BARRY LYNDON (1975) Criterion

[Johann]

BARRY LYNDON, Stanley Kubrick’s 10th feature film was released on DVD by the Criterion Collection as spine #897.


My review will focus on the second disc of special features.
The film is my favourite Kubrick and my favourite film period.



Disc two has a nice menu of 8 options with a selection of music from the soundtrack accompanying it.
We also get 2 theatrical trailers.
In the 90’s I fell in love with this film when I took the 2-VHS TAPE set out of the public library.
The fact that it was in two opulent parts on two separate tapes made it feel really important.
I kept checking the set out, over and over, marvelling at it more and more.
There is no film like it. There are many period films, costume epics, but none that engaged me like Barry Lyndon did. None. This was it, as far as cinema went for me.



First up is MAKING BARRY LYNDON.

Brian Cook, Stanley’s daughter Katharine, his producer Jan Harlan, young Lord Bullingdon Domenic Savage, assistant Leon Vitali and even Stanley’s own voice illuminate his working methods.
Perfection was achieved with this film, and we learn how.
The Lighting!
Oh the LIGHTING!....We hear Stanley say how false lighting is in most films.
The COSTUMES....we hear how Stanley was impressed with the films The Emigrants and The New Land and how real the costumes looked. So he hired the costume designer of those films.
We hear him say how no costumes were “designed”...he took actual cues from actual clothes.

We learn about scouting locations, how there were no sets for Barry Lyndon- they were all real locations. Scenic Ireland, interiors of period homes, etc.
We also learn of a kidnapping threat! The IRA threatened to kidnap Stanley!
(They buggered out of there!)
We learn of the casting process, and how Stanley treated actors.
We learn his methods to “get the feeling right”, how he got actors to drop the pretense of acting.
It was cool to learn that Kubrick’s scenes evolved from what was on the page.

Did you know that during production Stanley got to talk to Queen Elizabeth?

Germany was also used for locations, but not before German authorities confirmed that this wasn’t an anti-Communist propaganda film!
We learn how it went over-budget, costing $11 million in total.
Stanley was very budget-minded and Jan Harlan says he ultimately had to be satisfied with the film he delivered. Warner Brothers gave him complete artistic control.