well, Kubrick books plus, look you see. a bit, i suppose, like moloko+, but then again also rather not quite the same thing. let me move on, i think.
recently i took what isn't even a chance, or the slightest form of gamble. a publishing concern called taschen out of germany has, for a bit, offered some books (+) on the subject of select Kubrick films. to be precise, three - 2001, A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon. quite a smart opportunity came about to get two of them. well, all three, but i kind of forgot the third one, alas. but two out of three ain't bad, or so the song goes.
yes, then, i picked up the books (+) which are dedicated to Kubrick's most iconic films, which is to say the two what are not Barry Lyndon. no, i am not going to say his best two films, or greatest or most important ones. perhaps they are. for a man who made such striking images in all of his artistic endeavours, i feel i stick my neck out far enough just stating that these two are the more iconic of them. but yes, images off of Dr Strangelove, and to an extent The Shining, come to mind. so, moving on.
so, what's all this then? i mean, yes, they are books, but what this is (+) part i reference? to go back to the start, each book is of vinyl record size, which is a whopping 12" by 12", or around 30cm x 30cm for all you metric types. each also features 96 pages, and is of course dedicated to the subject of the title, which would be them two films off of Kubrick. actually, no, will get back to the (+) bit, but first more details on the books.
in themselves, the books are staggering. beautiful in terms of the carefully, uniquely crafted images what Kubrick delivered, featuring well known ("iconic") images and a fair bit of unseen stuff, be it behind the scenes shots or, as highlighted (kind of) in the above, aspects of scenes which never went and gone made it into the final versions of the movies. by no means would i claim to be expert, but i had thought (or assumed) that i was aware of all bits filmed (or planned) that never made it into either of these motion pictures. not true, the parts of each film shown in the pages above were ones i had absolutely no idea of existence until getting these.
ok, righty-right, the plus (+) parts. with each one gets a (paper based) reproduction of the original poster for the cinema release of each in the cinema (USA versions) and a "digitally remastered" copy of each motion picture on DVD. it is hard to believe that it is within the lifetime of this blog that such, the latter, has gone from being what would have been a huge selling point to an obsolete inclusion.
how or why was i persuaded to eventually, ultimately buy these two, which i increasingly wish i had gone right ahead and made three? well, i believe the initial price was £30. they were tempting when i saw them (or at least the Clockwork Orange one was) for £20, and then £15. and then, as part of some recent sale (end of year or start of year or what have you), them over at taschen elected to sell them for all of £5 each, so autopilot went on and here we are. sadly they are presently back up to the first, higher price mentioned, but good luck if you can get them for the kind of (limited) coins i did.
perhaps the only real 'down' side, or negative, to these two (2) books is the storage of the DVD. whereas the posters (image below) fold up and slide into the front cover of each volume, the DVD is on the inner cover, held in place with a kind of round, circular sponge number, vaguely the size of the central hole on the DVD. or in the disc, whichever is correct. having taken the discs off (for purposes mentioned and visible here) it was quite a struggle to get them back on, really. the lovely, stylish general sense of perfect aesthetics oddly get let down here; a pocket or envelope for the disc would have been considerably wiser. no matter.
absolutely it is true that i have uploaded far, far too many images and animated things to go with whatever text i could consider to write here. in truth there is little much i can say other than i got these brilliant books for an astonishing price. whilst i consider what else to write, here, below is one of them animated things off of the 2001 trailer.
the covers state that both (well, all three, but i have two) books were produced with the Stanley Kubrick Estate, which broadly translates as his family. and my, what generous access they have given. i seem to recall a documentary somewhere called 'The Kubrick Boxes', noting how he kept all of the meticulous work he engaged in for a film, whether he made the film or not.
fairly obviously is that all the unreleased scene stills and behind the scenes shots come from his family, or if you will in official terms the Stanley Kubrick Estate. these are, as i have already gushed, incredible enough, but also we get comments, notes and annotations he made along the way, be it about how the stories for films developed, or filming notes. considering he had a reputation as perfectionist (see many tales of multiple takes of seemingly minor scenes), it's quite surprising to see just how "fluid" an approach he took to changing or altering what was going to be in the film, sometimes as late as a few minutes before filming. perhaps the most famous instance of this, or at least well known, was the inclusion of Singin' In The Rain during A Clockwork Orange, but further examples are on offer here.
both of the folders (very) carefully folded out and laid across, taking up just about all of my (double) bed, then, for you to inspect. perhaps i should have put a CD or something on there for scale, but take my word for it they are rather large. delicate too, being a thick(ish) paper. maybe i should get them framed, although they do no harm being safely folded and placed in the pocket in the books.
other than the notes, the books contain a great deal of what one may call correspondence from Stanley Kubrick. this comes in the form of interviews, but also letters to friends, film critics, newspapers and those he was working with on motion pictures. for the former it is all too easy to forget that he used to do such, frequently. which makes me kind of regret not getting the Barry Lyndon one a bit more, now that i think, for that was probably (likely) the last time he did general interviews or what have you. unless he stopped entire after the controversy surrounding A Clockwork Orange.
getting a book (+) for each of Kubrick's films would be as splendid as it would be welcome. from an iconic or well known perspective, sure, these two make the most sense. as does the Barry Lyndon one, what with the visual beauty of the film lending itself so easily to such a publication. whereas there might not be all that much on some of his films (the really early ones), surely there exists a fair bit of stuff hidden away regarding, say, his remarkable adaptation of Lolita in the face of the prevailing morality governing cinema at the time. also, it would be nice to read of Kubrick's intentions and insights for The Shining and his final (generally misunderstood) masterpiece, Eyes Wide Shut.
now that i think, though, there is a massive (and prohibitively expensive) book called The Stanley Kubrick Archives which no doubt covers the rest. oh. well, perhaps one day when i am big i shall be able to afford such a splendid volume and see.
phew, i have then just about managed to put some decent (in size) and (partially) coherent words around all these images and animated things. well, i would like to think so, at the least. a reasonable assumption would be that any general internet user happening to look at this would be doing so for an idea of if they are worthwhile purchases (yes) or to see what's inside (kind of shown).
in conclusion, or to conclude, then, yes i do appreciate that some of you may prefer looking at what i put here under the influence of mind altering substances, legal or otherwise. for you, then, sure, in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode, a bit of the "beyond the infinite" sequence in animated form. what can i say, trip away.
let me head off and do other stuff of things, then. which may well involve a gazing at and consideration of these splendid publications. also possibly watch one, or both, of these films in full again. the last time i can recall watching 2001 was, of course, on New Year's Day, 2001. if not then, well, then when.
should by some chance any of this has been of practical use, or just general interest, then so much the better. but, thanks, as ever, for reading or having a gander anyhow.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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