A Moving Picture: Dr Strangelove's Photo Album

A Moving Picture is the second film essay I wrote for my A-Levels Film Studies course. I wrote this textual analysis all the way back in 2007 and its focus is a scene from Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.

I have performed some minor editing and corrections on my very early and crude writing style. I have also added screenshots from the examined scene to further illustrate the content; as well as a YouTube video of the scene itself.

A Moving Picture

A black comedy directed by Stanley Kubrick, Dr Strangelove or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb, released in 1963 is a film which shows the funnier side of nuclear combat. The film is a platform upon which Kubrick satirizes governments, politicians, military figures and nuclear war; he shows the ridiculous and, at times, almost childlike side to it. However, even for a film that is a satire, it does contain an interesting visual style which seems to have grounding and be deliberately like still photography. 

A scene which demonstrates this use of still photography very effectively is the third Ripper/Mandrake scene of the film. The scene features the characters General Jack D. Ripper, played by Sterling Hayden, and Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, played by Peter Sellers. 

The scene last for 4 minutes and 42 seconds and consists of only five different shots and has only nine cuts between these shots. This gives the scene a very slow pace, yet a great amount of uneasiness is created in this time. This is the scene which this essay will examine and this analysis will focus on the cinematography, the mise-en-scene (all that is located within the frame) and how the movement or lack of it is used to create meaning.

The scene begins with a long shot of a half-lit hallway. It appears dark closer to the camera and lighter further from the camera; only half the hallway is illuminated and this, combined with information that was supplied before in a previous scene, suggests to the spectator that the building is mostly deserted.

Group Captain Mandrake then enters the shot as he comes onto the hallway and heads for Colonel Ripper’s office. He is wielding a radio which is playing the only music that is present within the entire scene and it is optimistic and euphoric music which acts as a complete contrast to the bleak realization which Mandrake will soon get from General Ripper. 

This music is also the only connection this military and political world, which the film demonstrates, has to the outside world of the everyday citizen. Like that world and the music, Mandrake is also the only piece of hope that this nuclear war can be stopped; only he does not realize it yet.

The layout of General Ripper’s office is established through a long shot and the camera shows Colonel Ripper at his desk in the foreground and in the background the audience sees Mandrake enter the room. The cinematography of this scene is a clear example of the still photography technique which Kubrick was very skilled in and uses throughout the film. 

This shot lasts for 2 minutes and 56 seconds without any cuts whatsoever; the only movement that occurs in the shot is that created by the actors. The camera's view has the effect of a fly on the wall because that is effectively what it is as it watches these two characters interact.

The camera is positioned in such a way that it is located in the right position and for the right amount of time to allow the audience to examine and explore Ripper's office. The mise-en-scene of this scene can be interpreted as such that General Ripper’s office can be seen as a representation of himself and the slow deterioration of his mind. This conclusion can be drawn from the fact that whenever the audience sees General Ripper it is always in his office. 

 This can further be demonstrated in the way that the office deteriorates further and further throughout the film as it becomes constantly under fire and this constant bombardment and deterioration is mirrored in the way Mandrake keeps insisting for the three letter code group and by the way that the pressure of oncoming defeat makes Ripper’s self-belief slowly fall to its eventual end with his suicide: “I don’t know how well I could stand up to the torture." Also, the only other person we see in the office is Mandrake and this is symbolic because Mandrake is the only person who Ripper allows to get inside his head in the way he allows Mandrake in and then locks him in the office in this scene. 

In this scene, though, General Ripper’s office appears still relatively normal for as such is his mental state; it appears tidy and organized very much like General Ripper. Another connection is the way, like Ripper, this room has more beneath the surface. This can be seen both in Ripper but also in his office in the way there is a gun hidden under a file on the desk and later the spectator sees there is a machine gun hidden in Ripper’s golf bag. 

The office, like Ripper, has a much more dangerous side underneath. The lighting of the room also reflects Ripper’s character in that the lighting appears dim and in the room creates unusual apparitions of shadows. This gives it a very film noir quality which creates a foreboding uneasy feeling and suggests to the audience that in this scene they will see the other side to General Ripper.

One of the reasons for why Kubrick has positioned the camera over Ripper’s shoulder is because it hides Rippers eyes from the audience and in doing so hides his true intentions. For up until now the details of what exactly the cause of what has been happening are very vague, yet this is the scene which identifies the main catalyst of the events that have taken place and the events which will soon take place. 

Yet in this 3-minute shot of the film Kubrick hides Ripper’s eyes, even when ripper gets up from his desk and he is facing camera his eyes are still hidden on account of the lighting which makes them appear shadowed under Ripper’s brow. 

Yet, saying this, his actions do tell the spectator some of what is really going through his head. Examples include when Mandrake first comes in and General ripper sits slowly back in his chair and begins tapping his pencil against his desk as if this simple action represents his mind considering the next course of action. 

However, the reason for why Ripper’s eyes are hidden and for why this shot last for so long are done for two reasons. Firstly, it adds to the overall tension of the scene because if a shot is held for too long it makes the audience feel uneasy because they do not know what is happening outside of that shot. However, the main reason for why this is done is because it adds so much more emphasis to the following series of the same close-up shot which profiles General Ripper’s face. 

Due to the fact that the last shot lasted for so long this new shot as well as General Ripper’s intense face jump out at the spectator. This new shot followed soon after by one of Ripper exposing the gun, which was hidden under some files on his desk, finally makes the audience realize what General Ripper’s true intentions are as the penny drops. 

Kubrick then continues to show the full extent of Ripper’s madness through his use of still cinematography. For in this new profile shot of ripper, which occasionally cuts to a profile shot of Mandrake but is mostly focused on Ripper, Kubrick presents the true madness which the audience now sees is feeding through the clenched teeth and through the black eyes. 

Kubrick has positioned the camera so that it tilts up at him and makes him appear large and important. The fact that the camera is tilted tells the audience that ripper is not entirely in contact with reality whereas the fact that Mandrakes profile shot is level tells the spectator that he is in contact with reality. 

The tilted camera, though, most importantly emphasizes the heavy shadowing round his eyes that hold a bold intent which culminates in an unstoppable madness which shows the spectator how dangerous General Ripper actually is. This shot of Ripper appears almost as an biographical image that would be on the front page of General Ripper’s Biography for the image has that kind of composition and set-up which seems to capture his true personality which, in this case, is a very dangerous personality.

This scene, just as with the rest of the film, really could just be considered to be a slideshow of photographic images which Stanly Kubrick has taken and then cut together one after the other. 

Dr Strangelove really is a moving picture yet Kubrick uses this stillness of cinematography to his advantage because it further emphasizes the mise-en-scene of his film but more importantly creates an eeriness which completely mirrors and captures the reality of real life. 

Kubrick makes his shots last for so long because it allows the audience time to examine and to think about who really the bad guys are, who can you trust but most importantly he allows the audience time to look at what seemingly is a terrifying prospect but then shows the spectator the funnier side. 

Take the final seconds of the scene this essay has been analyzing the audience is watching General Ripper’s profile shot and his terrifyingly intense face give a speech to Mandrake but then like all good jokes it has its punch line: “The international communist conspiracy to sap and in-purify all of our precious bodily fluids!” 

Then the spectator sees just how pompous General Ripper really is.