How Dr. Strangelove Turned a Cold War Horror Story Into Comedy Gold
The source material for Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb was the 1958 suspense novel Red Alert by Peter George. However, Red Alert was not at all funny, just a terrifying story of nuclear armageddon. In Kubrick's hands, the tale became absurdist satire all around. Cinefix tells the tale of how the transformation took place and left us with a classic black comedy. (via the AV Club)
"Red Alert" sounds suspiciously similar to Eugene Burdick's 1962 novel "Fail Safe", which was made into a movie in 1964 — even down to the POTUS trading the destruction of an American city (in "Fail Safe" it's New York City) as 'compensation' for Moscow. And in "Fail Safe" the bombs DO fall; the attack on Moscow succeeds, so the president orders an American A-bomb of similar magnitude be dropped on Manhattan.
Hey Bill, I'm gonna put you in the same category as me when it comes to Dr. Stangelove and Fail Safe - you might like both of them but Fail Safe made a bigger impression and was better.
Red Alert - 1958, Fail Safe - 1962. Peter George's suit for copyright infringement was settled out of court. . .
"Red Alert" sounds suspiciously similar to Eugene Burdick's 1962 novel "Fail Safe", which was made into a movie in 1964 — even down to the POTUS trading the destruction of an American city (in "Fail Safe" it's New York City) as 'compensation' for Moscow. And in "Fail Safe" the bombs DO fall; the attack on Moscow succeeds, so the president orders an American A-bomb of similar magnitude be dropped on Manhattan.
ReplyDeleteHey Bill, I'm gonna put you in the same category as me
ReplyDeletewhen it comes to Dr. Stangelove and Fail Safe - you might
like both of them but Fail Safe made a bigger impression
and was better.
Red Alert - 1958, Fail Safe - 1962. Peter George's suit
for copyright infringement was settled out of court. . .
Red Alert - Wikipedia