Dr. Strangelove, What’s in a name?

Title: Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Release Date: 29 January 1964
Plot: An insane general starts a process to nuclear holocaust that a war room of politicians and generals frantically try to stop.

Dr. Strangelove is actually a companion film IMHO that must be paird with Failsafe in order to gain the full impact of the film.

Dr. Strangelove begins with an aero-ballet between Air Force bombers and refueling planes as the title sequence set to calm tranquil music. This sets a tone, albeit false, that the viewer accepts until we are greated with the actual movie title screen. Kubrick’s choice of giving Dr. Strangelove two titles sets us up, unknowingly, to absorb his serious as well as comedic content.

The title “Dr. Strangelove” is a classic one, we expect a direct and straight forward name. On a closer look we have to deal with the word “Strangelove”. Firsly, with this name, Kubrick is transforming whatever concept of “love” we have in our head and playing with it. When we hear “strangelove” our minds can wander to anything from perverse relationships to something as benign as a short person dating a tall person. Whatever it is, he has taken us to a place of malleability. Another take, given the nature of the film, is that we could jump directly to the strange love of atomic weapons, war, killing or the military. Either way, the use of “Dr.” plants a stamp of approval and authority on this feeling.

When confronted with “or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb” we are thrown off. First of all, its just too long. We aren’t accustomed to such a long name, casual audiences immediately have to switch on the suspension of disbelief and revert back to “Dr. Strangelove”. Second, during this time of extreme cold war fears, are we going to be given a way to actually stop worrying? Is Kubrick offering up a solution to our national worries? This has to be taken with a grain of salt.

Kubrick has now, with just the opening title sequence, moved our mind and emotions around in several places. As an audience, we are now plyable and ready to be taken on a journey.

Failsafe

Title:Failsafe
Director:Sidney Lumet
Release Date:7 October 1964 (USA)
Plot:American planes are sent to deliver a nuclear attack on Moscow, but it’s a mistake due to an electrical malfunction. Can all-out war be averted?

Failsafe is the serious counter to Dr. Strangelove. Released in October of the same year, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick, director Sidney Lumet presents to us a serious and challenging question about atomic war.

I tried to write about the story and production but really the most fantastic part of this film is in the last 2 minutes. Lumet takes 10 quick scenes of New York people and animals to establish a perception of “New York” and to, hopefully, have the audience connect with one of them. After /something/ happens, I will not spoil it for those who have not seen this film, the 10 scenes are re-visited but this time with a quick zoom and a freeze-frame at the end, stopping the action from happening. Lumet ends on a childs face, fade to black and a crowd’s cheers are heard. After the rollercoaster that the audience has gone through, this is an eerie and frightening ending. This film leaves the audience shocked and with questions. These are scenarios that no one wants to have to go through and subsequently feel the emotions of having to go through them in this film.