KUBRICK & CLARKE ON THE iPAD

Here is an excerpt from an interview done with Kubrick's assisstant, Tony Frewin, in reference to his never made film NAPOLEON. In it they discuss Kubrick's obsession with new and better technologies...
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Q: Was he enthusiastic about new technology in that area?


"Oh absolutely, from the word go. He used to say anything that saved time was worth its weight in gold. The rest of us were sort of luddites, but he wasn’t. In 1980 he bought us all IBM green screens. These were the first PCs that were generally available, little 12″ screens. You didn’t even have a hard drive, you had two floppies. And Stanley said, “This is the future, this is what we’ll be using.” And I told him, “No, I like to type something and take out the piece of paper and see what’s on it,” and he said, “No, listen, you’ve got to get rid of that, this is the future, it’s arrived now.” He wasn’t at all conservative in that way; we had fax machines before anybody else did. People would say, “What the fuck do you want a fax machine for?” But he’d grab anything that saved time and made things look better."

The full inteview HERE
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And here is an excerpt from Auther C. Clarke's novel version of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and a black and white still from the motion picture, directed by Kubrick...
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When he tired of official reports and memoranda and minutes, he would plug his foolscap-sized Newspad into the ship's information circuit and scan the latest reports from Earth. One by one he would conjure up the world's major electronic papers ... Switching to the display unit's short-term memory, he would hold the front page while he quickly searched the headlines and noted the items that interested him. ... the postage-stamp-sized rectangle would expand until it neatly filled the screen and he could read it with comfort. When he had finished, he would flash back to the complete page and select a new subject for detailed examination.

Floyd sometimes wondered if the Newspad, and the fantastic technology behind it, was the last word in man's quest for perfect communications. Here he was, far out in space, speeding away from Earth at thousands of miles an hour, yet in a few milliseconds he could see the headlines of any newspaper he pleased. (That very word "newspaper," of course, was an anachronistic hangover into the age of electronics.) The text was updated automatically on every hour; even if one read only the English versions, one could spend an entire lifetime doing nothing but absorbing the ever-changing flow of information from the news satellites.

It was hard to imagine how the system could be improved or made more convenient. But sooner or later, Floyd guessed, it would pass away, to be replaced by something as unimaginable as the Newspad itself would have been to Caxton or Gutenberg.

....and the LINK where I found them.

TOERIFC: WHITE DOG (1982)

There’s a scene in I SHOT JESSE JAMES (1941), his first picture, where one of the characters literally punches the camera. This famously led filmmaker and critic Jean-Luc Godard to classify Samuel Fuller’s style as “Cinema-Fist.”

I don’t think there could be a more appropriate description.

IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN

WHITE DOG

READ ON WITH CAUTION.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS....

Subtlety isn’t Samuel Fuller’s strong suit and I mean that as a compliment.

After seeing a handful of his films the one thing I can tell you about the man is that he knows how to make a point. There’s no tiptoeing around when you’re watching one of his pictures. His messages are like bricks to the face.

Filled to the brim with lurid subject matter his movies deal with thieves, psychopaths and pedophiles. Other times they’re about heroic soldiers and cowboys answering their call to duty. The one constant throughout all of his films is a dedication to the truth.

I use the word “truth” specifically because I don’t think Fuller’s films are necessarily realistic. They are often times exaggerated and larger than life, dripping with cinematic style and off the wall characters. But this does not prevent them from showcasing the hard truths of our world. In fact, I think it makes their lessons more poignant, as in a Shakespearean play.

Some might see Fuller speak and think he’s some sort of cigar chomping goon, calling everyone and everything a “bastard” or a “son of a bitch.” While the word “goon” might match his gruff outer shell, it certainly wouldn’t come close to describing his insight and intellect.

A BRIEF HISTORY

Fuller’s father passed away when he was 7 years old and his mother took him and his 7 siblings to live in New York City. When he was 12 he got a job as a copyboy, a few years after that he was working as a crime reporter for the New York Evening Graphic, a tabloid newspaper. Fuller worked through the mid-30’s as a pulp novelist and screenwriter, but enlisted in the United States Army when we became involved in World War II. He took part in the landings of Africa, Sicily and Normandy. Fuller fought on Omaha Beach. Upon returning from the war (decorated with the Bronze Star, Silver Star and Purple Heart) Fuller began his career making B-pictures including classics like FIXED BAYONETS! (1951), THE STEEL HELMET (1951), PICK UP ON SOUTH STREET (1953), SHOCK CORRIDOR (1963) and THE NAKED KISS (1964).

SOME THIRTY YEARS LATER

WHITE DOG (1982), Fuller’s last American production, is arguably his most important work. Taken from an true life experience, Romain Gary wrote this story about his and his wife’s (Jean Seberg) similar encounter with a “white dog.” The production seemed doomed from the start, going through a list of notable directors (Roman Polanski, Tony Scott) that all had to drop out for one reason or another. Finally, with an impending writers strike looming over Paramount’s production schedule, they pushed WHITE DOG along, hiring Samuel Fuller, who was known for being able to get films done quickly and on the cheap. But problems arose when Fuller wouldn’t follow the studio's request to keep the racial content of the film at a minimum. In fact, Fuller’s intention was to intensify the racial aspects of the story and to focus more of the film's narrative on the dog’s psychology. The studio just wanted “JAWS with paws.”

(Take a look at this trailer that was never released. It is a black and white reversal dupe and contains what sounds to me like an 80’s horror film score. Watch it both with and without the commentary. It’s very enlightening and shows just how easily a trailer can be manipulated to sell a film as something it isn’t.)

