Fear and Desire (1953)

 

Check out that poster.  Apparently it was felt that the lure to get people to watch it was to hype Virginia Leith.  The poster has absolutely nothing to do with the movie.

 

                    “Fear and Desire” was the first film of Stanley Kubrick.  He edited, directed, and produced it.  For the whopping sum of $53,000.  He used the money to hire a 15 person cast and crew.  The screenplay was written by his high school classmate Howard Sackler who later won the Pulitzer Prize for “The Great White Hope”.  Kubrick cameraman used a baby carriage for tracking shots.  During the production, Kubrick almost killed his cast with poisonous gases.  Kubrick went on to make “Paths of Glory” four years later.

                    The movie starts with a narrator pontificating on war.  “There is war in the forest…”  The narration tells us the movie will be a fantasy.  Four men from a downed plane are six miles behind enemy lines.  Their plan is to reach a river and raft down it to friendly forces.  We get overlapping inner monologues to character develop.  They move through the woods and run in to an enemy base.  For God knows what reason, they decided not to bypass it.  They kill two guards in a scene with quick cuts, closeups, and film school editing.  They encounter a girl and capture her.  They tie her up and leave their youngest member Sidney to watch her.  It’s a terrible scene with a bad actor spouting stupid dialogue.  He sets her free thinking she fancies him.  He is suddenly mental and shoots her when she runs. (Did I mention this was written by a future Pulitzer Prize winner?)  Sgt. Mac is obsessed with killing an enemy general.  They have built a raft without any axes or rope.  Mac convinces their leader, the pilot, to let him take the raft and go after the general.  He promises to bring the raft back!  Upstream.  Going upstream on a raft is a good metaphor for finishing watching this movie from this point. 

                    First movies are like first albums.  Some artists start out with a great album and are never able to replicate it.  Others start out with an embarrassing debut, but go on to produce many quality albums.  The same is true for movie directors.  I believe it is more common for a director’s first effort to be the bottom of their career.  This is certainly true for Stanley Kubrick.  The man who directed Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, Spartacus, and 2001:  A Space Odyssey started out with a dog.  Although a few delusional critics praised it (incredibly, it has an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes), it was a box office bomb.  Kubrick disowned it and tried to keep it from seeing new life after it went missing for a few years.  He described it as “a bumbling amateur film exercise.”   Kudos for honesty.  He’s not the only great director to disown his first effort  (See below for other famous directors have face-planted on their first film.)  

                      The movie is in fact terrible.  The only thing good I can say about it is that Kubrick took chances and tried some flashy cinematography.  He was let down by the ridiculous script and bad acting.  As if the dialogue is not bad enough, we also have to hear the thoughts of the men.  The acting is what you would expect from such a low rent cast.  Speaking of bad starts, Pvt. Sidney was played by future acclaimed director Paul Mazursky.  I bet he did not put it on his resume.

                    Do Stanley Kubrick a favor and don’t watch his movie.  You’ll be doing yourself a favor, too.  If you do see it, keep in mind that Stanley was not the only great director who laid an egg in his debut.  Here are some other great directors and their less than great first films.

James Cameron -  Piranha II:  The Spawning

David Fincher -  Alien 3

Quentin Tarantino -  My Friend’s Birthday

Peter Jackson -  Bad Taste

Francis Ford Coppola -  Dementia 13

Ron Howard -  Grand Theft Auto

Oliver Stone -  Seizure

Brian De Palma -  Murder a la Mod

 

GRADE  =  F