Warner Home Video Celebrates Four Decades of Visionary Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick on May 31
(February 14, 2011 – Burbank, CA) – Stanley Kubrick was one of the great filmmakers of our time and his profound influence on motion pictures continues to this day. His 1971 film, “A Clockwork Orange,” starring Malcolm McDowell, portrayed an oppressive lawless society where man was reduced to little more than a machine. This was a powerful film made by a director at the height of his artistry and its impact generated worldwide controversy.
On May 31, Warner Home Video will honor Kubrick with “A Clockwork Orange 40th Anniversary Edition” on Blu-ray ($34.99 SRP). The two-disc release includes two newly-produced bonus features: “Turning Like Clockwork,” a 25 minute documentary about the film’s “Ultra-violence” and its cultural impact, and a short documentary where Malcolm McDowell reminiscences on closely working with legendary director Stanley Kubrick. This two disc Edition will also include the feature-length documentaries: “Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures” and “O Lucky Malcolm!” The “40th Anniversary Edition” will be packaged in a 40-page Blu-ray Book with rare photos, production notes and more.
“A Clockwork Orange” introduced into popular culture the concept of “ultra-violence,” as singing-, tap-dancing-, derby-topped hooligan Alex (McDowell) has a “good time” – at the tragic expense of others. His journey from amoral punk to brainwashed proper citizen and back again forms the dynamic arc of Kubrick’s future-shock vision of Anthony Burgess’ novel. 40 years later, the world is a different place but the film’s power still entices, shocks and mesmerizes today.
On the same day, continuing the celebration, WHV will release the “Stanley Kubrick: Limited Edition Collection” on Blu-ray ($148.95 SRP) -- an unprecedented 9-film, 10-disc collection, which contains every film the director made since1960. The collection features the film and bonus content from “A Clockwork Orange 40th Anniversary Edition,” the Blu-ray debuts of “Lolita” and “Barry Lyndon,” as well as the feature films “Spartacus,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “The Shining,” “Full Metal Jacket” and “Eyes Wide Shut.” The Blu-ray collection will be elegantly boxed in new book-style premium packaging and will include a 40-page hard-cover book that explores the breadth of genres and themes in Kubrick’s work. The same group of films will be available on DVD in “Stanley Kubrick: The Essential Collection” ($74.92 SRP), which includes a 40-page soft-cover book.
“A Clockwork Orange 40th Anniversary Edition” is also available On Demand and for Download from iTunes, including bonus iTunes extra content. Additionally, “Lolita,” “Barry Lyndon,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “The Shining,” “Full Metal Jacket” and “Eyes Wide Shut” will be available On Demand and for Download.
About Stanley Kubrick:
Recognized as one of the most accomplished, innovative and influential directors in film history, Stanley Kubrick was a perfectionist who maintained complete artistic control and privacy during the shooting, and even the subsequent marketing of his movies. Many of Kubrick’s acclaimed works were received as controversial and provocative, yet still regarded as brilliant and visionary. Kubrick’s films earned 19 Oscar nominations including three for Best Picture (“Dr. Strangelove”/1964, “A Clockwork Orange”/1971 and “Barry Lyndon”/1975) and four for Directing (“Dr. Strangelove”/1964, “2001: A Space Odyssey”/1968, “A Clockwork Orange”/1971 and “Barry Lyndon”/1975). In 1960 under the direction of Stanley Kubrick, “Spartacus” won four Oscars (Actor in a Supporting Role, Art Direction, Cinematography and Costume Design). In 1968 Stanley Kubrick won the Oscar for Special Visual Effects for “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Kubrick was born on July 26, 1928 in New York City and grew up in the Bronx where his father was a physician. At the age of 13, Kubrick became interested in photography and began to self-teach himself the art of photography. Prior to graduating high school, Kubrick had sold two picture stories and a photograph of a news vendor noting in all of their headlines the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt with a sad image of him. Look selected the photograph for a series about FDR as the final picture of the series. Look shortly thereafter hired him as an apprentice photographer and within six months at age 17, he became one of their youngest-ever staff photographers.
After creating a photo story on boxer Walter Cartier for the magazine, Kubrick then directed an impressive, gritty short documentary film, “Day of the Fight” (1950), based on his pictorial titled Prize Fighter.
“Paths of Glory” (1957), starring Kirk Douglas and set in World War I, was one of the most uncompromising anti-war films in movie history. Douglas subsequently hired Kubrick to direct “Spartacus” (1960), the most intelligent of the then “epic” films. It was the only film on which Kubrick did not have absolute control. All of Kubrick’s subsequent films are presented in these two new collections (see below for film details).
Kubrick immigrated to England in 1961, where he found more autonomy and greater control as a filmmaker. Stanley Kubrick died peacefully at his home in England Sunday, March 7, 1999. He is survived by a wife and three daughters and has left the cinema with an enduring legacy.
More About “A Clockwork Orange 40th Anniversary Edition” on Blu-ray:
Causing major controversy when first released, the film garnered four Academy Award nominations – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Screenplay – and is #4 on AFI’s Top 10 List of Best Science Fiction films of All Time.
Disc 1:
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• Feature Film
• New Bonus Features
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o “Malcolm McDowell Looks Back”: Malcolm McDowell reflects on his experience working with legendary director Stanley Kubrick on one of the seminal films of the 1970s
o “Turning Like Clockwork” Considers the Film’s Ultra-violence and its Cultural Impact
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o Commentary by Malcolm McDowell and historian Nick Redman
o Documentary “Still Tickin’: The Return of Clockwork Orange”
o “Great Bolshy Yarblockos!: Making A Clockwork Orange”
o Theatrical Trailer
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Disc 2:
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• “Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures” (Produced and directed by Jan Harlan the brother of Christiane Kubrick, Stanley Kubrick's widow). Kubrick’s career comes into sharp focus in this compelling documentary narrated by Tom Cruise. Fascinating footage glimpses Kubrick in his early years, at work on film sets and at home, augmented by candid commentary from collaborators, colleagues and family.
