Stanley Kubrick: A Biography
by John Baxter

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Book Summary Information

• ISBN13: 9780786704859
• Condition: New
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Book Reviews of Stanley Kubrick: A Biography

Book Review: A Suetonian Biography!
Summary: 2 Stars

Apparently following the advice of former British prime minister Lloyd George when that prime minister stated: "All biographies should be written by an acute enemy", John Baxter picked up on every error, mistake, and indecision of Stanley Kubrick in the course of his career. This gave Stanley Kubrick a historical perspective which included a somewhat realistic account of the man behind some of America's most influential motion pictures ever produced.

Yet biography is not history and John Baxter's work contained some obvious logical and historic errors as when he included a photograph indicating actress Ms. Suzanne Christiane as Kubrick's future second wife; or in his bibliography giving Vincent LoBrutto's book of Kubrick a copyright of 1996 - yet in Lobrutto's work, the T.P. verso indicated 1997 as the copyright.

Kubrick's intelligence, or motive, was also brought into question by John Baxter as he included in his book an explanation of Kubrick's compulsive notetaking by erudite British actress Ms. Adrienne Corri that "All this notetaking is just a way of accumulating what other people know" and also, "He (Kubrick) was not an intelligent or a curious man". But one need only to have seen in 1968 the premeire of '2001: A Space Odyssey' in 'Cinerama' (with the wrap-around screen) to be convinced that there was a brilliance behind its direction. But Baxter alluded to brilliance only in the sense of a Bobby Fischer or of a Thomas Edison - that is, brilliant in a limited and focused capacity.

While John Baxter's bibliography on Stanley Kubrick included some obvious short-comings to the careful reader, it also contained some undeniable eyewitness observations of the subject's character.

A good book to read in accompany with John Baxter's view is: 'STANLEY KUBRICK: A Biography'(c.1997) by Vincent LoBrutto, which gives a kinder Plutarchian view of its subject. It would be advantageous to also read: 'STANLEY KUBRICK: A Life In Pictures' (c. 2002) by Mrs. Suzanne Kubrick, with her objective collection of mostly black & white Kubrick photographs, mostly shot in his studios.

With new information appearing all the time, the definitive biography on Stanley Kubrick has yet to be written (there are 400 biographies on Mahatma Ghandi) and both John Baxter and Vincent LoBrutto's account are good starting points on the life of Stanley Kubrick.

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