A complete screenplay by Stanley Kubrick which had been lost for more than 60 years has been rediscovered by a professor from Bangor University.

Burning Secret, an adaptation of a 1913 Stefan Zweig novella, was written by Kubrick in 1956 and tells the story of a businessman who befriends a young boy in order to seduce the boy's mum. However, it was never turned into a film.

"To find a whole screenplay after 60 years - that's fantastic," Professor Nathan Abrams, film professor and director of research at Bangor's School of Creative Studies and Media, told the BBC.

Abrams was researching a book on Kubrick's last film, Eyes Wide Shut, when he was shown a copy of the script by the son of a Kubrick collaborator, who wants to remain anonymous.

"It seemingly checks out," Abrams said. "It's most likely that said collaborator was going to work on the film had it been green-lit."

Biographies and archives had made reference to the film before but, Abrams says, "what nobody knew was whether they had actually written a script and finished it - and now we know the answer to that question and we have a complete screenplay."

"I would argue that what we can see draws a direct link between this film, between Lolita, Barry Lyndon, The Shining and culminating in Eyes Wide Shut."

"Elements of this film, although it didn't get made, have fed into his other films. We can trace his thought over 40 years," Abrams said.

Though Kubrick was "really excited" about Burning Secret according to his producing partner at the time, the film was reportedly axed when MGM discovered Kubrick had been collaborating on the anti-war film Paths Of Glory.