DR STRANGELOVE : ARE YOU ADDICTED? WANT TO JOIN THE CULT?

Or, as Alfred E. Neuman might say “What Me Worry?”

How could a nuclear war start?

One would like to believe that no sane decision could lead to such a war. That would leave only accident or madness.

If you subscribe to the madness theory, come to the Diefenbunker on 16 Aug to watch Dr Strangelove. If you have already seen the movie, it may be time for your periodic fix. Bring some friends - it is often said that madness is better when shared. If you have not already seen the movie, come out and join the cult.

Dr Strangelove was not Stanley Kubrick’s first, or last, war movie, but it was perhaps his most enduring one – capturing new fans at each viewing. This iconic 1964 Cold War movie, a dark satirical comedy, is a leader in the genre of apocalyptic threat movies that sprang up in the 1950s as science, as the military-industrial complex, and as global political instability caused widespread psychological malaise in people’s minds. For the West the Cold War was a period of sustained alert against Communism.

Can one watch a great movie too many times? If a movie is great each time you view it you will appreciate more fully the creative camera styles, the careful writing, the insightful balancing of emotions, the artistic attention to detail, and the skillful acting that goes well beyond script. Dr Strangelove does not, even upon repeated viewings, disappoint. However, does one really watch Dr Strangelove for its artistic merit?

If you are of a certain age, and of a certain musical persuasion, you may recall that one of Johnny Cash's songs featured a man who had to grow up being called “Sue”. Unreal as this may be, I’ll bet that this man would have liked "Sue" a lot better than being called “Merkin” or “Muffley”. The latter two names are only a few of the unique appellations used by the clever and satirical, and perhaps puerile, writers of Dr Strangelove.

Does the movie depict Playboy Magazine like images because one of the writers had worked for Esquire Magazine? Foreign Affaires, really!

One can praise and condemn Dr Strangelove on so many levels. Why go on a roller coaster? Is it the thrill of the fear? Why watch a movie with characters that are clearly over the top? Is it the only way to portray a fatalistic approach to Armageddon without going mad oneself? Why watch a movie with so many sexual innuendoes? Indeed, most scenes have sexual connotations are blunt to the extreme. Is the purpose of the bomber re-fueling, the large phallic cigars, or the orgasmic atomic bomb that Kong rides between his legs to establish a connection between war, sexual obsession and the male sex drive? Why watch a movie that treats such a serious subject as human annihilation as humorous? Is it because nervous laugher eases the pain? Why add distinctive colours to props in a movie that is to be shown in black and white? Is it because a green war table depicts the poker game of war? As in one of Chris De Burg’s songs, one should not play poker with the Devil.

By the time Dr Strangelove was released in 1964 the Doomsday Clock had been extremely close to midnight several times. The nuclear bomb threat was the prism through which the world looked into the future.

The terror of WWII, with its inhumanity and devastation, was still fresh in many minds. Now, looking into the atomic abyss it was even more frightening. The Suez Crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin Wall Crisis, the unsettling malaise associated with the assassination of US President Kennedy, the worries of an escalating war in Vietnam, and almost constant announcements of an expanding arms race to counter Soviet achievements in weaponry, in space, in science, and in expanding global reach would not let the world’s population relax. Civil Defence and survival were on the minds of many people. Dr Strangelove would not let the viewers relax either. This first commercially-successful political satire about nuclear war was a cynical, humorous, biting response to the fears of the era.

Kubrick had read a book entitled “Red Alert” (originally “Two Hours to Doom”) by RAF Flight Lieutenant Peter George, published in 1958 under the pseudonym Peter Bryant. George was a pessimistic Englishman deeply committed to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the 1950s. The thesis for his book was the almost absurd ease with which a nuclear war could be triggered. Kubrick was introduced to the book through contacts at the London Institute for Strategic Studies when he expressed an interest, because of growing fears in society at large, in the issue of nuclear war. Kubrick then acquired the screen rights to the story and developed a cautionary tale, against the backdrop of an almost blasé attitude towards life, of the unthinkable - the destruction of mankind through nuclear war. As it was being developed the movie evolved from a suspense drama, initially titled “Edge of Doom”, into the almost silly satirical movie we enjoy today.

Apparently the B-52 bomber scenes in Dr Strangelove were so real that the US Air Force investigated to ensure that there had been no security breaches in access to technical information on its weapons systems. And yet, there was no correction on the estimated number of US deaths to be expected in a nuclear attack on the US. In this 1964 movie the estimate was for “only” 10 – 20 million US deaths in a nuclear war of that era. US President Eisenhower had a study done in 1956 and at that time the estimate was about 65% of the 168 million US citizens would perish.

