Fear and Desire
Movie, 1953, The '50s and before, Set in Soldiers behind enemy lines
Fear and Desire is #1 of 13 in release order and #1 of 13 in chronological order in the Stanley Kubrick.
The story
After their airplane crashes behind enemy lines, four soldiers must survive and try to find a way back to their battalion. However, when they come across a local peasant girl the horrors of war quickly become apparent.
Fear and Desire recap
Fear and Desire (1953) strands four soldiers behind enemy lines after their plane crashes in a forest, in a war between two unnamed countries. Stanley Kubrick directed, shot, edited and produced it with a crew of about fifteen, from a script by Howard Sackler. Lieutenant Corby (Kenneth Harp) leads Sergeant Mac (Frank Silvera), Private Fletcher (Steve Coit) and the young Private Sidney (Paul Mazursky), who plan to build a raft and float downriver to their own lines. They raid a hut and kill the enemy soldiers eating there, then spot an enemy general at a nearby house. A peasant girl (Virginia Leith) stumbles on them, and they tie her to a tree with their belts and leave Sidney to guard her. He talks himself into delirium, frees her when he thinks she will embrace him, and shoots her when she runs. Harp and Coit also play the enemy officers. Fear and Desire is Kubrick's first feature and precedes Killer's Kiss.
Fear and Desire ending explained
Fear and Desire ends with the raft drifting downstream. Mac takes it alone to draw fire from the general's guards and is wounded, while Corby and Fletcher kill the general, who looks just like Corby, and fly an enemy plane back to their base. Waiting by the river, the two talk about how no one is made for war, until the raft floats into view carrying the dying Mac and the mad Sidney. Kubrick later disowned the film as amateurish and tried to keep it out of circulation.
Post-credits scenes
No. Fear and Desire has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch Fear and Desire
Fear and Desire is streaming on Prime Video, Philo, Brew, Kanopy, Hoopla, and FlixHouse in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 5.3/10, Rotten Tomatoes 70%
Where it fits
- Release order: first, before Killer's Kiss.
- Chronological order: first, before Killer's Kiss.
Cast
- Frank Silvera as Mac
- Kenneth Harp as Lt. Corby / The General
- Paul Mazursky as Sidney
- Stephen Coit as Fletcher / The Captain
- Virginia Leith as The Girl
- David Allen as Narrator (voice)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick.