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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
(aka "Shape of Fear" or "The Trap")
Fear and Desire is the ambitious first feature film by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick (Paths of Glory, Full Metal Jacket). In this existential drama—which has the feeling of a waking dream rather than a conventional war film—four soldiers return to their senses after crash-landing in a forest behind enemy lines. Blindly navigating their way back to their unit, they attack an isolated cabin occupied by enemy soldiers, then apprehend a peasant woman who is tormented by the deranged young soldier assigned to guard her. On the verge of freedom, they discover an outpost of enemy officers, and must decide whether to slip silently past or stage a violent confrontation with their doppelgängers. Upon its initial release, Kubrick was stung by negative audience reactions and immediately decided to tone down the philosophical aspects of the film. These edits made the film less of a metaphysical experience and more of a conventional war film. For decades, this 62-minute version was all that existed of Fear and Desire, until the Library of Congress came into possession of a 35mm element of the original 70-minute premiere cut, which has not been seen since its interrupted theatrical run in 1953. Now, we can finally see Fear and Desire as it was first released, and witness the blossoming of a 23-year-old cinematic genius. *** Kubrick said of Fear and Desire: Stanley Kubrick said of FEAR AND DESIRE: "The entire crew [...] consisted of myself as director, lighting cameraman, operator, administrator, make - up man, wardrobe, hairdresser, prop man, unit chauffeur, et cetera. The rest of the crew consisted of a friend of mine, Steve Hahn, who was an executive at Union Carbide and who took his holidays with us and knew something about electricity; another friend, Bob Dierks, who was the studio assistant at LOOK Magazine, helped me set up the equipment and put it away, and did a thousand other jobs; my first wife, Toba, who tried to cope with all the paperwork and minor administration; and three Mexican labourers who carried the cases around. Particularly in those days, before the advent of film schools, Nagra [sound-recorders], and lightweight portable equipment, it was very important to have this experience and to see with what little facilities and personnel one could actually make a film. Today, I think that if someone stood around watching even a smallish film unit, he would get the impression of vast technical and logistical magnitude. He would probably be intimidated by this and assume that something close to this was necessary in order to achieve more or less professional results. This experience and the one that followed with Killer's Kiss, which was on a slightly more cushy basis, freed me from any concern again about the technical or logistical aspects of filmmaking." |
Posters
Theatrical Release: August 18th, 1952 (Venice Film Festival)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Review: Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD
Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: the included 2024 Blu-ray is also available from Kino: Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD | |
Runtime |
Theatrical: 1:00:56.444 Premiere: 1:10:19.632 |
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Video |
1. 37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 48,823,426,116 bytesTheatrical : 17,688,649,728 bytesPremiere: 18,761,705,472 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.50 / 31.95 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
1.37:1 (Theatrical Cut is 1.33:1) 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 98,736,254,719 bytesTheatrical : 43,921,931,328 bytesPremiere: 28,717,257,024 bytes Video Bitrate: 71.86 / 39.98 MbpsCodec: HEVC Video |
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate (Theatrical) 4K Ultra HD: |
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Bitrate (Premiere) 4K Ultra HD: |
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Audio |
DTS-HD Master Audio English 1971 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1971 kbps / 24-bit (DTS
Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps |
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Subtitles | English (SDH), None | |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Kino
Edition Details: 4K Ultra HD disc
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
Black 4K Ultra HD Case inside a black slipcase Chapters 9 / 9 / 9 / 9 |
Comments: |
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
and
4K UHD
captures were taken directly from the respective
discs.
Let's get this out of the way first; the rounded corners have rightly been removed on these new transfers. But there is an usual circumstance:
The Theatrical Cut on Blu-ray is 1.37:1
The Premiere Cut on
Blu-ray is
1.37:1
The Theatrical Cut on
4K UHD is 1.33:1 ?
