Fear and Desire (Blu-ray)

Virtually unseen since its theatrical premiere in 1953, FEAR AND DESIRE was the ambitious first feature film by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. An existential war film often compared with the director's PATHS OF GLORY (1957) and FULL METAL JACKET (1987), FEAR AND DESIRE follows a squad of soldiers who have crash-landed behind enemy lines and must work their way downriver to rejoin their unit. In the process, they encounter a peasant girl (Virginia Leith) and bind her to a tree, where she is tormented by a mentally unbalanced soldier (future director Paul Mazursky). Before making their escape, the soldiers determine the location of an enemy base and formulate a plot to assassinate its commanding officer.

The film has been restored at the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Virginia, from first-generation film elements. Also included on this disc is Kubrick's documentary short THE SEAFARERS, newly preserved by The Museum of Modern Art, with support from The Film Foundation and The Franco-American Cultural Fund.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

- Mastered in HD from archival 35mm elements newly restored by the Library of Congress
- Stanley Kubrick's 1953 short The Seafarers, preserved by The Museum of Modern Art

FEAR AND DESIRE
U.S. 1953 B&W 60 Min.
1.33:1 1920 x 1080p
Produced, directed, photographed
and edited by Stanley Kubrick
Written by Howard Sackler
Music by Gerald Fried
With Frank Silvera, Paul Mazursky,
Kenneth Harp, Virginia Leith, Stephen Coit
Produced for Video by Bret Wood

THE SEAFARERS
U.S. 1953 Color 28 Min.
1.33:1 1920 x 1080p
Directed, photographed and edited
by Stanley Kubrick
Written by Will Chasan
Licensed by Alexander Pietrzak
Indian Relay Films