Customer Reviews

The Seafarers by Stanley Kubrick

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This early Stanley Kubrick documentary was fascinating to watch. As many of us have watched Kubrick's films over and over it is with an educated eye that you will likely view this for the first time. Can you see the future Kubrick director style? Yes, I believe so. There are several clever shots you'll appreciate.

I also must recommend playing the secondary audio track- narration by directors Roger Avary & Keith Gordon (Dexter, Waking the Dead) They have a really much more insightful, amusing dialog than I imagined. Definitely play the second track after watching the original audio. They wander off topic a lot, but it is with amusing consequences.

Nice slice of the Kubrick world for us to finally watch. My collection is complete now- This is actually a cool DVD, the packaging and production values are really slick - nice artwork.

This is a high-quality DVD with nice menus and some great extras. The audio-commentary alone is worth the purchase price. Directors Roger Avary and Keith Gordon are funny, intelligent and insightful. The film itself has some very typical Kubrick shots that you'll appreciate. There some images that look like scenes from The Killing and 2001. There are also some tracking shots that Kubrick would become famous for. Its a fun DVD to own and I'm thrilled to finally own it and have it in my Kubrick collection.

When I found out this film was on DVD, I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn't expecting any revelatory findings, but this film (a short documentary that Kubrick shot in his salad days) is good for what it is. It's essentially a corporate video type documentary, detailing the history, membership, and mission of the Seafarers Union. It's a fascinating time capsule, not only for Kubrick's work, but for NYC in 1953. It's only a half hour long, and it's surprisingly fascinating and there are some memorable camera shots. The shots of New York City's harbors are very cool to look at, there's a long tracking shot in a cafeteria (it looks better than the food they're serving), there are well composed shots of the Seafarers' meetings, and overall, it's very watchable. It's not 2001, but it isn't meant to be, and I actually liked this film as much as Killer's Kiss (my least favorite Kubrick film).

The DVD is pretty barebones, and the transfer of the actual film isn't that good. But in defense of the DVD company, this film doesn't really require a great transfer. It's just good to watch for historical purposes. If you're a Kubrick fan, check it out. It's only 28 minutes, so it's not a lot of your time, and it's worth it.

I saw this at the Library Of Congress about 10 years ago. It's merely a union organizing tool put out by the Seafarers International Union listing the benefits of membership for recruitement purposes. If that's your idea of cinema, have at it. You will definitely see Stanley Kubrick's name in the credits . . . and that's it. There is nothing Kubrickian whatsoever in this 29 minute film. You will gain no insights into Kubrick's early development. I have to wonder if the positive reviews are from people who stand to profit from the sale of this DVD. Watch it for free at "Google Videos" before spending money on it.

I will admit up front that I am one of those OCD Kubrick fans; I have watched ALL of his films multiple times, and consider him to be one of the finest directors in the history of cinema. That being said, this is really not a great piece of filmmaking, and is probably my least favorite of all of Kubrick's works. It's certainly not a "movie"; it's a 30 minute "infomercial" for the Seafarers International Union. I'd watched it on line, and therefore knew what I was getting, hoping at least to see it in better quality video/audio. To this end, I was not entirely disappointed, however even the transfer was quite grainy - but that may just be a function of the original print. If you are a "hard core" student of Kubrick, you will be able to see some of his signature filming styles in a primative form, but nothing that says "this man is a genius". If this "documentary" didn't have Kubrick's name attached to it, it no doubt would have disappeared with countless other films of its type decades ago. Of the three existing early documentaries by Kubrick ("Day of the Fight", "Flying Padre", and this one), I see the least amount of "the Kubrick yet to come" here (unless you count pedantic objectivity as one of those traits). As a stand-alone DVD, this is hard to recommend to anyone other than OCD collectors who need to own Kubrick's complete works. I do wish that some agency, such as Criterion, would release an "Early Films of Kubrick" set that included the three documentaries and his first, much maligned, feature film "Fear and Desire, digitally restored, with critical essays; I would purchase that the minute it was released. Echoing one of the previous reviewers, I recommend viewing this on line before investing in it; simply saying that you have seen may be enough for you.