Clockwork Orange, A (UK)
Being the adventures of a young man whose principal interests are rape, ultra-violence and Beethoven
Certificate: 18
Running Time: 131 mins
Retail Price: £19.99
Release Date:
Content Type: Movie
Synopsis:
Stomping, whomping, stealing, singing, tap-dancing, violating. Derby-topped teddy-boy hooligan Alex (Malcolm McDowell) has his own way of having a good time. He has it at the tragic expense of others.
Alex’s journey from amoral punk to brainwashed proper citizen forms the dynamic arc of Stanley Kubrick’s future-shock vision of Anthony Burgess’ novel. Unforgettable images, startling musical counterpoints, the fascinating language used by Alex and his pals – Kubrick shapes them into a shattering whole.
Hugely controversial when first released, A Clockwork Orange won the New York Film Critics Best Picture and Director honors and earned four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. The power of its art is such that it still entices, shocks and holds us in its grasp.
Special Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Theatrical Trailer
Awards
Video Tracks:
Widescreen Letterbox 1.66:1
Audio Tracks:
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Subtitle Tracks:
English
CC: English
Directed By:
Stanley Kubrick
Written By:
Stanley Kubrick
Anthony Burgess
Starring:
Miriam Karlin
Patrick Magee
Adrienne Corri
Malcolm McDowell
Music From:
Wendy Carlos
Editor:
William Butler
Production Designer:
Jonathan Barry
Producer:
Stanley Kubrick
Executive Producer:
Si Litvinoff
Max L. Raab
Distributor:
Warner Bros
Your Opinions and Comments
A Clockwork Orange is based on a book of the same name released in 1962, it centres the story of the protaganist Alex. Alex and his gang roam around the streets of night committing acts of violence, rape and robbery purely for enjoyment. After hanging around in the "milk bar", the gang bumps into a singing homeless man and assaults him. After beating him up, the gang then proceeds to beat up a rival gang (who are raping a girl). By 15 minutes, you will see one of the most shocking scenes in movie history: the gang invades a writer`s home, assaulted him and raped his wife. Despite all this, it`s a must see.
I am reviewing this for the 2001 remastered version only.
Video- Presented in non-anamorphic 1.66:1 widescreen, the movie is suprisingly in good condition. For a movie that is over 30 years old, much of the film is cleaned up with relatively few instances of flecks and compression artifiacts are also fairly low. It looks goods as it ever has with rich colourings. The down side is that there are a few moments with natural film grain and the movie is not presented in anamorphic.
Sound- The sound has been remastered into DD 5.1 and it is quite good. The electrical score is quite cheesy now (as with many things in life) and the classical score fits quite well into the mood of the film. There`s no mono sound in the remastered version which will upset many purist.
Extras- Not a single featurette about the making of the movie. Archived interviews with Kubrick are near impossible to recover since he doesn`t talk about his movies on set and never watches the final products (a shame for someone who made some of the most influential movies ever). The menu is simple to navigate accompanied by Beethoven`s Ode to Joy. What you only get is a few pages of numerous awards the film has been nominated for and a theatrical trailer. Because of the poor amount of content, I won`t give this a 1.
Overall- A controversial movie but it proved to be very influential and had directly (and indirectly) inspired many film-makers. If you are quick enough, you might be able to find the Kubrick collection for £29 at amazon.