Fear and Desire [Blu-ray]

The legendary filmmaker's first feature film that provides an insightful look at a young Kubrick at work!
Stanley Kubrick, one of America's legendary filmmakers responsible for films such as "Paths of Glory" (1957), "Spartacus" (1960), "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964), "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968), "A Clockwork Orange" (1971), "The Shining" (1980), "Full Metal Jacket" (1987), to name a few.

But all filmmakers have their beginnings and for Stanley Kubrick, his first feature film would be the 1953 film "Fear and Desire".

Having created two documentaries ("Day of the Fight", "Flying Padre: An RKO-Pathe Screenliner") in 1951 and employed at "LOOK" Magazine, Kubrick quite his job to create his first feature film.

Using funds that were raised by his family and friends, Kubrick and a classmate from his old high school, Howard Sackler, would go on to create "Fear and Desire".

While not a box office hit, the film captured the attention of film critics, who took notice of Kubrick's talent.

But...

Incredible restoration
Finally the long forgotten first film by the legendary director Stanley Kubrick has been released on a home video format for the first time and it is truly a sight to behold.
There was believe it or not a time when Stanley Kubrick wasn't one of the biggest names in film history, Yes, that's right, Stanley Kubrick, a man who's Career in the industry has no equal started out as a nobody who had to raise funds from family and friends to start production on what would be his first full motion picture, and like most directorial debuts, it was a box office failure, even after having been given high praise by some notable critics at the time, audiences just didn't care for it.
It's been said many times that Kubrick was before his time, and the same can be said about this film. At a mere 60 minute's, it is by far Kubrick's shortest movie, and lest polished, but contained in it's short run time are the ideas that gave birth to the style of film making that Kubrick continued to used...

Lackluster anti-war drama for Kubrick fans only
Director Stanley Kubrick's first film was made available for purchase late 2012. Finally Kubrick fans, like me, were able to view the debut of a cinematic legend. There are some items worthy of praise here namely the cinematography and the inventive editing. The story itself follows a group of soldiers trapped behind enemy lines trying to march back undetected to friendly territory. Unfortunately, the lack of character depth sinks the movie. All the characters feel like thin cut-outs rather than living breathing men. It doesn't help that the audio overdubs are poorly done and just scream low-budget production. Be warned this war drama doesn't offer much for anyone outside of Kubrick devotees. All in all, "Fear And Desire" shows promise from a visual standpoint, but is lacking in every other department.

For blu-ray fans, this release is pretty much bare-bones with the exception of an early Kubrick documentary short called "The Seafarers" (1953). The audio and...

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