British distributors Eureka Entertainment have officially announced and detailed their upcoming Blu-ray release of dierctor Stanley Kubrick's Fear and Desire (1953). Featuring a new restoration carried out by The Library of Congress in conjunction with Kino Lorber, Inc., the release will be available for purchase on January 28th.
Independently financed with contributions from Stanley Kubrick's family and friends in an era when an "independent cinema" was still far from the norm, Fear and Desire first saw release in 1953 at the Guild Theater in New York, thanks to the enterprising distributor Joseph Burstyn. Now, with this new restoration carried out in 2012 by The Library of Congress, a film that for decades has remained nearly impossible to see will at last appear in a proper release in the United Kingdom.
Kubrick's debut feature tells the story of a war waged (in the present? in the future?) between two forces. In the midst of the conflict, a plane carrying four soldiers crashes behind enemy lines. From here out, it is kill or be killed: a female hostage is taken on account of being a potential informer; an enemy general and his aide are discovered during a scouting mission... What lies in store for this ragtag group of killers, between their perilous landing in the forest, and the final raft-float downstream... all this constitutes the tale of Kubrick's precocious entry into feature filmmaking.
Bringing into focus for the first time the same thematic concerns that would obsess the director in such masterworks as Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, and Full Metal Jacket, Fear and Desire marks the outset of the dazzling career and near-complete artistic freedom which to this day remains unparalleled in the annals of Hollywood history.
Special Features:
New HD restoration of the film by The Library of Congress, presented in 1080p on the Blu-ray.
Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.
Stanley Kubrick's complete early shorts, made in the run-up to FEAR AND DESIRE, presented completely for the first time on an official release: Day of the Fight, Flying Padre & The Seafarers
A new and exclusive video introduction to the films by Kubrick scholar, film-critic, and Cahiers du cinéma American correspondent Bill Krohn shot in LA in November 2012
A packed booklet featuring new and exclusive essays on FEAR AND DESIRE and the early shorts by Kubrick scholar, professor, and film critic James Naremore
No one truly knows how freakin' upset this makes me... all three of Kubrick's shorts, a video introduction, and a "packed booklet." Thank you Kino for not even giving the US release subtitles.
MoC is somewhere between Kino and Criterion. A good deal of the time though, their releases are just as good as Criterion's. Why anyone would assume Kino's release would be a better option than the MoC release is beyond me. At the very least, they always include an exclusive booklet with essays which makes it worth the slightly higher price. I knew the MoC release would be worth the wait. I'll finally have every Kubrick film on blu-ray!
Actually, MoC is more like Kino than Criterion when it comes to region locking - its region free releases include Le Silence de la mer, Punishment Park and City Girl.
