Dr. Strangelove

How this film uses it

Kubrick understood that a serious anti-nuclear film would be written off as propaganda. Comedy let him say the same thing in a form the audience would accept. His point was that the logic of mutually assured destruction was insane. The jokes carry the argument.

Where to see it

The War Room sequence. The President calls the Soviet premier while the generals squabble, and the comedy lets you see the horror clearly.

How this film uses it

Peter Sellers plays 3 roles: President Muffley, Group Captain Mandrake and Dr. Strangelove. They stand for the political, military and scientific establishments in that order. Having 1 actor play all 3 suggests these institutions are all acts. They are different costumes on the same basic absurdity.

Where to see it

Dr. Strangelove's arm struggling to give a Nazi salute. His body shows what he believes, against his own will.

How this film uses it

Ken Adam's circular War Room has a big round table lit from above by a ring of lights, and a wall of big maps. Nothing like it exists in the real world, but it feels completely official. It is designed as a stage, and Kubrick shoots it as one. The room is a theater where world leaders act out their absurd politics.

Where to see it

The first War Room establishing shot. You see the circular table under the ring of overhead lights.

How this film uses it

Gilbert Taylor shoots the assault on Burpelson Air Force Base like combat footage, using Arriflex cameras and contrasty stock. The War Room is theatrical and stylized. The soldiers look real and the politicians look like absurd theater, and the contrast makes both of them funnier.

Where to see it

The assault on Burpelson Air Force Base. Soldiers fight a battle that looks like newsreel combat footage, over an order that makes no sense.