Owing to the car problems blighting my life at present, it was held here rather than at my fellow Friday Film Club member's home, although he was overdue to host. In view of this I was allowed not to cook etc and supplied only the beer (a rather strange one called "Banana Bread Beer"), and part of the programme.
As can be seen in the photograph, the main feature was Kubrick's cold war black comedy masterpiece "Dr Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (to give it its full title). My friend brought with him the "B film" which was "No Love for Johnnie" which we watched with the fish and chip supper he had collected on the way. The war-room antics of Peter Sellers and George C. Scott were accompanied by strawberries and cream.
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| Part of the signage still in place from a more elaborate film night |
Although it didn't have the feel of our proper film nights here at the "Rialto" or the "Roxy", with their more elaborate meals and other niceties, we were both very happy with the choice of food and the 1960s black and white programme.
The less familiar Peter Finch film proved to be well acted and have a cast full of familiar faces from the era: Geoffrey Kean, Stanley Holloway, Billie Whitelaw, Rosalie Crutchley, Dennis Price, Donald Pleasance, Peter Sallis and more, including a brief uncredited appearance by a young Oliver Reed.
Finch himself, as newly re-elected Johnny Byrne MP, was a rotter with almost no redeeming characteristics, an ambitious but soul-less politician unhappy not to find himself in a cabinet post. No surprise then that there was no love for Johnnie Byrne despite being given every chance by a number of ultimately disappointed women and his long suffering constituency. His interest was solely in advancing his own political career.
The division of the party over involvement in another country's affairs had topical echoes and, although very much a film of the British "new wave" realism era, was in many ways fresh and not "dated". Its political cynicism would not be out of place today although the role of the women would certainly need some rewriting.
Dr Strangelove gets better with every watching, with stand-out performances, not only by Sellers in his three roles, but also a crazily, but appropriately, over the top George C Scott. He was reportedly unhappy with the performance Kubrick extracted from him but his is perhaps the outstanding turn of a film full of extraordinary performances.
Sellers was prevented by injury from taking the fourth role which should have also been his. Apparently, with careful training, he perfected his Texan accent but in the end it is hard to imagine anyone but Slim Pickens in the iconic role of the bomb-riding yeehaa-ing cowboy pilot.
In my opinion the best of Sellers' roles is the least showy: That of President Merkin Muffley. In comparison to his heavily accented and goonish Strangelove and Group Captain Mandrake, the president's gentle wooing of his opposite number "Demetri" on the hot line is beautifully underplayed.
The other gripping performance is that of a barking mad Sterling Hayden perhaps drawing on a lifetime of experience as a decorated officer and adventurer he is well served by cinematographer Gilbert Taylor as he expounds on the importance of his "precious bodily fluids" and tips the world towards a disaster that we all daily feared at that time.
Ken Adams' iconic "War room" is such a masterpiece that at least one incoming President believed in its actual existence, and the accuracy of the fictitious aeroplane interior allegedly caused some eyebrow raising among the FBI as the B-52 nuclear bomber's interior was still classified at that time. The least convincing scenes are those showing the exterior of the bomber (a model) skimming across arctic ice. The scenes were not stock footage but obtained specially for Strangelove by a frozen crew in a Flying Fortress, the shadow of which can apparently be seen from time to time.
Although the end of the film is an unforgettable classic scene, I would still like to see the original ending which was an enormous custard pie fight in the "War Room". One reason for its exclusion is possibly Muffley being struck down by a pie and "Buck Turgidson" saying "Our gallant young president has been struck down in his prime" an unfortunate coincidence at the time of Kennedy's assassination. This is also the reason that Slim Pickens can be heard saying "Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with that stuff" although his lips can clearly be seen to form the word Dallas instead.
We also watched a few minutes of "Angels One-Five" to settle an argument. My friend was insistent that perpetual misery Pilot Officer (soon to be "Septic") Baird prangs a Tiger Moth into someone's garden at the start of the the film. I was equally sure that the reason he was so much persona non-grata was that it was a much needed Hurricane that he destroyed. I pointed out that they would hardly be so upset if he was re-supplying a front-line squadron with an old training kite. The viewing proved me right, which in matters of old films is as rare as Brownings on a Tiger Moth.
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