When you tour the Diefenbunker prior to the movie you may be pleased, or disappointed, based upon your gender, to learn that Canadian Civil Defence and Continuity of Government Programmes did not consider Canada to have a “mine shaft gap” and therefore had no plans for a ratio of 10 women for every man in the bunker!

I must admit, I’ve not read Herman Kahn’s “On Thermonuclear War”. I understand that his book popularized the term ‘megadeath’ (1953) in discussing calmly the strategic doctrines of nuclear war, the lack of credibility of a purely thermonuclear deterrent and what “winning” such a war could entail. The term Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)” would shortly follow.

If the movie was to be written against today’s threat backdrop its title could well read something like “My Fellow Citizen – Please Don’t or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Live With The Terrorist Amongst Us”

PS

Come out to the Diefenbunker and share your ideas on this movie with other viewers. You can also go on-line and DiefenBlog your comments on this movie, or on the above comments. How many times have you seen this movie? Why? How many times have you seen this movie at the Diefenbunker? Why?

PPS

If you subscribe to the accident theory of how a nuclear war could start, I would suggest another great Cold War movie, "Fail Safe". It was last shown at the Diefenbunker about a year ago. The same studio that released Dr Strangelove (Columbia Pictures) released the original version of Fail Safe in 1964, shortly after Dr Strangelove. Peter George sued on the charge of plagiarism and made an out-of-court settlement. Fail-Safe was, for its day, an ultra-realistic melodrama that became a commercial hit only long after release. It was re-made and released again in 2000. Want to see this movie (either version) at the Diefenbunker? Let us know. To get a real world feeling for how a nuclear war might start by accident look up NATO ABLE WARRIOR 83 on the Internet.

Perhaps you want to go even further back in time and see / see again, Nevil Shute’s “On The Beach” (1959). This may well have been the start of the apocalyptic post-nuclear war movie. Again, let us know if you want to see / see again this movie at the Diefenbunker.

The Spy Who Loved Me-Cold War Cinema -June 21nd, 2011. Guided tour a 6:00 pm and movie showing at 7:00 pm. Call for reservations 613-839-0007.

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME - The Bond Saga Continues With Gadgets, Guns & Girls

Ian Fleming aficionados were probably upset in 1977. Not only had they to wait two and one half years for the next new movie to come out, but for the first time a Bond movie did not follow the same story-line as the book of the same title. The book told a story from a heroine's point of view and only introduced Bond well into the tale.

Agent 007 devotees were pleased however in 1977. When this movie was released, on the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventy-seventh year of the last century (7,7,77), it clearly followed the Bond film formula - beautiful women, gadget laden cars, megalomaniac villains, exotic locales, extreme explosions, dangerous henchmen, violent fights on trains, witty double-entendres to titillate and amuse, and more beautiful women. With a budget twice the size of any of the previous nine Bond movies this one really delivered. In this, the third Roger Moore Bond, there was a return to the more gentlemanly and witty secret agent.

Fleming allowed his 1962 book title to be used for the movie, but not his story. Based upon a script developed by fifteen writers who started work in 1976, the Director and Production Designer crafted a film to thrill Bond movie watchers, even those of today.

The movie reflects the 1970's era of "detente". The Cold War's strained relations between the super-powers had relaxed a little. After all, there was parity in nuclear weapons and Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) was the anticipated result of using the weapons. When I first heard use of the word "detente" during the Cold War I was reminded of the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas (yes, I had to look up the date and name). This treaty divided the globe into two hemispheres, one for the Spanish and one for the Portuguese. This treaty allowed each nation to pursue their aspirations for empire in the New World without fighting each other.

I interpreted the 1970's detente to be a thaw in the Cold War between the East (Soviet Union and allies) and the West (US and allies) so that leaders could focus on domestic requirements, leaving the "empires" of the other alone. The U.S. was financially and emotionally drained by the Vietnam War. The Soviet Union could no longer bear the financial burden of the arms race and feared improved relations between the U.S. and China. By 1975 Space Race tensions were eased with the joint U.S. Soviet Apollo-Soyuz space project. The project consisted of the first ever docking of the space craft from different nations. Indeed, it was the last manned U.S. space flight until the launch of the Space Shuttle in 1981.

Detente is reflected in this movie through cooperation between the best British spy, who we know is James Bond 007, and the best Soviet spy, who we learn is agent Triple X, as their nations fight a common threat - someone is stealing their nuclear weapons laden submarines.

