A BANGOR University professor has come across a 1956 screenplay by Stanley Kubrick which was believed to have been lost.

Nathan Abrams, who works at the school of music and media, discovered the piece whilst researching for his next book on Kubrick's final film - Eyes Wide Shut.

The re-discovered play, entitled "Burning Secret", was an adaptation of Viennese novelist Stefan Zweig's 1913 novella of the same name.

Nathan, who has recently published the book 'Stanley Kubrick: New York Jewish Intellectual' with Rutgers University Press, says it was purely by chance that he managed to locate the script.

"It just fell into my lap as I was researching for my next book," he said.

"For a long time, the script was presumed to be lost. It was not even known if it was completed.

"I couldn't believe it. No scholar or critic has seen this script for over sixty years. It's very exciting."

Nathan added that the script has been dated for October 24, 1956 and bears the stamp of the Script Department of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) - an American film company.

"From what I have seen, the screenplay looks authentic," he said.

"It was to be produced by James B. Harris, directed by Kubrick and was written by Kubrick and Willingham.

"It was to be scored, presumably, by composer Gerald Fried, who had already scored some of Kubrick's earliest movies."

Back in 1956, a young Stanley Kubrick was still relatively unknown, having just wrapped up his crime heist film 'The Killing'.

Together with his producing partner, James B. Harris, he was looking for a new project to boost his fledgling reputation.

However, "Burning Secret" - a story told from the perspective of a twelve-year-old Jewish boy, never came to fruition when MGM decided to cancel the project.