Thanks for the heads up!
Yeah. I saw this. Very cool.
Stan’s rolling in his grave over this one.
Prolly, but it’s good . . . and I’ve only seen it on YouTube.
FUCK i wanna watch these movies but i have exams on thursday and friday >___<
Thanks for the information…
just as eager to watch Goldstein and Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)
Is it available anywhere else on DVD?
@ Matt
Why/how dd you think it was effective?
Any of you fanbouys or fangulls seen this:
The Seafarers
1953NR
28 minutes
Before he became an Oscar-nominated director, Stanley Kubrick helmed this 1953 documentary that extols the rewards of Seafarers International Union membership. Lost for more than four decades, the short — his first foray into color — is a must-see for Kubrick acolytes and film students. Bonus material includes an interview with Kubrick’s daughter, Katharina, and insightful commentary from directors Roger Avary and Keith Gordon.
Great news. Under no circucmstances should anyone who loves the cinema miss this.
Kubrick was adamantly opposed to showing it and to a degree i understand why. It wasn’t the film he ultimately wanted to make becuase he was hamstrung by a budget of about $185 cents with shooting difficultues making things worse. But it’s s triking debut nonetheless. It’s a war film taking place at no partiular tima nd in no particular country. Paul Mazusky has the leading role and he’s quite good in it. Many striking images. Remindful of Jansco in some ways.
Kubirck’s next film "Killer’s Kiss’ was a low-budget indie too, but he had more resources and was not displeased with the results. Still “Fear and Desire” is a film to conjure with.
4/5ths finished and obvious why Kubrick wanted this hidden, some aspects are hit and miss but one of the most awkward scripts I have witnessed.
agree ^ it’s pretty painful to watch
The philosophical dialogue, especially one series of voiceovers towards the end, is probably the most awkward part of the film. The music also grows overly melodramatic in places. On the whole, it feels like a second-rate Sam Fuller war movie. The concept of heroes and villains being the same people is still fascinating nevertheless, and Paul Mazursky is stunning. The low budget shows somewhat in the limited action, although it’s definitely not lacking a feeling of dread in how Kubrick’s very noirish uses of heavy shadow and fog and dappled light.
Absolutely awful. Thanks for the “don’t miss” designation, David.
Didn’t think it as bad as most. Comparatively bad, but not altogether bad. I think the actors, even dealing with some silly dialogue, did very well particularly the Paul Mazursky character.
I’m glad I’ve seen it, though I didn’t like it too much. The philosophical voiceovers, while somewhat uncomfortably delivered, at least let me appreciate what he was going for in this film.
One thing I absolutely loved was the film stock. Looked like Stalker in places.
Overall, I am happy to have seen this step in his evolution as I was to see Killer’s Kiss, which I also didn’t care much for (though it was better executed).
I tried to watch it as if it wasn’t a Kubrick film, and my rating of it is based on that reaction. 2.5/5.
Definitely not the worst film I’ve seen. I did like that often silvery, brown coloration. That was pretty interesting. Haven’t seen Killer’s Kiss yet, it’s been sitting around the house for quite a while so I might pick it up tomorrow.
I’m not that big of a Kubrick fan, but I’ll agree with David and say that it is a very good first effort. I LIKE the fact that he decided to tell the audience that the film is essentially an exercise in ideas. All of his films are essentially that way, and many of them suffer in my opinion because Kubrick just wasn’t that skilled at portraying his characters as fleshed out human beings.
Kubrick really starts for me with The Killing, which is great, and has one of my favorite film endings of all time.
But as the host on TCM pointed out tonight, it was only four years between Fear and Desire and Paths of Glory. The amount of gettingyourshittogether in that timeframe is stellar, considering the latter may be his best film.
Blue—yeah, the ‘ideas’ (though told and perhaps not really shown) were something I took away from it.
I received this announcement too late (Dec. 17), so didn’t get to see FEAR AND DESIRE on TCM. I hope it will be available soon on DVD or in a repeat screening on TCM (or elsewhere).
On the other hand, I’m one of the few people on the planet who’s seen Kubrick’s THE SEAFARERS (1953). In fact, I discovered it in 1974 (while making films for the Seafarers Union) and had a 16mm print donated to the Library of Congress Motion Picture Division. (My [admittedly minor] contribution to cinema history!) I don’t think Stanley wanted anyone to see this doc either.
“Kubrick just wasn’t that skilled at portraying his characters as fleshed out human beings.”
Yeah, and neither was Kafka . . . or Beckett.
There’s nothing more “fleshy” than Beckett’s characters, Matt. Re-read “Krapp’s Last Tape,” for instance, and you’ll find one of the most knowably three- dimensional characters in modern drama.
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I’m sorry I missed this film, as Kubrick is a director I have tried to see everything he did, including early films. Hopefully, TCM may show it again.
Joks – Kubrick had a pretty simplistic view of the world. Kafka had an intellect and story telling ability that far surpassed Kubrick.
Joks: Sorry, but I just couldn’t let these statements go unchallenged. I find Kubrick one of the most cerebral, complex, and labyrinthine filmmakers anywhere. In this sense, he exactly mirrors in his best films the complexity of Kafka. Both have a metaphysical worldview, if looked at correctly.
I don’t know how anyone who has seen and tried to analyze films as complex as 2001 and The Shining could ever call Kubrick simplistic or a lesser artist than Kafka (who is among my favorite writers, btw, and the one I most personally identify). I think it possible to realize the same level of artistic genius and affinity in both Kubrick and Kafka. They are my two favorite K’s (as in Kafka’s use of K in his fiction).
There’s nothing more “fleshy” than Beckett’s characters, Matt. Re-read “Krapp’s Last Tape,” for instance, and you’ll find one of the most knowably three- dimensional characters in modern drama.
