The Seafarers

In 1951, a twenty-three year old New Yorker, Stanley Kubrick, began his film career by directing and filming the black and white RKO newsreels Day of the Fight and The Flying Padre. These short films brought the autodidact director little notoriety, but they proved essential to developing his technique and securing financing for his feature length film, the ill-fated Fear & Desire in 1953. That same year, Kubrick was commissioned by the Seafarers International Union to film a documentary extolling the benefits of membership to the union. The film would also mark his first exploration into color cinematography. Kubrick provided his own sound and camera equipment and marshaled the Seafarers Log editorial staff as his crew. The film's design was to showcase the Seafarers Union service to its members and to recruit young men into a life at sea by explaining the benefits and job security of being part of a union. In the decades that followed, aspiring directors would hone their technique in specialized film schools, but for the young Kubrick, the short documentaries he made were his film school. Although the film is an oddity and a departure from what students expect from Stanley Kubrick, it is an essential part of the Kubrick acumen. Just four years after completing The Seafarers, titan auteur Orson Welles, upon viewing Paths of Glory, referred to Kubrick as a "giant" amongst his contemporaries. (official distributor synopsis)