"White Dog" - Trailers From Hell <-------click to watch trailer......

The film begins with an up and coming Hollywood actress hitting a white German Shepherd with her car. After nobody claims the dog, she decides to keep him and after he saves her from a rapist the dog becomes like family. This scene does play a little odd with her boyfriend’s warnings of living alone in the mountains coming just a few scenes before. Also, after the rapist is captured by police, the dialogue sounds like something out of a comic book. “That’s the same damn rapist I caught last year!” But for me, this is part of the pulpy charm of a Fuller picture.

After a series of unwarranted attacks, some known to Julie (the actress) some not, she brings the dog to an animal trainer named Carruthers. It is here she learns that her beloved German Shepherd isn’t just a plain old attack dog, but a “white dog.” An animal trained to kill people with black skin. A black trainer named Keys approaches Julie and the dog and vows to her, against Carruthers’ wishes, that if he can’t break the dog in 5 weeks, he’ll shoot him. This sets up the thrust of the film, and asks two major questions: Is racism something that is learned? And if so, is it possible that it can be unlearned?

One of my favorite moments in all of Fuller’s films is when Keys comes down to eye level with dog. They stare at each other like characters from a Sergio Leone movie.

The music by Ennio Morricone (Leone’s only musical collaborator) swelling on the soundtrack. The most primal image in the film follows-

-It’s as if Keys is literally looking at racism incarnate. The most pure form. A maniac dog that sees only in black and white.

What follows is a series of physical and mental battles between Keys and the dog, Key's trying his best to make the dog okay with his "black skin." These play out in a large metal dome and remind us of sparring matches from a film like SPARTACUS. Little by little we see the dog begin to wear down, until one stormy night when it escapes the compound and goes on the attack once again, setting up the films most suspenseful moments....

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And boy is this film suspenseful. Not only was Fuller interested in social commentary throughout his years as a director, but he was also a damn fine filmmaker, technically speaking and surrounded himself by the best in the business.

The photography by Bruce Surtees is nothing short of brilliant. The fluid tracking shots. The slow motion photography. The canted angles and composition. Not a shot is wasted in this picture. All of them pushing the narrative forward. Sparse and tough.

The score, as mentioned above, by Ennio Morricone, is one of the best he has ever written. It is both sad and intense. The main theme sends chills down my spine and is rhythmically haunting.

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...On the prowl, the dog has a close call with a small child, in one of the great singular shots of terror ever filmed. Never have I seen a static shot like the one above played for so much suspense.

Then, there is of course the murder in the church.

Probably the most mentioned scene in the film and probably the most sad. One wonders how Paramount planned on making this into a simple exploitation feature when you see this moment play out.

The man walking down the sidewalk has no set-up. We don't know if he's got a family. A wife. Friends. We don't know where he works. We barely even see his face, save for a quick tilt up from his shoes. But this sequence turns into the most utterly heartbreaking scene in the picture (most likely because we are spared the visuals of the actual murder).

Keys' speechless reaction is some of the finest acting you could ask for in a picture like this and it really hits home the significance of his plight. (Also done without speaking a word in a great dolly-zoom.)

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Fuller states that the most significant scene in the film is the one in which the owner of the dog comes to claim him back. By his side, two little granddaughters, clenched tightly. When Julie asks if he was the man who trained the dog, he replies in a proud manner. "Since he was a pup." She replies back, "You bastard! You sick son of a bitch!" She warns the little girls to stay away from him. And at one point, even compares them directly to the dog. "You got two puppies there!? You going to teach them to be as sick as you are?"

It's pretty blatant what Fuller is doing here. He talks about it here, in an interview with Richard Schickel (CLICK HERE FOR INTERVIEW)

The question is, just because racism is taught does that excuse it? According to the linked interview above, Fuller believes that racist hate is a completely learned phenomenon. Something that isn't inherit in human nature. So, wouldn't this mean that the old man, the person that Fuller visibly despises was taught the same thing since child birth as he's teaching his grandchildren? And wouldn't this mean that the old man himself is somewhat of a white dog? Grown up to hate? And wouldn't this mean that nobody is at fault because it is just a never ending circle?

Where do we draw the line on things of this subject. Or do we ever? Is a Klan member a member for life the second he puts on the hood, or is there a caring individual somewhere deep inside?

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The finale of the film, again, plays out like a shootout from an old western. We have Julie, Carruthers and Keys in a triangle formation. The dog, supposedly 99% cured of his hate, must take the final step. Roaming loose with Keys just a few yards away.

This again is a cause for controversy. Some say, that the dogs sudden shift at the end and his decision to attack Carruthers is sign of his "insanity." That once you go homicidal, you are homicidal for life.

I personally believe that Carruthers and the man who raised him are quite similar looking and the dog's final attack was its last act of rebellion. Like a kid finally realizing that his dad is a racist and recoiling in disgust.

WHITE DOG was never released wide in American theatres. Paramount decided to shelve the project instead. I will leave you with Fuller's words on the matter. Hopefully this will spark some good discussion.....

"Shelve the film without letting anyone see it? I was dumbfounded. It’s difficult to express the hurt of having a finished film locked away in a vault, never to be screened for an audience. It’s like someone putting your newborn baby in a goddamned maximum-security prison forever ... Moving to France for a while would alleviate some of the pain and doubt that I had to live with because of White Dog."

—White Dog: Sam Fuller Unmuzzled, Samuel Fuller, as quoted by J Hoberman, Criterion Collection[8]