A nice mini-documentary put together by Warner Bros to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of Kubrick’s The Shining.
It’s slightly odd that none of the music used in the actual film is used here, but I guess that the cost of getting the music rights was unjustifiably expensive.
It’s great that almost all the main crew members who are still alive are featured. I particularly like Garrett Brown’s piece about shooting the endless takes of Jack axing multiple bathroom doors, from just inside the bathroom, with splinters flying everywhere and Shelley screaming.
I’m featured right near the end.
It’s a bit strange they didn’t use the bit where I talk about finding and editing in the music for the scene where Jack walks into the Gold Ballroom: Al Bowlly’s ‘Midnight, the Stars and You’, immediately after Tony Frewin has mentioned it. So I’m putting up my whole unedited ‘piece to camera’:
*** UPDATE. The problems of old age! I was looking at this clip again just now and immediately said to myself, ‘There weren’t just four chords in that bit of Pendereski I’m referring to, surely?’ And I went and looked at it again and saw that there were indeed seven: Boom boom, boom boom, boom boom BOOMP! ending with a kind of exclamation mark, and then another high pitched shriek like a crazy echo. Then a wonderful silence of nearly two seconds, with just some wind sounds, before a long low chord like a foghorn comes in …
Finally, just a bit of fun for Shining enthusiasts. Someone’s just put this clip up on the Stanley Kubrick Appreciation Society Facebook page, the Italian dubbed version of the ‘What should be done with Danny?’ scene. Absolutely terrific, almost more scary than Jack Nicholson’s original. So well done, and seems to be in extraordinarily good sync. Enjoy!