• “O Lucky Malcolm!” Documentary about the life and career of actor Malcolm McDowell produced and directed by Jan Harlan.
This genre-defining epic is the legendary tale of a bold gladiator (Kirk Douglas) who led a triumphant Roman slave revolt. Filmed in glorious Technicolor, the action-packed spectacle won four Academy Awards including Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Cinematography Costume Design and Art Direction. This is the first time the film has been included in a Warner Bros. Kubrick Collection. “Lolita” (1962) NEW ON BLU-RAY!
Humbert, a divorced British professor of French literature, travels to small-town America for a teaching position. He allows himself to be swept into a relationship with Charlotte Haze, his widowed and sexually famished landlady, whom he marries in order that he might pursue the woman's 14-year-old flirtatious daughter, Lolita, with whom he has fallen hopelessly in love, but whose affections shall be thwarted by a devious trickster named Clare Quilty. “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” (1964)
The cold war satire is a chilling dark comedy about a psychotic Air Force General unleashing an ingenious, foolproof and irrevocable scheme sending bombers to attack Russia, as the U.S. President works with the Soviet premier in a desperate effort to save the world. The film stars Peter Sellers, in multiple roles, George C. Scott, and Sterling Hayden. “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968)
Stanley Kubrick’s dazzling, Academy Award-winning achievement (Special Visual Effects) is an allegorical puzzle on the evolution of man and a compelling drama of man vs. machine. Featuring a stunning meld of music and motion, the film was also Oscar-nominated for Best Director, Art Direction and Writing. Kubrick (who co-wrote the screenplay with Arthur C. Clarke) first visits the prehistoric age-ancestry past, then leaps millennia (via one of the most mind-blowing jump cuts ever) into colonized space, and ultimately whisks astronaut Bowman (Keir Dullea) into uncharted space, perhaps even into immortality. Special Features:
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• Commentary by Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood
• Documentary “2001: The Making of a Myth”
• “Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001”
• “Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001”
• “What Is Out There?”
• “2001: A Space Odyssey” Conceptual Artwork
• “Look: Stanley Kubrick!”
• Audio-Only Bonus: 1966 Kubrick Interview Conducted by Jeremy Bernstein
Redmond Barry (Ryan O’Neal) is a young, roguish Irishman who's determined, in any way, to make a life for himself as a wealthy nobleman. Enlisting in the British Army and fighting in Europe’s Seven Years War, Barry deserts, then joins the Prussian army, gets promoted to the rank of a spy, and becomes a pupil to a Chevalier and con artist/gambler. Barry then lies, dupes, duels and seduces his way up the social ladder, entering into a lustful but loveless marriage to a wealthy countess named Lady Lyndon. He takes the name of Barry Lyndon, settles in England with wealth and power beyond his wildest dreams, before eventually falling into ruin. “The Shining” (1980)
From a script he co-adapted from the Stephen King novel, Kubrick melds vivid performances, menacing settings, dreamlike tracking shots and shock after shock into a milestone of the macabre. “The Shining” is the director’s epic tale of a man in a snowbound hotel descending into murderous delusions. In a signature role, Jack Nicholson (“Heeeere’s Johnny!”) stars as Jack Torrance, who’s come to the elegant, isolated Overlook Hotel as off-season caretaker with his wife (Shelley Duvall) and son (Danny Lloyd). Special Features:
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• Commentary by Steadicam inventor/operator Garrett Brown and historian John Baxter
• Vivian Kubrick’s Documentary “The Making of ‘The Shining’” with Optional Commentary
• “View from the Overlook: Crafting ‘The Shining’”
• The Visions of Stanley Kubrick and Wendy Carlos, Composer
A superb ensemble falls in for Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant saga about the Vietnam War and the dehumanizing process that turns people into trained killers. The scathing indictment of a film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. Joker (Matthew Modine), Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin), Gomer (Vincent D’Onofrio), Eightball (Dorian Harewood) and Cowboy (Arliss Howard) are some of the Marine recruits experiencing boot-camp hell under the punishing command of the foul-mouthed Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermy). The action is savage, the story unsparing, and the dialogue is spiked with scathing humor. Special Features:
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• Commentary by Adam Baldwin, Vincent D’Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey and critic/screenwriter Jay Cocks
• “Full Metal Jacket: Between Good and Evil”
Kubrick’s daring and controversial last film is a bracing psychosexual journey through a haunting dreamscape, a riveting suspense tale and a career milestone for stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Cruise plays a doctor who plunges into an erotic foray that threatens his marriage – and may ensnare him in a murder mystery – after his wife’s (Kidman) admission of sexual longings. As the story sweeps from doubt and fear to self-discovery and reconciliation, Kubrick orchestrates it with masterful flourishes. His graceful tracking shots, rich colors and startling images are some of the bravura traits that show Kubrick as a filmmaker for the ages. Special Features:
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• Three-Part Documentary:
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o “The Last Movie: Stanley Kubrick and ‘Eyes Wide Shut’”
o “The Haven/Mission Control”
o “Artificial Intelligence or The Writer Robot”
• “Lost Kubrick: The Unfinished Films of Stanley Kubrick”
• Interview Gallery Featuring Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Steven Spielberg
• Kubrick’s 1998 Directors Guild of America D.W. Griffith Award Acceptance Speech