The Seafarers

'The Seafarers' was a half hour documentary made for the Seafarers International Union in 1953. It's actually more of a promotional film than a documentary, urging sailors to join the union & extolling the benefits, etc etc. The 1950s equivalent of a corporate video or an infomercial.

There is absolutely nothing remarkable about this film. It's competently made, but it's not the sort of project where a director would have the opportunity to exercise any sort of creativity. Kubrick was a hired gun on this, he did the job he was paid for & that's it.

Any attempts to look for trademark Kubrick touches or innovation would be pointless.

There are only two things noteworthy about 'The Seafarers' - it was directed by Stanley Kubrick, and it happened to be his first film in colour. Other than the title reading 'Directed by Stanley Kubrick', I found nothing of any interest whatsoever. There's nothing wrong with it, but it would be utterly forgotten & ignored if it had not been directed by someone who went on to much greater things.

Darth Nub

Struggling filmmaker Stanley Kubrick ("Fear and Desire" & "Flying Padre") follows the failure of his feature debut with this promotional film for the Seafarers International Union in order to recoup some of the losses and raise funds for his sophomore feature.

The film, supervised by the staff of union magazine "The Seafarers Log", the promotes the work of the Seafarers International Union Atlantic and Gulf District with shots of the hiring hall, the canteen, the bar, the print shop and a union meeting at their New York head quarters.

Secretary-Treasurer of the SIU Atlantic and Gulf District Paul Hall emerges from the ranks with a powerful speech extolling the virtues of the union which are all meticulously illustrated to the dulcet tones of news reader Don Hollenbeck who also bookends the membership-drive.

The future filmmaking legend may be only in it for the money but he nonetheless allows a few flourishes in his colour debut, such as the extended, sideways-dolly shot of the canteen, and the film provides a curious insight into a union in its heyday.

"Call it a dream fulfilled."

Stanley Kubrick's first film made in color. Lost for over 40 years! The documentary extols the benefits of membership to the Seafarers International Union.

How do you judge a film like this? I mean, although Kubrick obviously was the creator, can he be held responsible for the final product? This is essentially a marketing video -- a promotional advertisement -- for a union. I doubt that there was much room for creativity or a need to deviate from the script. Heck, there is no place even for odd camera angles or use of sound.

So, you know, is it a good ad? Sure. But can I say it was some of Kubrick's best work? Of course not. And yet, it is not really fair to judge this against his other work when the format is so different.

This is The first Coloured Short/Short film done by Mr. Stanley Kubrick , it talks about seafarers and their benifets and how it's like being one of those Seafarers, this dosent feel like a really something you would watch it feels like a school project because it's a documentary but since Mr. Stanley Kubrick has directed this i wanted to see what was his first movies/short film were like

the documentary aspect of this movie is good , the narration is very good and probably the best thing about this movie , while this movie does not have high ratings i say it wasn't as bad as people say it certinaly wasn't something revolutionary but in Kubrick's eyes this was what he did 6.5/10.

Well, this very old-school narrated laudatory documentary is quite boring and did not make me more interested in Seafarers International Union, which represents, provide services and protects interests of mariners, fishermen and boatmen who work aboard vessels flagged in the United States. The very first colour film of great master Stanley Kubrick is uninteresting and may be watched only by Kubrick filmography completists (like me) or for those particularly interested in US labour unions' main concerns and strategies of achieving memberships. Considering artistic qualities (it was just an advertising film, not an artistic one), it is Kubrick's worst film, worse than previous Day of the fight and Flying padre, which are also not very interesting at all. It is amazing that just four years after The Seafarers Kubrick would be ready to make masterpiece Paths of glory.