The Stanley Kubrick Archives

This is another monster Taschen book, like their earlier SOME LIKE IT HOT jumbo-sized volume. Both redefine the concept of a coffee-table book is. They are end-table, or dinette table items. Huge, weighty things that take up a lot of space and are best stored flat rather than upright like normal books, lest the binding collapse. The actual content is made up of pictures galore, vivid, dramatic stills from the works of Stanley Kubrick, spreading over the massive pages in all their glory. The first half of the tome is all visual snippets from each of the major works, laid out with impeccable taste. Then it starts over with essays about each of the movie's synopses, production details and critical reception. Really good, not just the superficial studio-approved hype that often appears in these things, but worthwhile information, like the best quality dvd commentary. Accompanying this are more incredible photos. There's even coverage on that very early item, FEAR AND DESIRE, his 1953 allegorical war film/first feature, and several shorts he did in the very early fifties.. The stills are sparse for that particular title, but there's more info about it than has been available, probably since it was new. And since it was a prehistoric example of the independent film, there probably wasn't much coverage, then. Kubrick himself washed his hands of it an eon ago. And, I just saw this Golden Fleece-type rare item. last summer; he was probably very wise to ignore it. But, anyway, this book more than adequately covers it. Also, there's a lot of biographical material with a lot of personal photos. For Kubrick fans, this is nirvana, the best of the several books that try to encompass the director's appeal. It is another gorgeous entry in the Taschen lineup, like their elegant MOVIES OF 20s, 30s - onto 90s volumes, and the wonderful series of ALL AMERICAN ADS for each decade from the teens to the 80s, and even the more modest, but still spectacular, directors series. All were originally very pricey, but are remaindered in a very short order because the audience for these things is not exactly huge. Most bookstores don't even stock them as remainders, let alone when they are new and full-priced.There is apparently a new jumbo book about Ingmar Bergman. The mind boggles what it'll look like. This is the ultimate movie book. If you collect them, this is a must... and a half. Maybe three or four 'musts.'

My husband is impossible to buy for. He loves Stanley Kubrick and I figured he was either going to love this or give me the deep eye roll on Christmas. He LOVES this book! The information is great and the pictures are so cool. If you are on the fence I would say this is worth it! Book is huge and heavy. A nice addition to anyone’s coffee table books or movie lovers shrine.

A must-have for Kubrick plans. A fantastic collection of memorabilia (in printed form) from most of his movies: script fragments, anecdotes, call sheets, production notes, on-set snapshots, interviews, sources large and small. (There are two versions of this book: coffee-table large and microscopically small. The large volume costs five times as much...and is definitely worth it.)

Perhaps one of the most stunning and beautifully compiled books I have ever seen. As a filmmaker and lover of the man and artist Stanley Kubrick, I felt moved at the turn of each page. Thank you to the works that went into publishing such a collection. The print quality and design are impeccable. Bravo.

Every book about movies or directors should be done like this. First half of the book takes you through each and every film in stills. The second half is devoted to plot summaries, interviews with cast and crew and select reviews of the films. The book is an oversized coffee table format. It’s hugh, heavy and totally beautiful. Taschen always turns out spectacular books that quickly become collector’s items. Buy this one immediately!

I remember the release of this book, promising a single piece of film from an actual 2001 reel. I opted not to buy that edition mostly due to the price of the book. A piece of history? Maybe. Then again, what's more valuable... knowledge? Or a piece of celluloid? The price of this book is well worth the purchase. It's thick. Loaded with film stills in the front and interviews and essays in the second half. Here's where the missing star comes in. I like film stills, generally. It's hard to gauge this sort of 'secondary' presentation since most readers of this book will be used to seeing the images on a big screen in motion. There are lots of pictures to enjoy. The selections seemed well chosen at times, almost arbitrary at times. Not to the point of randomly chosen stills, but... interesting choices sometimes. But. It is always an abomination and I will NEVER understand why publishers, editors, designers... a combination of these people and more will choose to put an image that goes over the crease of the book. WHY? I absolutely hate it when this choice gets made, as there is no image to enjoy. Rather two poorly framed images with a big crease in the middle. It is not difficult to design pages around this. The words in the latter half is a great source of knowledge. If you have read Clement's book, Kubrick: The Definitive Edition , you will find some crossover of information. It is hard to say exactly what percentage of information here is "new" as I have been a Kubrick fan and follower for many years, thus gathering much information from various sources. I will say that for new or old fans, the way this is compiled is very well conceived and should be a pleasure to both mega-fans and new fans/curiosos. A small portion of the words are simply a summary of the film. There's a brief essay on how the film came to be; it came from a book given to Kubrick, it came about after Kubrick teamed up with Harris, Kubrick had been searching for a new film idea and was floor when he read... The remaining essays then range from various interviews or other sources. Magazine articles, film reviews, interviews. Accompanying a lot of this material is (formerly unknown) images from Kubrick's source material. Scans of original novels with his handwriting scrawled into the margins, script pages, photographs on set, behind the scenes with various actors. Great great stuff a lot of which I had never seen. Another great single reason for purchase of this book. Over the years, I have began to deeply analyze the content of Kubrick's films over the years. Some I have done alone, others I have used the aid of other published media and theory as an aide. As my interest in this grew, I hoped to find more and more material that spoke specifically to the "hidden" content that Kubrick increasingly placed in his films. Though this is not spoken directly about, if you know what aspect of this "hidden" content you are looking for, you can cross reference some of the essays where Kubrick or another crew member speaks about that part of production. It's quite the tangled web he wove, and he took it all to the grave. It's amazing that so much of this is still being discovered today, and probably a lot of it still has yet to be discovered. Perhaps analyzing every frame of his work in detail is overkill and will only make you more and more crazy. Maybe you'll see something and think "Hmm, that was interesting." Maybe you'll read something about it that supports that suspicious eye. Maybe some of the information in this book will help you to understand the genius, that will always be, Kubrick.

Preso per un regalo, apprezzatissimo. Molto bello e curato, immagini di grande formato e qualità. Fa la sua figura sia in libreria che sul coffee table.

Kesinlike tavsiye ediyorum.

Toda su obra en un libro de gran calidad. Estructurado con una primera parte de películas y una segunda con un dasarrollo muy completo del proceso creativo y técnico. Hasta reproducciones de los guiones originales. El formato apiadado (en la edición grande) es muy apropiado para reproducir las fotografías. La versión pequeña, en español también es igualmente recomendable, en ambas ediciones la sensación es una gran compra a un precio mucho mas barato de lo que ofrecen. La diferencia de ambas es el tamaño, el idioma y la estructura que en la pequeña la información creativa está a continuación de las fotografías pero el contenido es idéntico en ambas.

El libro es de muy buena calidad y su contenido es incomparable, la letra es algo pequeña pero no imposible de leer. No es un libro que puedas leer cargándolo sentado en una silla, sí o sí tienes que ponerlo sobre una mesa para poder leerlo cómodamente. Vale la pena comprarlo. Llegó antes de la fecha esperada y sin un rasguño, excelente servicio.

Book took too long to arrive, was misplaced by the courier once/ provided wrong information on FedEx website. The Book itself is very impressive in terms of binding and paper quality. A very informative read on Kubrick's filmography and with lots of pictures, interviews, etc. It's a valuable insight into the mind of one of the most dynamic filmmakers. Please note that this edition does not contain the 70mm filmstrips of his films or a CD containing an interview of him available in the first edition of the book that is now out of print and much more expensive.