The Premiere Cut on
4K UHD is 1.37:1
So, I don't know if this is intentional but, regardless there is movement in the frame (often shifting the entire image to the left) and is cropped compared to the older Blu-rays which showed rounded corners that most projectionists would matte - with the 1.33:1 Theatrical cut 4K UHD losing a shade more on the side edges. Why the theatrical cut Blu-ray is not also 1.33:1 is the question - being, apparently, from the same source. I don't know. You can see this by clicking on our large captures and toggling between the matched screen captures. The cuts are not seamlessly branched but the quality is about the same on the respective 1080P and on the 2160P transfers. This looks, predictably, darker than the older 2012 and 2013 Blu-rays, with richer, deeper black levels, beautiful grain and detail, seen in the film's many close-ups, is tremendous. The 4K UHD is even a semi-tone darker than the new Blu-ray renderings. We've added some captures below to support our observations. This is a brilliant digital presentation - far in advance of what I was anticipating.
The Theatrical Cut on
4K UHD has a very high bitrate and
the Premiere Cut on
4K UHD has about 60% of that -
although I can't distinguish much difference in image quality between the
versions in
4K UHD.
We have included below - 6 captures of varying degrees of
frame-specific damage marks which are, not surprisingly, more
noticeable in
4K UHD. I saw the most during the Virginia Leith /
forest scenes.
It is likely that the monitor
you are seeing this review is not an
HDR-compatible
display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider
and notably granular range of color and light. Our
capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard
monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more
4K UHD titles in the
future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our
captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of
skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the
4K system at your home. But the
framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by
this simulation representation.
NOTE:
50
We have reviewed the following 4K
UHD packages to date:
Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf
(no HDR),
Paths of Glory
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Southern Comfort
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
(software uniformly simulated HDR,)
The Wages of Fear
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Roaring Twenties
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Universal Classic Monsters Limited Edition Collection
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Scarlet Street
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
eXistenZ
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Horrible Dr. Hichcock
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Conan the Barbarian
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Django
(no HDR),
Lone Star
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Suspect Zero
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Count Dracula
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Full Circle - The Haunting of Julia
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Warriors
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Blackhat
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Mark of the Devil
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Barbarella
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Last Picture Show
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Man Who Knew Too Much
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Rope
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Frenzy
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
American Graffiti
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
East End Hustle (software uniformly simulated HDR),
Three Days of the Condor
(software uniformly simulated HDR), Witness
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Fascination
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Lips of Blood
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Others
(no HDR),
It Came From Outer Space
(software uniformly simulated HDR).
On their
4K UHD,
Kino provide DTS-HD Master 2.0 dual-mono tracks (now 24-bit both
previous Blu-rays were LPCM 16-bit) in the
original English for both cuts on both formats. Remembering this was an
independently made film it has post-dubbed dialogue that is noticeable
if occasionally awkward. There are few sounds effects with most of the
aggression appearing diegetic; scuffle in the cabin, hollow gunfire, a
truck, flowing water etc. but that's a about all. The
score was by Gerald Fried (Kubrick's films
Killer's Kiss
and
The Killing,
Paths of Glory -
plus A
Killer in the Family,
The Baby, the Joseph H. Lewis' western
Terror in a Texas Town as well as venturing later into work in TV -
Star
Trek etc.) and his Escape
the Ordeal original soundtrack.
It has an occasional tinnie-ness
that must be accurate due to production limitations. Kino (4K UHD
and Blu-ray)
offer optional English subtitles and the
4K
disc is region FREE,
playable worldwide - while the
Blu-ray
is region 'A'-locked:
There are
extras on the
4K UHD disc -
repeated are Stanley Kubrick’s early short films, but in
4K with HDR applied;
Flying Padre (1951) via
4K restoration from
the original 35mm print - Day of the Fight (1951) from a
4K restoration of the
original 35mm print and 1953's The Seafarers, Kubrick's first color
film, transferred in
4K from a restoration
from the 16mm A/B camera negatives and a 16mm print. There are also new
audio commentaries; by Dr. Eddy Von Mueller
(author of
Frankenstein: How A
Monster Became an Icon)
on the 70-minute premiere
cut and by Gary Gerani
(co-author of Top
100 Sci-Fi Movies)
on the 62-minute theatrical cut. Eddie discusses the process of analyzing a
true artist's mindset by viewing their early work - especially as
Fear and Desire
was effectively 'lost for decades' and dismissed by the director - seeing
the auteur as a young man that he describes as an 'amuse-bouche'. Gary talks
about the specifics of how the film came together, seeing it with an
aggressively open-mind, plot basics, narrator David Allen, symbolism and
much, much, more. Both commentaries are highly revealing. Thank you
gentlemen.
