MovieChat Forums > Fear and Desire (1953) Discussion > Does anybody have this movie or has seen...

Does anybody have this movie or has seen it?


I am a huge Stanley Kubrick fan. I would really like to get my hands on this movie! If possibly to rent or buy, Please respond!

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go on ebay.

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Legitimate researchers can view this film in the study center of George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. But per-arrangement with the Kubrick family, the print is never allowed to leave the building. By the way, I saw it there when they had a rare public screening in their theater, and while it was visually very strong, the script was so bad that it seemed like a pretentious student film.

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It annoys me! Kubrick is my all time favorite filmmaker, my biggest hero, and it is impossible to find his first film... because he was so ashamed of it!

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It’s sort of amazing. As the head curator of George Eastman House said at the last public screening of the film there, Kubrick was basically doing the same thing as an author going around to libraries trying to get them to turn over copies of a book he’d written years before just because he was embarrassed by it later. You'd think he (and now his estate) would lighten up. Bergman, Bertolucci, Hitchcock all have bad films out there from the early parts of their careers and it hasn't damaged their reputations for people to look at them out of curiosity.

It’s a good thing Eastman House didn’t turn over the last known copy of the film in the public realm, although they did reach an agreement with Kubrick that they would never allow it to be shown off the grounds of their archive. So buy a ticket to Rochester if you want to see it!

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I do, in fact, own a rare copy of this film.

I purchased it at an auction along with a tape of his first three rare documentaries for a cool $50. I was told that they were originally purchased at a convention.

On the day that I got them, I watched one of the documentaries. And then the next day, when I was watching another video, my VCR ate the tape. And I was so afraid that the VCR would eat one of my Kubrick videos that I just refused to even put them in the machine. I still have not gotten up the courage to play them, yet, but I'm sure I'll get to it. The VCR hasn't cause me any problems since... but that was still a very frightening situation! A risk I was not willing to take!

So, the tapes now sit aloft my prized video shelf in my video library, along with some other rare videos and editions of films that I care so much for.

All hail Mr. Stanley Kubrick!

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[deleted]

I just got the DVD off E-bay - lousy quality as was expected.

It seems like a student film, but that's basically what it is. This was while he was still learning the ropes...it's not terrible...and actually quite entertaining. While I wouldn't overpay for it (as in more than $15-20), if you can get your hands on it, definitely give it a viewing.

Anyone who runs...is a VC
Anyone who stands still...is a well-disciplined VC

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I agree with rammakin! It's much better than the average student films (although, it's not a student film). It's definitely not as bad, as so many people said it... If you're a fan of Kubrick, you will enjoy it.
Although, the copy I have seen is in terrible quality :( I hope there will be a good-quality one sometime.

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