Spotlight on these early shorts and features of Stanley Kubrick:
Flying Padre (1951, 9 min doc short)
Day of Fight (1951, 16 min doc short)
Fear and Desire (1952)
Killer’s Kiss (1955)
The Killing (1957)
Paths of Glory (1958)
Stanley Kubrick directed 13 films
over his career with the 1950s and 1960s being the most prolific decade with 4
films each decade:
1960s films: Spartacus
(1960), Lolita (1962), Dr. Strangelove (1964), 2001:
A Space Odyssey (1968).
The 1970s and 1980s brought 2
films per decade: A Clockwork Orange (1971), Barry Lyndon
(1975), The Shining (1980), Full Metal Jacket
(1987).
And then there was the final
film, Eyes Wide Shut, released in the summer of 1999, a few
months after Kubrick passed away at the age of 70.
War and Noir
The 1950s are book-ended by two
War films and two Noir films in the middle. This pattern makes sense as the end
of WWII meant that War films started emerging in 1950s while Noir was still
thriving in the 1950s following their emergence in 1940s. However,
neither of the two war films are conventional ones, although budget played a
part in one of the film’s decisions.
Kubrick’s debut feature Fear
and Desire is a war film set in an unnamed country. The film shows four
soldiers navigating a forest after their plane was shot down. It is very clear
from the outset that the forest isn’t in Europe or Latin America but it is a
park in USA. Clearly, budget played a part in that decision. The location
impacts believability of events although not for lack of effort on the part of
Kubrick and the film crew. It is clear the film is made by someone who has a
keen understanding of cinema techniques from the variety of camera angles
(close-ups when needed) and the usage of music to heighten emotions.
Killer’s Kiss, The
Killing and Paths of Glory are technically miles ahead of
Fear and Desire and depict what a talented director can do with
more production budget and better script. Incredibly, all 3 films were released
over a 6-year period following Kubrick’s debut feature. Killer’s Kiss
and The Killing are solid noir films enhanced with some brilliant
technical flourishes. One of the best sequences in Killer’s Kiss
is the boxing fight sequence which has some creative camera angles. This sequence
has shots that build on Kubrick’s work from his documentary short Day of
Fight (1951). The documentary showed the prep that goes before a fight
and features a shot that depicts the other boxer via the legs of his
opponent. This same shot is incorporated in Killer’s Kiss which
also shows realism in the fight sequence. The black and white boxing ring fight
scenes are a precursor to those incredible images in Martin Scorsese’s Raging
Bull (1980). Both noir films also feature voice-over narration by the
main character, an aspect that was found in Kubrick’s first two documentary
shorts (Day of Fight, Flying Padre).
Paths of Glory highlights
Kubrick’s progress as a director and can still be rightly considered as one of
the best war films made. Or anti-war movie to be exact. The film shows the
egos, rules and regulations, hierarchy of the military and is a perfect
illustration of the phrase “power corrupts; absolute power corrupts
absolutely”. Paths of Glory depicts events that unfold when an
egoistical general puts the lives of his soldiers at risk by sending them on a
suicide mission. Not all the soldiers comply, and the loyal Colonel Dax (Kirk
Douglas) defends his men in a court-martial trial. There are some realistic war
trenches scenes, but the power of the film is from sequences which question blind
orders.
Ranking all Four Features in order
of preference:
1. Paths of Glory (1958)
2. The Killing (1957)
3. Killer’s Kiss (1955)
4. Fear and Desire (1952)
The preference order is inverse
of the film’s release date, which highlights Kubrick’s growth as a director. That
strength of his directorial abilities flourished further in the 1960s which feature
two of the best films ever made, Dr. Strangelove and 2001.
