Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

BFI Film Classics

by Peter Krämer

Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) has long been recognised as one of the key artistic expressions of the nuclear age. Made at a time when nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union was a real possibility, the film is menacing, exhilarating, thrilling, insightful and very funny.

Combining a scene-by-scene analysis of Dr. Strangelove with new research in the Stanley Kubrick Archive, Peter Krämer's study foregrounds the connections the film establishes between the Cold War and World War II, and between sixties America and Nazi Germany. How did the film come to be named after a character who only appears in it very briefly? Why does he turn out to be
a Nazi? And how are his ideas for post-apocalyptic survival in mineshafts connected to the sexual fantasies of the military men who destroy life on the surface of the Earth?

This special edition features original cover artwork by Marian Bantjes.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Art

120 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2014

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an analysis of Stanley Kubrick's 1964 dark comedy, which takes the reader from scene to scene in going over this classic movie. The author combines a telling of how Dr. Strangelove got made with insights from the Stanley Kubrick Archive. You get insights on how the film evolved from a suspenseful drama as first envisaged to the Cold War satire and enduring classic it became. Recommended for movie fans. Note: Dr. Strangelove, which was playing in cinemas when I was born, is one of my all-time favorite movies.

[Michelle Beese · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me want to watch the movie!!!!

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times a bit too dry and academic. Threatened to suck all the joy out of the film. But the strengths won out in the end. A nice adjunct.

[Steven Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Strangelove is one of those few types of books or movies that really rub me the right way, as In it really tickles my fancy, because not only does it balance comedy with the very real threat of the cold war, but it does it effortlessly. This story really is something that Kubrick made a masterpiece in the cinema, and now on paper. And even if you don't like these types of stories or the way the books ends, you still have to stay until Major Kong rides the bomb, that in itself is all the reason I needed to read this and I encourage everyone to give this bad boy a ride.