As soon as this short film ended I wanted to sign a Union Card and join The Seafarers International Union. Great benefits package by-the-way.. Produced for the SIU, Atlantic & Gulf Coast District, which is head-quartered in Sir Stanley's birthplace & then home, New York City.
Yes this is Sir Stanley's (not knighted yet & will never be, because he only lived in England for almost 40 yrs & is American born--for shame Gov's)), ANYHOW, its his first colour film, his second was Spartacus. Kubrick never actually wanted to do this film, in the first place, but he needed the money - that was the motivation for this film. As usual, it was not up to Sir Stanley's standards and is why it remained 'buried' for so long until it resurfaced in the early-80's--but only the VHS copy survives. I guess dee prints are somewhere in Sir Stanley's vault outside London? Anyhow, his first feature FEAR & DESIRE, suffers the same fate, no prints available, because in the early-80's, Kubrick took the film prints out of circulation, only two copies of F&D, survive - at George Eastman House archives (Rochester, NY); but those can't be screened publicly.
I love THE SEAFARERS, you see Kubrick's love of the camera showing through every grain of colour. The narration track is very traditional Kubrick, this is only his third film, and had only been making films for three years & a still- photographer for about 13 years at this point in 1953. He never went to film school, never actually finished high school (it bored him), and was self taught as a filmmaker by reading both Pudovkin's FILM THEORY & FILM ACTING.
Religiously attending MONA film screening in late forties (Jay Leyda, was a curator there), was all he needed, to propel him into dee film world and abandon photography - more-or-less!!!
This film was used by SIU as a membership-drive tool. They let workers know the benefits of organized labour and why the SIU in particular. The benefits package alone was worth the monthly union fee. Sir Stanley did a bang-up film here. The seafarers were the men & women that worked on the ships, and not to be confused with the longshore men. OK, now go out and get a copy for yourself!!! GO.....
Gio.
Yes this is Sir Stanley's (not knighted yet & will never be, because he only lived in England for almost 40 yrs & is American born--for shame Gov's)), ANYHOW, its his first colour film, his second was Spartacus. Kubrick never actually wanted to do this film, in the first place, but he needed the money - that was the motivation for this film. As usual, it was not up to Sir Stanley's standards and is why it remained 'buried' for so long until it resurfaced in the early-80's--but only the VHS copy survives. I guess dee prints are somewhere in Sir Stanley's vault outside London? Anyhow, his first feature FEAR & DESIRE, suffers the same fate, no prints available, because in the early-80's, Kubrick took the film prints out of circulation, only two copies of F&D, survive - at George Eastman House archives (Rochester, NY); but those can't be screened publicly.
I love THE SEAFARERS, you see Kubrick's love of the camera showing through every grain of colour. The narration track is very traditional Kubrick, this is only his third film, and had only been making films for three years & a still- photographer for about 13 years at this point in 1953. He never went to film school, never actually finished high school (it bored him), and was self taught as a filmmaker by reading both Pudovkin's FILM THEORY & FILM ACTING.
Religiously attending MONA film screening in late forties (Jay Leyda, was a curator there), was all he needed, to propel him into dee film world and abandon photography - more-or-less!!!
This film was used by SIU as a membership-drive tool. They let workers know the benefits of organized labour and why the SIU in particular. The benefits package alone was worth the monthly union fee. Sir Stanley did a bang-up film here. The seafarers were the men & women that worked on the ships, and not to be confused with the longshore men. OK, now go out and get a copy for yourself!!! GO.....
Gio.