The second disc
Blu-ray
has both cuts in 1080P, all of the same
4K UHD extras plus
trailers for Fear and Desire
(re-release for 2023 and re-release for 2018),
Killer's Kiss,
The Killing
and
Paths of Glory.
The package has an O-card slipcase and reversible artwork.
Fear and Desire is 23-year old, unabridged, Kubrick -
free from studio constraints but limited by the budget, estimated at
$10,000, which was raised from the director's own family and friends. There
is some crude editing, unevenness and an inordinate amount of close-ups.
Kubrick directed, produced, and edited Fear and Desire but was
dissatisfied and failed to have all the prints destroyed (some remained in
private collections) and it eventually lapsed into the public domain
allowing it to be shown without legal impediments. It has the anti-war theme
that would be dominant in the filmmaker's work from human stresses and
mental fatigue; Sidney in Fear and Desire and repeated in
Full Metal Jacket
to the farce in
Dr. Strangelove. Fear and Desire has Kubrick's classmate
Howard Sackler write the screenplay, Virginia Leith ('The Girl' tied to a
tree) also played the 'live decapitated head' in
The Brain That Wouldn't Die, and Paul Mazursky (Sidney) became a
notable director himself - nominated for five Academy Awards for such films
as
Harry and Tonto and
An Unmarried Woman. Remarkable about
Kino's
4K UHD
release of Kubrick's
Fear and Desire is the inclusion of the
original 70 minute cut, shown at the Venice Film Festival, under the title
Shape of Fear, on August 18th, 1952... and never released for the
past 70 years. The theatrical cut removes about nine minutes of material
(almost 12% of the film’s total length). I thought the Premiere Cut showed
more of the director's burgeoning genius. Two versions of Kubrick's
remarkable debut in gorgeous
4K UHD, new commentaries, shorts... this is a
must-own. It has our highest recommendation. |
Menus / Extras
Kino (2024) - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Kino (2024) - Region FREE 4K UHD
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY and 4K UHD CAPTURE TO SEE IN FULL RESOLUTION
1) Masters of Cinema (2013) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray TOP 2) Kino (2024) theatrical cut - Region 'A' - Blu-ray SECOND 3) Kino (2024) Premiere cut - Region 'A' - Blu-ray THIRD 5) Kino (2024) theatrical cut - Region FREE 4K UHD FOURTH5) Kino (2024) Premiere cut - Region FREE 4K UHD BOTTOM
|
1) Masters of Cinema (2013) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray TOP 2) Kino (2024) Theatrical cut - Region FREE 4K UHD BOTTOM
|
1) Masters of Cinema (2013) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray TOP 2) Kino (2024) Theatrical cut - Region FREE 4K UHD BOTTOM
|
1) Kino (2012) - Region 'A' - Blu-ray TOP2) Kino (2024) Theatrical cut - Region FREE 4K UHD BOTTOM
|
1) Masters of Cinema (2013) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray TOP 2) Kino (2024) Theatrical cut - Region FREE 4K UHD BOTTOM
|
1) Kino (2012) - Region 'A' - Blu-ray TOP2) Kino (2024) Theatrical cut - Region FREE 4K UHD BOTTOM
|
1) Masters of Cinema (2013) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray TOP 2) Kino (2024) Theatrical cut - Region FREE 4K UHD BOTTOM
|
More full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K Ultra HD Captures for Patreon Supporters HERE
Box Cover |
|
CLICK to order from: the included 2024 Blu-ray is also available from Kino: Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD |
Search DVDBeaver |
S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |