.

Critics praised the film's unsentimental, spare, and unvarnished combat scenes and its raw, black-and-white cinematography. The film was banned in both France and (for less time) Germany for many years for its fictionalized depictions of the French military.

Kubrick's cinematography was particularly commented on by critics, along with other directors. "Colonel Dax's (Kirk Douglas) march through his soldier's trench in a single, unbroken reverse-tracking shot has become a classic cinematic trope cited in film classes," and director Steven Spielberg once named this his favorite film.[citation needed]

Uncredited work on One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

Kubrick worked for six months on the Marlon Brando vehicle One-Eyed Jacks (1961). The script was written by then unknown Sam Peckinpah, and Kubrick insisted on rewriting it. Kubrick quit as director, explaining that "Brando wanted to direct the movie."Kubrick much impressed Brando who said of the director "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".

Spartacus (1960)

Kubrick directing Woody Strode and Kirk Douglas in the gladiator ring for Spartacus

Spartacus is based on the true life story of the historical figure and the events of the Third Servile War. It was produced by Kirk Douglas, who also starred as rebellious slave Spartacus, and co-starred Laurence Olivier as his foe, the Roman general and politician Marcus Licinius Crassus. Douglas hired Kubrick, after having previously worked with him on Paths of Glory, to take over direction soon after he fired director Anthony Mann.

Kubrick, at 31, had already directed four feature films, and this became his largest by far, with a cast of over 10,000. At the time it was the most expensive film ever made in America.[39] It was also the first time that Kubrick filmed using the anamorphic 35mm horizontal Super Technirama process to achieve ultra-high definition, which allowed him to capture large panoramic scenes, including one with 8,000 trained soldiers from Spain representing the Roman army. Kubrick was accustomed to staging and lighting all scenes, as a result of his photography background. According to film author Alan K. Rode, Kubrick began instructing cinematographer Russell Metty, who was twice Kubrick's age, how to photograph and light scenes, which led to Metty threatening to quit. Metty later muted his criticisms after winning the Oscar for Best Cinematography, his only win during his career.

Kubrick had conflicts with Douglas, including his dissatisfaction with the screenplay. He also complained about not having full creative control over the artistic aspects. For Douglas, the film was a "labor of love". He had used his own funds to purchase an option on the book Spartacus from author Howard Fast, and he hired all the primary creative forces involved in production, including Kubrick.

Kubrick decided that in the future he wanted to have autonomy on films he worked on, and as a result, Spartacus became the last film in his career where he lacked full control.

Originally, Fast was hired to adapt his own novel as a screenplay, but he had difficulty working in the format. He was replaced by Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted as one of the Hollywood Ten. Douglas insisted that Trumbo be given screen credit for his work, which helped to break the blacklist.

The filming was plagued by the conflicting visions of Kubrick and Trumbo. Kubrick complained that the character of Spartacus had no faults or quirks, and he later distanced himself from the film. Despite the on-set troubles, Spartacus was a critical and commercial success and established Kubrick as a major director, receiving six Academy Award nominations and winning four. It marked the end of the working relationship between Kubrick and Douglas. Co-star Tony Curtis, in his autobiography, called Kubrick his favorite director, and praised his individual relationships with actors.

Lolita (1962)

In 1962, Kubrick moved to England to film Lolita, his first attempt at black comedy. It was an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Vladimir Nabokov, the story of a middle-aged college professor who becomes infatuated with a 12-year-old girl. It starred Peter Sellers, James Mason, Shelley Winters, and Sue Lyon. Lolita was Kubrick's first film to generate controversy because of its provocative story.Kubrick toned down the screen adaptation to remove much of the eroticism in the novel and made it into "an epic comedy of frustration rather than lust", writes film author Adrian Turner.

Kubrick was deeply impressed by the chameleon-like range of actor Peter Sellers and gave him one of his first opportunities to wildly improvise during shooting while filming him with three cameras. To best utilize Sellers' talents, Kubrick, in consultation with him, vastly expanded the role of Clare Quilty and added new material in which Quilty impersonates various other characters.

Stylistically, Lolita was a transitional film for Kubrick, "marking the turning point from a naturalistic cinema ... to the surrealism of the later films", notes film critic Gene Youngblood. The film received mixed reviews, with some critics praising it for its daring subject matter, while others, like Pauline Kael, describing it as the "first new American comedy" since the 1940s. "Lolita is black slapstick and at times it's so far out that you gasp as you laugh."

to social historian Stephen E. Kercher, the film "demonstrated that its director possessed a keen, satiric insight into the social landscape and sexual hang-ups of cold war America". Kubrick had shown an affinity for liberal satire when he approached others he hoped would become collaborators: he asked comedian Lenny Bruce to work with him on a film, and did the same with fellow Bronx native, cartoonist Jules Feiffer, whom he invited to Los Angeles to work with him on a screenplay titled Sick, Sick, Sick.

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Kubrick's next project was Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), another satirical black comedy. Because Kubrick came of age after World War II and the beginning of the Cold War period, he, like many others, was worried about the possibilities of nuclear war. He became preoccupied with it in the late 1950s, fearing that New York, where he lived, could be a likely target, and even considered moving to Australia, particularly Sydney or Melbourne. He began consulting with others about the possibility of making the subject into a movie.

The novel Red Alert was recommended to Kubrick, and after reading it he saw in it the makings of a good film story about nuclear war. Kubrick then began working on a screenplay along with his producer, James B. Harris, who had produced three of his previous films. Another collaborator was Red Alert's author, Peter George, who would subsequently also write the novelization of the film, dedicating it to Kubrick.

Kubrick setting up the camera for a scene in Dr. Strangelove

During that writing period, Kubrick decided that turning the otherwise frightening and serious story into a satire would be the best way to make it into a film, although Harris felt otherwise, and chose not to produce it. Kubrick told Harris, "The only way this thing really works for me is as a satire. It's the same point, but it's just a better way of making the point." Harris recalls being worried that Kubrick had ruined his career, but being pleased with the result.

According to LoBrutto and others, "Kubrick was taking a bold and dangerous leap" in his decision to make Red Alert into a comedy, as the topic of nuclear war as a film subject at that time was "considered taboo" and "hardly socially acceptable".Before writing the screenplay as a satire, Kubrick studied over forty military and political research books, including unclassified information on nuclear weapons and effects from Charles B.Yulish, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. He decided that a "serious treatment" of the subject would not be believable, and that some of his most salient points would be fodder for comedy. He then decided to try to "treat the story as a nightmare comedy."

Kubrick found that the film would be impossible to make in the U.S. for various technical and political reasons, forcing him to move production to England. There, he developed what became the "first important visual effects crew in the world". To help him write the screenplay, Kubrick hired noted black comedy and satirical writer Terry Southern. Together, they worked closely to transform Red Alert into "an outrageous black comedy" loaded with "outrageous dialogue". LoBrutto notes that the final product is a "raucous satire" that merges Kubrick's "devilishly dark sense of humor" from the New York streets and Southern's "manic comedic mind."

The War Room in Dr. Strangelove

From his collection of thousands of record albums, both classical and golden oldies, Kubrick also selected background songs and music which added to the satirical and sardonic effect: during the opening credits with B-52 bombers in flight, the song "Try a Little Tenderness" set the scene; the pilots proceeded to fly into hostile territory, knowing they would not return, to the tune of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"; scenes depicting nuclear explosions featured the song "We'll Meet Again".

The War Room set created for the film by Ken Adam was considered a "classic of movie design." Director Steven Spielberg told Adam that it was the "best set that's ever been designed."

Because of perception that Peter Sellers had been pivotal to the success of Lolita, Sellers was again cast to employ his ability to mimic different characters, this time in three different roles. As he had in Lolita, Kubrick allowed Sellers to improvise his dialogue.

The film stirred up much controversy and mixed opinions. New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther worried that it was a "discredit and even contempt for our whole defense establishment ... the most shattering sick joke I've ever come across". Whereas Time, the Nation, Newsweek and Life, among many, gave it "positive, often ecstatic reviews".Kubrick stated:

A satirist is someone who has a very skeptical view of human nature, but who still has the optimism to make some sort of a joke out of it. However brutal that joke might be.