Fear and Desire

Upon the initial release of Fear and Desire, Kubrick was stung by negative audience reactions and immediately decided to tone down the philosophical aspects of the film. In a pattern repeated throughout his career, he pulled the film from release and made additional cuts, removing approximately nine minutes of material. For decades, the 62 minute version was all that existed of Fear and Desire, which a still dissatisfied Kubrick withheld from release throughout his lifetime.

Recently, the Library of Congress came into possession of a 35mm element of the original 70 minute cut, which was the version shown at the Venice Film Festival on 18 August 1952, under the title Shape of Fear, and which has not been seen since its interrupted theatrical run in 1953. Now, seven decades later, audiences can finally see Fear and Desire as it was first released and witness the first awkward blossoming of a 23-year old Stanley Kubrick’s cinematic genius, often compared with the director's Paths of Glory (1957) en Full Metal Jacket (1987).