The symbol XXX has many meanings. Don't get excited, this movie intends the symbol to be a warning sign of danger. In radio communications XXX is an indication of urgency, just under an SOS. In computer programming XXX warns programmers of a problematic or misleading code. From the very beginning there are strong indications that Bond should be very careful as his former adversary becomes his partner. Reflecting the 1970's women's liberation movement, James Bond must now share the stage with a female spy, a spy who is his equal. She is just as intelligent, just as lethal and just as resourceful as Bond. She is - "Triple X".

Come to the Diefenbunker to enjoy a movie and slip back to a time when the bunker was still in use. Perhaps not as impressive as the villain's lair in the movie, the bunker remains an engineering marvel nevertheless. Not just Bond fans and engineers, but Cold War buffs and troglodytes will enjoy the Diefenbunker movie night experience.

Watch the movie closely, which of the six host country's construction capabilities are insulted? Which host country provided a great mountain from which to Base Jump? Which country allows smoking in its submarines? Which spy used to advertise for a popular alcoholic beverage manufacturer and now has their character use the same product in this movie? What is a "Wetbike"? Did they really play "Lawrence of Arabia" theme music at some time during this movie? Does James Bond's gun ever miss fire? Did I mention the beautiful girls?

The new Spring 2011 Cold War Cinema schedule is unique and interesting in that it has been curated by Les, one of the many volunteer experts at the Diefenbunker. Les, retired from the Canadian Armed Forces after 35 years of service, has been a volunteer guide / interpreter at the Diefenbunker for several years and has often expressed an interest in the movies that we show. Having spoken up, he must now "put up", therefore he will shortly prepare a review on a few movies to entice you to visit the museum on a movie night, to have a tour of the bunker with him before the movie and then to see the movie(s) that he has proposed. At the end of the movie you will be invited to share your ideas on the movie with him and with the rest of the viewers. I have been kicking around 2 names for this program: "Les is More: Cold War Films and The Diefenbunker" versus "Les Talk and More Action: The Cold War and Hollywood". The reviews will be presented monthly and appear here on the DiefenBlog and in eFusion, the Diefenbunker monthly newsletter, so be sure to "stay tuned".  


Les says that as a Baby Boomer born and growing up in central Canada he was exposed to, and influenced by, the many TV, movie and print publications that often had as a focus the evils of communism and the fears that communism would be spread around the world by force and or through subterfuge. As a young child he was therefore familiar with the Korean War events, the Suez Crisis that could have expanded into a global conflict, the many failed revolutions in Eastern Europe as nations tried to overthrow their imposed communist governments, the white trails in the Canadian sky that reflected high flying military aircraft on training missions, the stories of spies betraying the West to the East, and the thrills and the fears of Sputnik as the Soviets appeared to be winning the space race and possibly the arms race. The newspapers seemed to be constantly full of some military conflict that could lead to a global war, a war upon which the West would depend upon nuclear weapons. Secrets about these weapons had to be kept, military forces had to be ready, and spies could not be tolerated.  


Les has chosen 3 very well made and deservedly discussed cold war films which also have very high entertainment value and production quality. Also, as a Cold War Cinema first, an online poll which will remain open right up until until 1 hour before the showing of the film on Volunteer Appreciation night, April 12, 2011 (see above). Now we can finally determine which film is more popular among Bunker fans: Hunt for Red October, Crimson Tide, Gorky park, or The Sum of all Fears.

Consistently ranked as one of the greatest films and the greatest comedy made, featured in June is the Stanley Kubrick classic about the string of all-to-possible errors leading to the third world war and global nuclear annihilation. Viewing this masterpiece inside of the Diefenbunker is an amazing and truly unique and surreal experience.
"Kubrick next chose to tackle the subject of nuclear annihilation. He began by researching the science and philosophy of nuclear war and optioning Red Alert, a serious dramatic novel by Peter George. Although Kubrick had long been personally terrified by the potential of an all-out nuclear war, he eventually turned his devilish sense of black humor on the project. Novelist Terry Southern turned the original story on its head and the film was renamed Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Shooting in black and white on a soundstage in England, Kubrick was in supreme command of the content and the visual style of the film. Production designer Ken Adam who had created the look for the James Bond film series, invented the circular-structured War Room and recreated the interior of the U.S. bomber cockpits without receiving official permission to examine the real thing. Based on intensive research in military magazines Adam brought realism to the outrageous comedy and imagination to the notion of a War Room used to plan global conflicts. Adam and Kubrick were so successful they even fooled President Ronald Reagan, who at the dawn of his first term, anxiously asked to tour the White House War Room which only existed in movieland." 






Reserve early to ensure your spot at this popular event!
movie@diefenbunker.ca 

IMDB rating 8.6/10

Tour at 6pm (optional)
Film at 7pm