Fear and Desire

Synopsis: Feature film. Kubrick’s first feature film, an allegory about four soldiers trapped behind enemy lines in a nameless war. The film references The Tempest. When Sidney is left to guard the unnamed woman (who is tied to a tree) he relates the story of The Tempest in an attempt to communicate with her. He later shoots her when she tries to escape and says that Prospero has killed the girl.
Language: English
Country: United States
Medium: Film
Technical information: Black-and-white / Sound
Year of release: 1953
Duration: 68 mins

Director

Stanley Kubrick

Producer

Cinematographer

Screenplay

Music

Art Direction

Cast

Notes: Also available on Blu-Ray.
General: Originally shot silent with a budget of $13,000. The budget went up an additional $20,000 when the actors dubbed their lines in a studio. This was thought to be a lost film, and one researcher, Mark Carducci, had suggested that Kubrick destroyed the negative following the death of Joseph Burstyn, the film’s distributor. Bootleg copies abound, however, and there is one (legal) print in all of the Americas. It is located in the Kodak archives in Rochester, New York; the Kubrick estate allows viewing of the film with the provisos that it is screened by individuals (not groups), that the print never leaves the building in which it is housed, and that it cannot be duplicated in whole or in part. [Information taken from IMDb 03/2007].

The film also sees the debut as an actor of Paul Mazursky.

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