Fear and Desire and Kubrick

FEAR AND DESIRE-1953-Stanley Kubrick's first film isn't as bad as he'd have liked us to believe. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if Quentin Tarantino saw this before making RESERVOIR DOGS! 

It's essentially a war story although what war and where it takes place is arbitrary. A group of soldiers are caught behind enemy lines and as they try to weave their way back to allied territory tensions and desires mount. Future director Paul Mazursky makes his acting debut (he was in THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE two years later) as a crazy private who molests a local girl (Virginia Leith, later in THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE). Frank Silvera (also the villain in KILLER'S KISS) is a doomed Sargent. It's hampered by some choppy editing, weird dialogue and stilted acting but it's a low budget film where Kubrick did almost everything (direction,writing, producing, editing, cinematography, sound). And it definitely shows a little of things to come. It would be only 4 years (and 2 movies) later that Kubrick would make PATHS OF GLORY. 

For years it was out of circulation and the story went that the director himself acquired all known prints and had them destroyed. Fortunately this was not the case and although it has yet to be released legally on DVD, TCM showed a newly restored version about a year ago. 

The music was supervised by Gerald Fried who worked with Kubrick on his next 3 films and became a prolific low budget film and TV composer. The script was written by Howard Sackler who years later won a Pulitzer for his play "The Great White Hope". 

Kubrick's then wife Toba was the dialogue director. Problems resulting from the film are said to have lead to the break-up of their marriage! 

Thanks for reading!