50 Reasons Why Stanley Kubrick Is The Greatest Director Of All Time

35. Refused to Stoop to Sentimentality

No happy endings or sentimental tosh in a Kubrick film. Instead death, apocalyptic destruction and almighty defeat are the order of the day. Though some would say Eyes Wide Shut's mediation on married life demonstrated a new found optimism in the director's work.

36. Collaborated with Some of the Finest Actors

He's worked with them all: from Golden Hollywood generation talents like Tony Curits, Kirk Douglas, Sterling Hayden and James Mason to comedy legends Peter Sellers and Leonard Rossiter to New Hollywood talents like Jack Nicholson and modern ones like Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

37. His Use of Black Humour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCakejA9VMc Who said Kubrick didn't have a sense of humour? The evidence: the cheeky pleasure of reveling in a speeded up version of the William Tell Overture during Alex's orgy exploits in A Clockwork Orange, Jack Torrent's manic over-the-top theatrics in The Shining or even Nicole Kidman's final fuck punctuation mark at the close of Eyes Wide Shut.

38. Innovated The Use of Music in Cinema

From the use of The Blue Danube in 2001 to Beethoven in A Clockwork Orange and even the paradoxical choice of 'We'll Meet Again' by Vera Lynn for the apocalyptic denouncement of Dr Strangelove, Kubrick revolutionised the use of music in cinema to communicate complex meanings, create idyllic ambiance and punctuate emotion. To this extent he arguably influenced everyone from Coppola's use of Wager in Apocalypse Now to Scorsese's choice of Delerue in Casino. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gb0mxcpPOU

39. His Use of Colour

Ironically for a man trained as a black and white photographer for Look magazine Kubrick was equally as masterful in his use of colour. Colour was used as much for psychological expression as architectural space. White, black and red are the predominant hues of 2001 until the burst of multi-coloured mystery in the Star Ride sequence. Also noted are the colours representing psychedelia in A Clockwork Orange, the oil painting naturalism of Barry Lyndon, the blood red and snow white contracts that signal the murderous pursuit in The Shining and finally the stark crimsons and vivid purples used in the sinister gothic interiors in Eyes Wide Shut.
Contributor

Oliver Pfeiffer is a freelance writer who trained at the British Film Institute. He joined OWF in 2007 and now contributes as a Features Writer. Since becoming Obsessed with Film he has interviewed such diverse talents as actors Keanu Reeves, Tobin Bell, Dave Prowse and Naomie Harris, new Hammer Studios Head Simon Oakes and Hollywood filmmakers James Mangold, Scott Derrickson and Uk director Justin Chadwick. Previously he contributed to dimsum.co.uk and has had other articles published in Empire, Hecklerspray, Se7en Magazine, Pop Matters, The Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicle and more recently SciFiNow Magazine and The Guardian. He loves anything directed by Cronenberg, Lynch, Weir, Haneke, Herzog, Kubrick and Hitchcock and always has time for Hammer horror films, Ealing comedies and those twisted Giallo movies. His blog is: http://sites.google.com/site/oliverpfeiffer102/