——–

Next we see the IBers engaged in their post-mortem work.

We see Bear, staring at a stripped corpse, whose back is turned to the camera.

Suddenly Bear stands up. puts his cap on and says:

Yiskadal,ve- yiskadash, shmay rabo. (He is reciting the Jewish prayer for the dead. The Kaddish.)

Raines: He really was one of you guys,, wasn’t he??

Bear. Continuing the prayer, nods yes, Tears begin to emerge. He finishes the prayer. Stands over the body a moment. Picks up his rifle — then his club, and moves out .

Kirk as Ben H? Tres interessant. Well, that means as Moshe rabbeinu, too. (Ten Commandments. Perhaps that movie shoulda been called “Exodus?”)

How about this? Kirk in those movies and Charlton in, say,
Last Train from Gun Hill.

I am no cineaste. Proof: Will never understand what
“2001: A Space Odyssey” (yikes, already eight years past in
real time) is all about.

Never saw Barry London — will never cease being enthralled by “Paths of Glory.” Hmm. Filmed black/white.

Did Quentin think he would seem a tad too much under the Kubrick influence if he did IB in b/w? Is there a Stanley/Quentin book out, yet?

Learned about Field Marshal Milch in the course of my post-IB googling. He had Jewish ancestry and served as a top Luftwaffe aide to Goering. There is a book claiming some 150,000 part-Jews in Hitler’s military.

Wow, we coulda had Bear about to club a Wehrmacht soldaten and just before Bear moves in the guy says:
“Shema Yisroel…: (Hear O Israel, the Lord, our G-d, the Lord is One.” ) Bear pauses. Asks German what he is doing?. German says (with another IBer translating) “I’m saying the Shema before I die.”

Bear: You’re (bleeping) doing what?

German. Saying the Shema before you kill me.

Bear. How the (bleep) do you know about the Shema ?

German.( Hesitating, trembling, and then, as he weeps) “Ich bin Jude.”

Bear. (No need to wait for translation of that) You are WHAT?

German. Please don’t tell anyone — I’m a Jew. My mother was Jewish. Before Hitler, I learned trhe “Shema” in “cheder.”

Bear. Lieutenant, didja u hear that? This sumbitch not only says he’s a Yid, says he went to Hebrew school. Now what the (bleep) what?

Lieutenant. Bear? Your call. But he did — if I understand it right — say the words he needed to, to meet his Maker….
———–

Wasn’t there a scene in “Sands of Iwo Jima” where a marine says the Shema before he dies?

I think that directors also like to be independent about the movies they make and like the films to, “belong” to them, and that this is ego-driven, as well, but, contrarely to what I usually read about actors, it is presented as something positive.

To me, an actor’s ego is as legitimate as a director’s ego, and if these agos help bringing good performances and good pictures that is fine for me (I regard egos as negative if they produce the contrary), and many Kubrick’s filma are enhanced by good acting work (apart from Spartacus, think of James Mason or Peter Sellers).

IMHO, one of the best example of a director controlling his films (in their overall filmography) is Hitchcock. Or Stroheim! In spite of most of his films surviving in non-director cuts, his style mightily survives the imposed editing.

Both Kubrick and Douglas made films outside the system but I would argue that Kubrick above anyone-even Spielberg today had the most control of any American film maker.

I would have thought to be a movie star both then and now that vanity and a huge ego are a prerequisite to success. I would also think that they would be pretty high on the list of most directors.

I mean in basic terms Douglas is like the kid who writes the school play so he can play the lead and I’m sure Kubrick purchased his material so he could direct it himself. If we’re honest wouldn’t we do the same Gloria?

So… When a director is able to produce his own films and/or choosing his own projects, that is someone conquering his freedom, but when an actor does likewise, he’s a vain, egotist jerk.

Hum…