Fear and Desire (1953)

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writer:

Howard Sackler (writer)

Release Date:

1 April 1953 (USA)

Genre:

War | Drama

Tagline:

Trapped... 4 Desperate Men and a Strange Half-Animal Girl! and the Story of French Prostitute... and The Male Brute

Plot:

Four soldiers trapped behind enemy lines must confront their fears and desires.

Cast

Frank Silvera	...	Sgt. Mac
Paul Mazursky	...	Pvt. Sidney
Kenneth Harp	...	Lt. Corby / enemy general
Stephen Coit	...	Pvt. Fletcher (aide-de-camp) (as Steve Coit)
Virginia Leith	...	Young Girl

Also Known As:

Shape of Fear (USA) (working title)
The Trap (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

San Gabriel Mountains, California, USA

Company:

Kubrick

Trivia:

Stanley Kubrick disowned the film soon after it's release and wanted to make sure it was never seen again by not re-releasing the print. What he didn't know was that Kodak when making the print had a policy of making an extra print for their archives. It is this one that survives and where the DVD-R and VHS bootleg prints come from.

Quotes:

Private Sidney: It wasn't my fault! The magician did it. Honest! Prospero the Magician. First we're a bird, and then we're an island. Before I was a general, and now I'm a fish! Hoorah for the magician! (laughs insanely, then stops) The river ... it's blood, Mac! Cold ... cold ... I'm going for a swim. Come on in, Mac! Listen to them ... (starts to laugh) it's blood! (laughs insanely again, then runs off)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Art of Stanley Kubrick: From Short Films to Strangelove (2000) (V)

The Bad, the Terrible, and the Hilarious.

Quite a few people claim to have seen this film, but anybody who tell you that it is not as bad as Kubrick would lead you to believe is flat-out lying about having seen the film. Kubrick is the greatest artist of the last couple centuries, but this film is BAD. Not Kubrick bad, but Ed Wood bad. There are lines like, "I felt fear. Fear I hadn't felt since I kissed my dying grandmother." And the whole thing looks like it was made in somebody's backyard.

There is one thing funnier than this film: the trailer! It was shown with the film at the George Eastman House, and trust me, if you ever get the chance to see it, the trailer alone is one of the most hilarious pieces of film you will ever see. It's a gem!

"Fear & Desire" should be seen, if only to show how an awful, pretentious young filmmaker can flourish to such heights as "Dr. Strangelove," "2001," and "Barry Lyndon." Interestingly enough, the Eastman House print (one of the two still in existence, I believe) was short the film's official running time by a couple of minutes, and there are a few unlikely jump-cuts in the film, which leads one to believe that Kubrick himself cut this film a bit, as he did with "The Shining." However, the other remaining print is the original camera negative, which is stored somewhere out of the country. I would kill to get my hands on that print.

If you get a chance to see this film, do so, and see Kubrick's genesis, and how far he came.