Fear Of Desire Blu-Ray Review

Fear and Desire is one of the most notorious films in the entire history of cinema. It’s known for two things 1. Stanley Kubrick’s first feature 2. Stanley Kubrick blocked it’s re-release till the day he died, it had a very limited release in 1953. It was recently unearthed by the US library of congress and restored into high-definition and released over there by KINO and over here by Eureka under their Masters of Cinema range.

Fear and Desire is firstly an extremely short film it has a running time of only slightly over an hour but damn it seems like forever…. Barry Lyndon is a much more exciting film. The plot is basically in an unknown land there is some war going on and there are a group of soldiers in enemy lines and they face their “fears and desires”. They try to build a raft to get the enemies’ base, they meet a peasant girl and one of the soldiers is mentally disturbed.

The film is only a curious side note in film history. Kubrick released a press statement to discourage people going to a screening at the Film forum in NYC calling it “a bumbling amateur film exercise”. The film has absolutely dreadful pseudo poetic dialogue that comes off as the type of shit a 15 year old would write. It does however has the first over the top Kubrick performance by Paul Mazursky which is certainly a predecessor to Jack Nicholson’s wonderfully over the top performance in The Shining. It’s a film that fails on almost every level but it does have some decent shots and a interesting idea but very poorly executed, it’s worth watching once but never again.

The blu-ray or dvd does however have 3 early documentaries by Kubrick which are extremely well made and certainly show Kubrick did have IT that early (which the feature presentation certainly doesn’t). The Seafarers is one of the docs and it has extraordinary use of colour, which is almost Technicolor, the subject matter isn’t particularly interesting but the colour is something to marvel at. Day of The Fight predates bits of Kubrick’s first real feature The Killer’s Kiss. The other Flying Padre is a fascinating a somewhat bizarre short doc about a flying priest. Overall the package is worth seeing but don’t expect some lost masterpiece because it is that’s bad.

Ian Schultz

★★★1/2☆

Fear And Desire:★★☆☆☆
The Seafarers:★★★★☆
Flying Padre: ★★★★☆
Day of the Fight:★★★★☆
Rating:12
DVD/BD Release Date:28th January 2013(UK)
Director:Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Frank Silvera, Kenneth Harp,Paul Mazursky
Buy Fear Of Desire:Blu-ray / DVD

Stanley Kubrick’s FEAR AND DESIRE will be screened in cinemas across the country from 4th January 2013

Eureka Entertainment have announced that in support of the release on home video of Stanley Kubrick’s FEAR AND DESIRE, the film will be screening across venues in the Picturehouse Chain from 4th January 2013.

Full Details are as follows:

Duke's at Komedia, Brighton - Jan 4-5 2013 (2 days)

Harbour Lights Picturehouse - Jan 6 2013, Jan 10 2013 (2 days)

Stratford Picturehouse, East London - Jan 10 2013 (1 day)

Greenwich Picturehouse - Jan 10 2013 (1 day)

Ritzy Picturehouse, Brixton - Jan 14 2013 (1 day)

Phoenix Picturehouse, Oxford - Jan 14 2013 (1 day)

Hyde Park Picturehouse, Leeds – Jan 17 2013 (1 day)

Clapham Picturehouse - Jan 20 2013 (1 day)

Picturehouse at FACT, Liverpool - Jan 21 2013 (1 day)

Cameo Picturehouse, Edinburgh - Jan 24 2013 (1 day)

Exeter Picturehouse - Jan 28 2013 (1 day)

City Screen Picturehouse, York - Jan 28 2013 (1 day)

Cinema City, Norwich - Jan 28 2013 (1 day)

The Belmont Picturehouse, Aberdeen - Jan 30 2013 (1 day)

Hackney Picturehouse - Jan 31 2013 (1 day)

For further details of the screenings http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/

Eureka Entertainment will be releasing FEAR & DESIRE on Blu-ray & DVD on 28 January 2013 in a new restoration for the first time ever in the UK. It is the only Kubrick film besides A Clockwork Orange that was nearly impossible to see in the UK for several decades.

