What a beautiful movie!

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Very Kubrick in its mass of men making their movements with grand machinery in a quiet, meaningful way. You can see 2001 and Strangelove in it. But I like all those post-war shorts, so I'm already prejudiced (and I do love early Kubrick.)

Ever got that sinking feeling? I felt it with this documentary about the Seafarers International Union's benefits. It seem like the captain abandoned this ship, here. Stanley Kubrick didn't do a good job with this documentary. First off, this documentary is more like a promotional film than a documentary. Second off, it's really boring as times. The music is little bit off-key music. The background and text when put together on the screen is hard to read. Then, there is the overused of the word 'Seafarers'. I hope, they do know that, there are other words, they can use like Mariners, Sailors, or Seamen. It really gets annoying as hell to hear the same things all the time. While, Stanley Kubrick is a great director who typically works really hard in adapting novels or short stories to the big screen. It's seem like he doesn't have the same passion for documentary films. It's like he got tired of it, after 1950's Day of the Fight & 1951's Flying Padre. He really put some work into those. In Day of the Fight he use a reverse tracking shot to film a scene in which the brothers walk towards the camera, a device later to become one of Kubrick's characteristic camera trademark. In Flying Padre, several of the views from and of the plane are later echoed in his later films like 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey. In my opinion, I think, he kinda half- ass, the Seafarers. Besides the glaring nudity boobs shots, & the long, sideways-shooting dolly shot to establish the life of the seafarer's community. It rarely looks like his work. He half-ass this one. Day of the Fight, Flying Padre and The Seafarers constitute Kubrick's only surviving documentary works, although some historians believe he made others. This movie was long thought lost, due to mishandling of the Seafarers International Union, but the film was rediscovered in 1973 by film scholar and filmmaker Frank P. Tomasulo, who arranged for a 16mm print of the documentary to be deposited in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress' Motion Picture Division. Seafarers is noted to be the first film of Stanley Kubrick, to be in color. Too bad, the film is so desaturated due to aged, that scenes like the cafeteria serving food to the sailors; looks like they're serving some ugly crappy food, than something delightful. Narrated by CBS reporter Don Hollenbeck, the film details the different activities a member can do while visiting the Union Halls that are spread around the country's coasts, as well as the many services they offer. From barbershops, museum, bars to restaurants, the film talks about the establishments that offer good discounts to those who join the Union. It also explores other important benefits, such as scholarships, health care, and vacation paid for seafarers. Finally, it also explains some of the rights and obligations of every member, as well as how is the Union organized and how their democratic processes work. While, this half hour documentary made for the Seafarers International Union is interesting. It's no way seem like a normal modern day documentary. We rarely see the day by day labor of this sailors on their large ship. We don't see their struggles or the history of the Union. They don't even mention, why their union is better than their rivals union, National Maritime Union (NMU). There is little to no Cinéma vérité in these shots. It's just urging sailors to join the union & extolling the benefits, etc etc. Where is the dramatic? Where is the action? It felt like voice-over brochure. Written by Union member, Will Chasen, the movie is just one big informative commercial. Still, in the end of this, I wanted to sign a Union Card and join The Seafarers International Union. Don Hollenbeck's narration makes it seem like a good place to work, despite that the movie not mentioning how dangerous the work is, how the Union has mob ties like Hal C. Banks, and how the Union also has age discrimination. These were all issues, that 1951 sailors had to dealt with; and there was no mention of that. I guess, Stanley Kubrick was in such dire need of money from shooting other things he needed to be shot. He basically took this uncreative job and followed orders just to make ends meet. He had no personal interest or creative thought about this little documentary, and really didn't care if the Sailors got the right information. Too bad, the modern Union doesn't do much of this anymore. The only time, they come to the ship is when they want to collect dues. The Seafarers was released on DVD in 2008 with audio commentary from directors Roger Avary and Keith Gordon, as well as an interview with one of Kubrick's daughters, if anybody cares. The short is also available as an extra on the 2012 release of Kubrick's first full-length film Fear and Desire. The movie is so dated, you can probably find it on Youtube for free. Overall: I don't recommend viewing this, if you're a huge fan of Stanley Kubrick. If you do find it, you'll find yourself, really disappointed. There is a reason why Kubrick never wanted his fans to see this, and I see why. This movie sunk a new low.

Even if the short documentary the Seafarers did not bare the name of the late-great Stanley Kubrick, the subject matter would not be totally lost on me. It's a union film, educating the viewer on what makes up the seafarers, the men who make up the jobs of the sea, shipping, manning the ships, etc, and all apart of a bond that is almost communal in a way. But that it is directed by Kubrick, and that it is his first film in color with him in practical total control, it's hard not to see his mark on the project. In fact, I would argue for those who have seen the film, or for those who might want to either as a fan of the filmmaker or if by some off-off handed chance with the subjects, that it contains the height of the twenty-something Kubrick's trademark styles. There is an assured hand in photographing these subjects, and this time around, unlike in Day of the Fight and Flying Padre, it is not really at all dramatized documentary film-making (i.e. there aren't the staged scenes), even if it is in its own way a king of long advertisement of sorts for them.But if one is to look just on the technical side of things, it can put a smile on the face of a Kubrick fan to see some of the early techniques on display. Examples I would include would be his tracking of the camera, this kind of panning across a room that one might find in the Shining or Paths of Glory, which is used in effect in showing the seafarers eating in the cafeteria. This puts his mark on the material right away though there are other shots before this with certain Kubrick-type compositions; a standard photographer might just gets individual shots, dissolve in the cuts, and make it shorter. But there's an attention to these people that the director/photographer here wants to get across, and it's also in the compositions, like certain close-ups of machines (big and small), and just shots of the people in the rooms and the panning across the skylines and ships that seems different somehow from how another eye-for-hire would do it.It's not to say that this is any kind of rewarding piece of art that should be screened alongside the director's other major works. It's made for a very specific purpose and audience, and is not made to reach into any specific character presented in it (the exception being the leader of the seafarers Don Holdenbeck). But through using the color film stock available, and having no one looking over his shoulder telling him how to do it, Kubrick's work here, much like a very good student film, calls out for what's possible ahead.

'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