A genius piece of film-making – withdrawn from UK distribution by director Stanley Kubrick and only subsequently rereleased after his death – this 1971 piece of cinema was based on Anthony Burgess’ equally genius novel of the same name.
A story of ultraviolence, Government control, the morality of freedom of choice, prison reform and societal decay; it featured Malcolm McDowell (
Vamps,
Tales from the Crypt: the Reluctant Vampire &
Suck) as main character and narrator Alex – a boy whose primary interests are rape, ultraviolence and Ludwig Van Beethoven.
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| fleeting visitation |
It is early in the film, when listening to Ludwig Van, that Alex’s narration alludes to the images the music stirs in his mind and we see, amongst the images, Alex as a vampire. His narration suggests, “
Oh bliss! Bliss and heaven! Oh, it was gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh. It was like a bird of rarest-spun heaven metal or like silvery wine flowing in a spaceship, gravity all nonsense now. As I slooshied, I knew such lovely pictures! ” The image of Alex with fangs appears three times in the montage and that is the only vampire aspect to the film – a fleeting visitation indeed.
When I watched the film again I was struck by one line, so much so that I wrote it down. Perhaps a prophetic view of today back then, “
It's funny how the colours of the real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the screen.” A Clockwork Orange is a must see film. The imdb page is
here.
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