Kubrick's debut feature tells the story of a war waged (in the present? in the future?) between two forces. In the midst of the conflict, a plane carrying four soldiers crashes behind enemy lines. From here out, it is kill or be killed: a female hostage is taken on account of being a potential informer; an enemy general and his aide are discovered during a scouting mission... What lies in store for this ragtag group of killers, between their perilous landing in the forest, and the final raft-float downstream... all this constitutes the tale of Kubrick's precocious entry into feature filmmaking.

Bringing into focus for the first time the same thematic concerns that would obsess the director in such masterworks as Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, and Full Metal Jacket, Fear and Desire marks the outset of the dazzling career and near-complete artistic freedom which to this day remains unparalleled in the annals of Hollywood history. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Stanley Kubrick's Fear and Desire in its gorgeous new restoration on both Blu-ray and DVD.

Stanley Kubrick's Fear And Desire To Get Masters Of Cinema Release

Stanley Kubrick’s FEAR AND DESIRE will be released as part of Eureka Entertainment’s MASTERS OF CINEMA Series on Blu-ray & DVD on 28 January 2013

Eureka Entertainment have announced that they will be releasing on Blu-ray and DVD a new restoration in a proper release for the first time ever in the UK of the legendary Stanley Kubrick's debut feature, FEAR AND DESIRE, available from 28 January 2013.  It is the only Kubrick film besides A Clockwork Orange that was nearly impossible to see in the UK for several decades. 

This release completes the fact that now every single one of Stanley Kubrick's films will be available on Blu-ray/DVD.  Full details of the special features have just been released.  The Masters of Cinema edition will contain Stanley Kubrick's complete early shorts (Day of the Fight, Flying Padre & The Seafarers) made in the run-up to FEAR AND DESIRE, presented completely for the first time on an official release.  In addition to the shorts, there will also be a new and exclusive video introduction to the films by Kubrick scholar, film-critic, and Cahiers du cinéma American correspondent Bill Krohn shot in LA in November 2012 & a packed booklet featuring new and exclusive essays on FEAR AND DESIRE and the early shorts by Kubrick scholar, professor, and film critic James Naremore. 

“[A] highly promising first effort by one of America's premiere filmmakers.” - TV Guide's Movie Guide  

From the director of such classic masterworks as Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey , A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket. 

Independently financed with contributions from Stanley Kubrick's family and friends in an era when an "independent cinema" was still far from the norm, Fear and Desire first saw release in 1953 at the Guild Theater in New York, thanks to the enterprising distributor Joseph Burstyn. Now, with this new restoration carried out in 2012 by The Library of Congress, a film that for decades has remained nearly impossible to see will at last appear in a proper release in the United Kingdom.

Kubrick's debut feature tells the story of a war waged (in the present? in the future?) between two forces. In the midst of the conflict, a plane carrying four soldiers crashes behind enemy lines. From here out, it is kill or be killed: a female hostage is taken on account of being a potential informer; an enemy general and his aide are discovered during a scouting mission... What lies in store for this ragtag group of killers, between their perilous landing in the forest, and the final raft-float downstream... all this constitutes the tale of Kubrick's precocious entry into feature filmmaking. 

Bringing into focus for the first time the same thematic concerns that would obsess the director in such masterworks as Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, and Full Metal Jacket, Fear and Desire marks the outset of the dazzling career and near-complete artistic freedom which to this day remains unparalleled in the annals of Hollywood history. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Stanley Kubrick's Fear and Desire in its gorgeous new restoration on both Blu-ray and DVD.

SPECIAL BLU-RAY AND DVD EDITIONS:

• New HD restoration of the film by The Library of Congress, presented in 1080p on the Blu-ray. 

• Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. 

• Stanley Kubrick's complete early shorts, made in the run-up to FEAR AND DESIRE, presented completely for the first time on an official release: Day of the Fight, Flying Padre & The Seafarers 

• A new and exclusive video introduction to the films by Kubrick scholar, film-critic, and Cahiers du cinéma American correspondent Bill Krohn shot in LA in November 2012 

• A packed booklet featuring new and exclusive essays on FEAR AND DESIRE and the early shorts by Kubrick scholar, professor, and film critic James Naremore 

Pre-Order/Buy Fear And Desire: DVD / Blu-ray