Film Review: Fear and Desire (1952)

No film directing career, not even those of the grandmasters of cinema, emerges out of thin air. Every director must begin and gradually hone their craft, often making more misses than hits before discovering their talent. Stanley Kubrick was no exception, and his feature debut, the 1952 war drama Fear and Desire, later became a source of great embarrassment for the legendary director that he allegedly attempted to buy and destroy each copy.

Based on the script by Howard Sackler, a classmate of Kubrick's who would later become a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, the film is set in an unnamed fictitious war between two countries. The protagonists are four men who find themselves six miles behind enemy lines when their plane crashes. They comprise Lt. Corby (Kenneth Harp), a pilot who commands three soldiers – Sergeant Mac (played by Frank Silvera), Private Sydney (played by Paul Mazursky), and Private Fletcher (played by Steve Coit). Their initial plan to sneak back to their lines by building an improvised raft and going down the river becomes complicated when they encounter a native girl (played by Virginia Lleith) whom they decide to take prisoner. As they contemplate what to do with her, another issue arises when Mac discovers a house containing the enemy general and gets an idea to assassinate him, creating a diversion that would allow the rest of the men to escape by plane parked nearby.

Made on a very low budget, financed mostly thanks to Kubrick's wealthy uncle, Fear and Desire appears to be a low-budget independent exploitation film like those that began to challenge the monopoly of Classic Hollywood major studios at the time. The plot is relatively simple and many other directors would turn it into a straightforward war action film about soldiers lost behind enemy lines.

However, Sackler had different ideas, filling the film with pretentious philosophical dialogues and plenty of even more pretentious internal monologues. While some actors deliver solid performances, such as Frank Silvera who is best known among the cast, others give rather hammy performances like Paul Mazursky, a future director who tries too hard portraying an innocent youth driven to insanity by the violence of war and the sexual allure of his female captive. Even some casting choices by the end – the enemy general and his aide are played by Harp and Coit, actors who actually play their killers – look pretentious and give Fear and Desire characteristics of an art film.

Initially, this didn't seem to hurt the film much; it was originally shown at the Venice Film Festival where it was probably interpreted as an anti-war film, inspired by the still ongoing carnage in Korea. It was later distributed by Joseph Burstyn, independent distributor specialised for bringing art and foreign films to US cinemas. The distribution ended with Burstyn’s death and Kubrick didn’t make much money out of that endeavour. He nevertheless learned some lessons from the experience that would help him continue his career with his next film Killer's Kiss two years later.

For today's viewers, the only reason to watch Fear and Desire is because it is a Kubrick film. Despite its many flaws, Kubrick, who was not only the director but also the producer, cinematographer, and editor, displays many skills. The film is well-lit, well-edited, and there are sparks of greatness that would soon become apparent, including the first instance of the famous "Kubrick stare." However, inevitable comparisons with his later classics are so damning that Kubrick's alleged decision to suppress his feature debut makes at least a bit of sense.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo

Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
BCH donations: qpvxw0jax79lhmvlgcldkzpqanf03r9cjv8y6gtmk9

Posted Using InLeo Alpha