A Kubrick Tuesday

Filmbrain experienced a few Kubrick-related coincidences today. First off, there was a post from the Cinetrix (with a super-cool title) that linked to two interesting articles -- one from the New York Times about the Kubrick exhibit at the Deutsches Filmmuseum, and a fascinating one from The Guardian about discoveries in the Kubrick archives, including the massive amount of Napoleon material he had. (For those unaware, Kubrick had wanted to make a Napoleon film since 1968. Salon has an interesting article about it.)

About an hour later, Filmbrain received an email from a friend in Japan that contained a link to a PDF file of Kubrick's 155-page Napoleon screenplay (including production notes). (Praise Buddha for printers at work!)

Stopping in at his favorite DVD store on his way home, Filmbrain was excited to find a DVD (well, DVD-R) of some rare Kubrick material. Entitled Kubrick Assembled: The Rarities, it contains the following items:

• Fear and Desire (1953): His first feature film. Kubrick did his best to suppress the release of the film, given that he thought it was amateurish. (Paul Mazursky is listed in the cast credits.)
• The Seafarers (1952): Short documentary about the Seafarers Union.
• Day of the Fight (1950): Short documentary about a day in the life of boxer Walter Cartier.
• The Flying Padre (1951): Short documentary about a priest from New Mexico who flies a plane.
• An Examination of A Clockwork Orange (1972): A panel discussion with Malcolm McDowell and Anthony Burgess.

The DVD is clearly a bootleg, and there is a warning on the front about the poor picture quality. Still, it's a chance to see these rare works from a great director. Filmbrain will report back when he watches them.