I'll start by saying GENIUS. This movie combines tragedy,action and even a little comedy. Watching Seller's work was an actual treat. I loved that the three characters were amazing in totally different ways. Captain Mandrake, a peaceful military man who is trying to save the day, President Muffley, a naive-non military man who is trying to do the best he can to stop the attacks, finally and most importantly Dr. Strangelove who is a crazy-bomb loving-strategy making-Adolf Hitler's fan. Unlike Lolita, Dr. Strangelove didn't need color, for me at least, it was executed brilliantly. The way cinematography techniques, such as lights and camera shots, were used made a great difference.
Instead of choosing a group of similar scene, I'll talk about a few scenes that are helped by lighting and camera angles. Starting with the scene where Captain Mandrake enters General Ripper's office with a hand radio. In this scene we can observe that Gnrl. Ripper has a full front light and since we are only seeing his back and Cpt. Mandrake standing right before him, the feeling of darkness and power is conveyed by the smoke and the light. When the camera shots the general from bellow with half his face in darkness this produces a sinister and important look. Also, when the base is under attack and the General starts setting up the machine-gun, and the captain is lying on the sofa and is illuminated with a bit of light from above it shows hoplesness and intimidation. Another scene where the light embraces the essence is The War Room. When the ambassador is talking about the Doomsday machine he is given a backlight which makes him a pop-out look that really accentuates the importance of his words. Later on, when Dr. Strangelove appears in total darkness while Captain "Buck" Turgidson is under light and praying it gives the look of good and evil. Later on when the attack is achieved, and Dr. Strangelove starts to expose his strategy, we perceive that he is the center of attention since he has a straight on light. While everybody else in the scene is forming a circle arround him and have absolutely no light.
Overall it was a great movie, with an amazing use of mise-en-scene and cinematography techniques. I'll say that the cinematography did all the difference in the world. To me it was better than Lolita.
Instead of choosing a group of similar scene, I'll talk about a few scenes that are helped by lighting and camera angles. Starting with the scene where Captain Mandrake enters General Ripper's office with a hand radio. In this scene we can observe that Gnrl. Ripper has a full front light and since we are only seeing his back and Cpt. Mandrake standing right before him, the feeling of darkness and power is conveyed by the smoke and the light. When the camera shots the general from bellow with half his face in darkness this produces a sinister and important look. Also, when the base is under attack and the General starts setting up the machine-gun, and the captain is lying on the sofa and is illuminated with a bit of light from above it shows hoplesness and intimidation. Another scene where the light embraces the essence is The War Room. When the ambassador is talking about the Doomsday machine he is given a backlight which makes him a pop-out look that really accentuates the importance of his words. Later on, when Dr. Strangelove appears in total darkness while Captain "Buck" Turgidson is under light and praying it gives the look of good and evil. Later on when the attack is achieved, and Dr. Strangelove starts to expose his strategy, we perceive that he is the center of attention since he has a straight on light. While everybody else in the scene is forming a circle arround him and have absolutely no light.
Overall it was a great movie, with an amazing use of mise-en-scene and cinematography techniques. I'll say that the cinematography did all the difference in the world. To me it was better than Lolita.
