Kubrick's FEAR AND DESIRE & OW SPANISH EARTH on TCM

[mteal]

TCM will present Stanley Kubrick's rarely seen first feature, FEAR AND DESIRE, on Dec. 14th 9est. It's been available on Youtube, but in a pretty bad and out-of-sync print. No doubt this will be much better, as it's part of a festival saluting the Eastman Kodak company. Also on the same day, the Welles-narrated version of THIS SPANISH EARTH will be shown.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/1 ... ey-kubrick’s-rarely-seen-first-film-fear-and-desire/112330/

[Roger Ryan]

Thanks for reminding me about this, Mike. I guess I'll give the Kubrick effort another try, but I sympathize with the director for wanting to bury the film - it is remarkably poor. If anything, this debut feature truly demonstrates how extraordinarily quick Kubrick's learning curve was to reach the quality of THE KILLING just two films later. Watching FEAR AND DESIRE, you would never guess that Kubrick would be directing films like DR. STRANGELOVE in ten years' time. Very much the complete opposite of how Welles entered the film-making business.

[mteal]

I've tried to watch it on Youtube 2 or 3 times, but the quality was so bad that I always gave up, so I feel like I'll be seeing it for the first time on TCM. I know it has a bad reputation, so my expectations are not that high, but it's still exciting to see a Kubrick I've never seen before.

[tonyw]

For a first film, it is not too bad. But I'm speaking from the perspective of viewing mediocre VHS copies. It dies anticipate future themes such as the "duality of man." Although it resembles a "student's film," we all have to start somewhere.

[mteal]

Interesting. I'll have to watch for the duality of man theme, or as Sergeant Joker would have put it, the "Jungian thing".

[Roger Ryan]

I can't say I enjoyed FEAR AND DESIRE any more the second time through it. The screenplay, by Howard Sackler, anticipates some of Rod Serling's work, but Serling never delivered anything this bad. It's hard to believe that Sackler would go on to win the Pulitzer (for THE GREAT WHITE HOPE). The plotting of this film is illogical; the dialogue completely ludicrous. Kubrick the cinematographer occasionally delivers a strikingly-composed shot (in line with his work as a still photographer for LOOK magazine), but Kubrick the director/editor seems incapable of putting two shots together that make any sense.

Still, I'm pleased that TCM gave the film its debut television showing. Almost every other cable channel has deviated from what they once did well, but TCM keeps getting better and better.

[mteal]

I enjoyed the film somewhat more then you did, Roger, but I agree with a lot of what you say. For me, the main weakness was the young Kubrick's handling, or mishandling, of the actors, although Paul Mazursky has some amusing moments as the loon. Another weakness was Kubrick's inability to tell the story in any kind of compelling manner, which is a director's main job (that, as you say, he would learn quick). It actually seemed to me more like a European avante-garde film, with it's arty touches, and I was reminded of another early 50's cheapie with some surreal and psychological touches called DEMENTIA, which is a better film. Still, I did like the look of the Kubrick, especially in this TCM print, which was even better then I was expecting, and the doppelganger twist that Tony alluded too. Hopefully, some kind of DVD set can be put together from the films that were shown that day, including the Welles SPANISH EARTH. These films, flawed as they are, deserve better then the total obscurity that they've been previously consigned to.