I completely agree, Z. Bart. I once did a thread on here as a parody/tribute to Krapp’s Last Tape, but hope it can’t be found.
What is kubricks metaphysical worldview exactly? And whats so complex about The Shining?
Joks – I have no desire to get into a detailed summary (as it would need to be detailed and would likely bore everyone to death) of Kubrick’s metaphysical worldview. If you can’t see it, you can’t see it. Under other guises, I have written here re the labyrinthine structure of The Shining – how it is a maze (reminding me of Kafka here) of a film. Look up one of the older threads on the film.
Dennis Brian
press release:
TCM to Present World Television Premiere of Stanley Kubrick’s Rarely Seen First Film, Fear and Desire
Allegorical War Drama Highlights TCM’s Dec. 14 Salute to The George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is set to make movie history this December when it presents the world television premiere of Fear and Desire (1953), the rarely seen debut film by legendary director Stanley Kubrick. Premiering Wednesday, Dec. 14, at 8 p.m. (ET), the allegorical war drama from the director of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and The Shining (1980) will be the centerpiece of an extraordinary 24-hour marathon honoring the preservation efforts of the Motion Picture Department at George Eastman House. TCM host Robert Osborne will be joined by Jared Case, Head of Cataloguing and Access at George Eastman House, to present 15 cinematic rarities from one of the country’s leading moving-image archives.
TCM’s Dec. 14 salute to the Motion Picture Collection at George Eastman House will begin at 6:15 a.m. (ET) with The Blue Bird (1918), a silent version of the beloved fairy tale that was shot in Fort Lee, N.J., where many early studios were based in the early days of the motion picture industry. Among other rarely seen gems in the day’s collection: a silent version of Huckleberry Finn (1920), the first film adaptation of Mark Twain’s quintessential American classic; Roaring Rails (1924), an action-packed western silent starring Harry Carey and shot on location at Oregon’s Klamath Falls; A Page of Madness (1926), a remarkable avant garde film from Japan that had been lost for half a century; and a rare pre-release version of the Spanish Civil War propaganda film The Spanish Earth (1937), narrated by Orson Welles.
TCM’s lineup also includes Ava Gardner and James Mason in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), a unique romantic drama that was screened at the 2010 TCM Classic Film Festival in a beautifully restored version; Paul Muni in the early talkie The Valiant (1929); Gloria Swanson in her talkie debut, The Trespasser (1929); Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell in the sparkling Gershwin musical Delicious (1931); George Sanders in the W. Somerset Maugham story The Moon and Sixpence (1942), featuring sound-era sepia tone and Cinecolor sequences; Jeanette MacDonald, Zasu Pitts and Joe E. Brown in a longer version of the musical The Lottery Bride (1930), which includes a two-color Technicolor finale; Charles Laughton in the tragic drama Payment Deferred (1932); and Madeleine Carroll, Franchot Tone and Reginald Denny in John Ford’s multigenerational epic The World Moves On (1934), the first film ever certified by the Motion Picture Association of America.
Stanley Kubrick’s allegorical anti-war drama Fear and Desire, which opens the primetime portion of TCM’s tribute to the George Eastman House, stars Frank Silvera, Paul Mazursky (who would later go on to become a noted filmmaker) and Kenneth Harp. The story centers on a platoon stranded behind enemy lines while fighting an unknown foe in an unidentified conflict. The existential drama comes to a climax when the soldiers’ perilous return home is interrupted by an encounter with a mysterious woman.
At the time Kubrick made Fear and Desire, he had established himself as a photographer for Look magazine. After directing two short documentaries that were released by RKO, Kubrick felt he was ready to tackle a major narrative. Working with a team of 15 people, including five actors and five crewmembers, Kubrick shot the low-budget film in and around California’s San Gabriel Mountains, using whatever he could to compensate for the lack of high-quality film equipment.
After a difficult shoot and several delays in post-production, Fear and Desire was eventually picked up for a very limited release by a distributor specializing in art house films. Despite Kubrick’s disappointment with the finished film, it received praise from the New York Times, as well as from film critic and screenwriter James Agee. Within the catalog of Kubrick’s works, Fear and Desire provides early glimpses at the unique visual style he would perfect in films like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and A Clockwork Orange (1971), as well as anti-war themes he would explore further in movies like Paths of Glory (1957) and Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Following Fear and Desire’s short theatrical life, the film all but vanished from public view. Stories circulated that Kubrick, who considered the film “a bumbling amateur film exercise,” spent years gathering up prints of the film in order to prevent any future screenings. Fortunately, some prints survived in private collections (or in the case of one recently discovered print, in a film laboratory in Puerto Rico). Fear and Desire received its first retrospective screening at the 1993 Telluride Film Festival and has only been presented a few times since.
The following is the complete schedule for TCM’s Wednesday, Dec. 14, salute to the Motion Picture Collection at George Eastman House (all times Eastern; titles in bold are TCM premieres):
6:15 a.m. The Blue Bird (1918)
7:45 a.m. The Valiant (1929)
9 a.m. The Spanish Earth (1937)
10 a.m. The Trespasser (1929)
11:45 a.m. The Moon and Sixpence (1942)
1:30 p.m. The Lottery Bride (1930)
3 p.m. A Page of Madness (1926)
4:30 p.m. Delicious (1931)
6:30 p.m. Payment Deferred (1932)
8:00 p.m. Fear and Desire (1953)
9:15 p.m. Huckleberry Finn (1920)
11 p.m. Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)
1:15 a.m. Roaring Rails (1924)
2:45 a.m. The World Moves On (1934)
4:45 a.m. Goldstein (1965)