Flying Padre

Unlike the earlier Day of the Fight in which one can see inklings of Stanley Kubrick's later achievements, this film is a minor piece of hackwork with little to be said in its favour. Indeed, the most telling feature is that Kubrick, who would later be known as an obsessive perfectionist, here displays indifference. Almost all documentaries are set up to some extent, but here it would have been clear to the slowest of the audience that the episode of the padre flying a mother and sick baby to a hospital was acted out specially for the film. The clumsiness is compounded by the narration, which goes out its way to inform us that the episode was spontaneous and shot as it happened. With a little more inventiveness, Kubrick could have made the sequence at least partially convincing. (This assumes that Kubrick was responsible for the commentary; perhaps he wasn't, and this was an early lesson for him on what producers can do if you don't insist on full control!)

In the early 50s, a young photographer named Stanley Kubrick decided to quit his job at "Look" magazine and try his luck at directing movies after discovering the potential of cinema as an art form. While eventually Kubrick would become a master of the craft and a renowned artist by his own right, the young filmmaker had his humble beginning at making short newsreels for RKO Radio Pictures. It all started when a friend convinced him to make "Day of the Fight", a short documentary about boxing that they intended to sell to "The March of Time" newsreel. Sadly, that newsreel was canceled, but to their fortune, people at RKO liked Kubrick's movie and bought the film. While Kubrick didn't make money out of "Day of the Fight", it opened him the doors at RKO, as they gave him the chance to make a new documentary for them: "Flying Padre".

Narrated by CBS announcer Bob Hite, "Flying Padre" tells the story of two days in the life of Father Fred Stadtmuller, a Catholic priest in rural New Mexico with a very particular way of reaching the people of his 400-square mile parish. Since his parish is too large and the roads of New Mexico aren't really good, Father Stadmuller uses a Piper Cub airplane to travel to whenever his people needs him, offering not only spiritual help, but sometimes also physical. Through the film, we follow this "Flying Padre" through his daily obligations, which not only include giving sermons at the church or helping people to solve their differences peacefully, as Father Stadmuller also uses his plane to help people in emergencies. In the movie for example, Father Stadmuller takes a sick child and his mother from their isolated ranch to the nearest hospital.

Based on Stadtmuller's experiences as priest of the New Mexico community of Mosquero, Stanley Kubrick wrote the screenplay for this brief recounting of several of Stadtmuller's adventures as Mosquero's "Flying Padre". Contrary to what the narration may tell, while the events portrayed in the movie did happen, what we see on screen is only a reenactment of them, not an actual depiction of Stadtmuller at work. Despite the fact that what it's on screen is obviously staged, Kubrick makes a great job at making us discover the true heroism behind the humble priest, and to a certain extent it's very informative about the situation of New Mexico's rural land of those years. The text of the narration (apparently also written by Kubrick) is very in tone with what was the standard in the early 50s, although often falls in the clichés of the era.

While his work with the screenplay doesn't show any sing of the talent that would make him a legend, the excellent camera-work he uses in the shooting of the film is a clear display of the abilities of the promising director. As he did in "Day of the Fight", Kubrick employs a mix of editing and cinematography to create a very dynamic movie in the style of Max Ophüls (who was a big influence in his early years). While of course Kubrick is forced to remain true to the newsreel's conventions, he manages to create pretty good looking scenes that at times seem to tell the tale of the "Flying Padre" in better fashion than Bob Hite's fast narrative. Sadly, the film's cinematography is probably the only think that would make one see this movie as a Kubrick film, as it is probably the only element that shows Kubrick's rising talent as a filmmaker.

What I mean is that not only the screenplay is troubled, where the movie truly suffers the most is in the quality of the reenactment of several events in the priest's life. The problem is that since neither the "actors" (people literally playing themselves) nor the director had any experience in this aspect, the result is a "documentary" that feels staged and fake when it should be the exact opposite. Another of the problems is definitely Nathaniel Shilkret's score for the film and the way Kubrick uses it in the movie. While Shilkret was one of the best composers for newsreels during the Golden age of the genre (and even composed for feature films in the 30s), his work in this movie sounds old, clichéd and archaic, a sad ending for his long career.

Even when "Flying Padre" is definitely a flawed film, it is still an interesting piece of history as it shows the development of Stanley Kubrick's career from young photographer to legendary filmmaker. While the writing and the directing of actors leaves a lot to be desired, the camera-work and the cinematography are 100% Kubrick and it shows. It is very easy to dismiss this movie as a mere curiosity, but one has to remember that in only 4 years Kubrick went from this movie to "Killer's Kiss" and his first two masterpieces, "The Killing" and "Paths of Glory". Of his three first documentaries this is probably the worst, and I don't doubt it could be seen as disappointing; but as people say, "you have to start with something". 5/10

In an attempt to experience absolutely everything that Stanley Kubrick has to offer, I have set my sights towards his three early documentary shorts (though, admittedly, I also still have a couple of feature films to go). 'Flying Padre' seemed as good a place as any to start. I'd say that I was slightly disappointed with the film, but I really couldn't have expected much better from the director's first effort. This being his first project, Kubrick would most likely have lacked any creative control, and he would have been expected to simply do things by the book. Just four years later, given complete artistic control (and a shoestring budget), the mastery of this master director would begin to shine through with 'Killer's Kiss.'

'Flying Padre' is a cheery nine-minute documentary detailing the kind-hearted exploits of a priest in an isolated country region. Equipped with his $2000, single-motor plane, The Spirit of St. Joseph, this "flying padre" is able to spread his compassion and goodwill across a 1200 mile expanse, never asking anything in return for his unwavering commitment to society. The film follows the priest across two "ordinary days," as he attends to such diverse errands as a country funeral, a child bully, a sick baby and looking after his flock of breeding canaries.

If it hadn't been for a tiny director credit at the beginning of the film, I would never have guessed that Kubrick was involved in any way. The acting is quite poor and, despite the narrator's assurances that all these adventures are happening spontaneously, it's obvious that most of the shots have been pre-planned. How, otherwise, can they explain that the cameraman reached the house of the sick baby long before the padre ever did?! On a side note, however, I did enjoy the very final shot of the film, as the ambulance carrying the sick baby accelerates away from the priest standing beside his plane. From the retreating car's point of view, we watch as the humble padre and his beloved Spirit of St. Joseph diminish into the distance.

One of the first short films made by Stanley Kubrick, made years before he stepped up to feature films. This cheerful little film, about a padre/pilot who works well beyond his normal call of duty, has such a Middle American tone, a wholesomeness not found in the dark worlds of Kubrick's later films. Like FEAR AND DESIRE, the shooting is mostly textbook ordinary. The shot compositions are mostly learned thru one of those "Kodak's tips for better picture taking." I saw this via a very runny video copy. One wishes Kubrick was more at ease at having these early films shown.

The reason I wanted to see this short documentary was because it is directed by great artist Stanley Kubrick, director of masterpieces like 'Dr. Strangelove', '2001: A Space Odyssey' and 'A Clockwork Orange'. My reason should be anyone's reason, definitely no real other reason could be find by me.

We follow a flying padre doing stuff most fathers (the religious type) do. The only special thing here is the fact that this man travels by plane since the area he is connected to is pretty big. Not that special I guess. Even the technique and ways of telling a story Kubrick used in later and even earlier work is not there.

Told very straight forward, it is eight minutes from a master doing a not very masterful thing. Interesting in a way, worth watching since it only takes eight minutes of your time.