Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This one is from over 60 years ago and belongs to the very early years when Kubrick filmed short documentary features on seafarers or boxers. The center of this one is priest Fred Stadmueller and his activities in the parish and I wish I could even say that Kubrick just directed it and was forced to go with the terrible script. But no, he wrote it himself. Really hard to believe. In these eight minutes, the film quickly switches effortlessly from completely uninteresting to over-the-top re-enacted.The scene with the little girl and the bully boy was so bad it surely had MST 3000 potential. Of course, they lacked the balls to include a Kubrick film into their show, but it just wasn't a good sight at all. In any case, I'm fairly certain that this short film would have sunken completely into oblivion by now (where it belongs) if it wasn't for the famous director behind it. It's one to watch for Kubrick completionists and that's it.

There are some very small moments where one might find something of interest in Flying Padre, a small view of a father in a small village farming community who acts as part-time keeper of the peace, and part-time flying enthusiast. But it is not, per-say, for being as a Stanley Kubrick film. It was his second documentary, funded very cheap for an even cheaper profit, but unfortunately seems to be caught in a bind. It would be one thing to get some kind of interview or closer look at this man, but in the profile the only really exciting bits are when he's up in the air (which does contain a few clever shots from right in the plane, ironic for the air-phobic Kubrick). There are staged scenes that are rather, well, silly, like when the Padre sorts out a matter between a little girl and boy. Is it cute, maybe, but it's not really interesting. Another problem, which may be for some more than others considering its very obscure stature, the quality of the picture is bad, and the amateurish style of the staging doesn't help matters. It would be one thing if, like in his last short doc the Seafarers, if there were some more marks to see of him as a filmmaker, or just in general interesting compositions. There isn't much of that here, only in the most minuet moments that pass by very quickly. In short, this is one that was done for hire, on the fly, and is not worth seeing unless you're, like me, a Kubrick die-hard.

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.

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.