Before he took us to space or placed us in the trenches of war, Stanley Kubrick got his start on the streets of New York. With his fascination for photography, as a teenager in the mid-1940’s he did freelance work for Look Magazine, before coming aboard as a full-time photographer. His contributions to the publication would not only form his pristine technical craft, but also spur interest in certain subjects, including his early noir film Killer’s Kiss, surrounding a heavyweight boxer.
While one has likely seen a handful of photos from this period in passing, A Bittersweet Life points us to an incredible collection of over 7,000 stills by the young Kubrick, courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York. Complete with short synopses and the year they were taken, we’ve included a handful of our favorites below, but make sure to head over the site for the full collection, available in high-resolution and even split up by borough.
Jumping ahead a few decades, Dangerous Minds have dug up a rare documentary surrounding the director. Featuring both Kubrick and his A Clockwork Orange star Malcolm McDowell, one of the most intriguing portions comes from an interview with George Sluizer. The Vanishing director reveals that Kubrick phoned him to tell him his 1988 feature was “the most horrifying film that I’ve ever seen.” The star of that project, Johanna ter Steege, also discusses her involvement in the unfinished Kubrick project The Aryan Papers (see more about that here).
Check out the video below along with a portion of the aforementioned photos:
Which early Stanley Kubrick photograph is your favorite?