Book to Film-THE KILLING

Stanley Kubrick’s third feature is considered by the director himself to be his first mature film. Based on Lionel White’s novel Clean Break (with dialogue by Jim Thompson) this classic heist film has a cast of noir veterans with Sterling Hayden in the lead and an extremely complex narrative structure, which Quentin Tarantino has paid tribute to as a major influence on Reservoir Dogs.

Kubrick was so dedicated to the making of this film that he went unpaid during the shooting, surviving on loans from his new producing partner James B. Harris. And when the Hollywood cinematographers' union told Kubrick he could not be both director and cinematographer, the veteran cinematographer Lucien Ballard was hired to shoot the picture. Unfortunately, it was a collaboration which did not always run smoothly but the two still created many striking sequences. In a film filled with highlights, the car park scene featuring Timothy Carey is one of the most heartbreakingly nuanced examples of ‘racism’ ever put on screen, and it’s hard to think of a greater ‘crime almost but-doesn’t-quite pay’ ending.

Rotten Tomatoes describes the film as "An expertly crafted noir with more on its mind than stylishly staged violence, The Killing establishes Stanley Kubrick as a filmmaker of uncommon vision and control.”

This session will be presented by John Newman and Michael O’Rourke who will host a discussion after the screening.

The novel Clean Break is available in paperback and on Kindle (with another Lionel White novel The Snatchers).

Doors/Bar 1.00pm Film 2.00pm

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