Eyes wide shut?, the shining?, or Barry Lyndon?. Already watched the shining but it has been a minute so I don’t remember every detail, and I’ve only ever watched it sober
This is a reprise of a post I made to The Shining sub-reddit, with additional information.
I recently identified the TV in the scene where Wendy is watching TV - it is a Dynatron CTV20, a British PAL TV. Wendy is watching The Summer of '42 - but there is no power or antenna cable visible. I recently talked to Lou Bogue, the Gaffer on The Shining. He's 80, but still very sharp and full of anecdotes about Kubrick. He did not recall any special rig for this set up, but said that the typical method would have been to have taped the cables behind one of the legs and cut a hole in the rug. I looked for a sign of the cables emerging from the rug to go to a power socket and there was some thought that perhaps they were concealed by gaffer tape along the dark area on the right, which is part of the floor design. However, that doesn't convince and wasn't necessary - the floor was made of laquered plywood panels that could be lifted out, to access the sub-floor. I think down the leg, hole in the rug and a hole in the panel with access to the electrics and it's done. Very nice, very simple.
As to why - I think for visual symmetry, with a bit of spookiness thrown in.
BTW
The TV in the Boulder apartment, the Caretaker's apartment and Halloran's apartment is a JVC 7808.
The TV in the Overlook kitchen and Durkins garage is a Hitachi CWP 132 portable.
>I first encountered Saura’s work by chance and in a rather strange way one day when I got home quite late and turned on the television; a film in Spanish with subtitles, that I knew absolutely nothing about, and besides, I’d missed the first half hour. It was hard for me to follow and understand but, at the same time, I was convinced it was the film of a great director.I watched the rest of the film glued to the TV set and when it was over I picked up a newspaper and saw that it was Peppermint Frappé by Carlos Saura. Later I found a copy of the film, which of course I watched from the beginning and with great enthusiasm, and since then all of Saura’s films that I’ve seen have confirmed the high quality of his work. He is an extremely brilliant director, and what strikes me in particular is the marvellous use he makes of his actors.
If you've never seen Carlos Saura's films, I'd highly recommend them. In the very restrictive environment of Franco Spain, he made a series of really weird, transgressive, dreamlike films that definitely have a Kubrickian aspect. (Something I wrote about him and his work, if anyone's interested.)
Easy to see why Kubrick was immediately hooked by his work. Peppermint Frappé especially is a really strange, haunting film, kind of a sixties Spanish Vertigo.
Have you seen any of Saura's films?
i don't want to talk about the contreversies about kubrick's daughter, let's put that a side, i just want to talk about this lovely interview she did when she was 20 yo (this is just a clip from the whole footage 1h 24min ), she was interviewed by a japenese reporter named "Jun'ichi Yao" about her chining documentary she had been working on, i was blown away by her enthusiastic responses and her gentleness towards the reporter, i was smiling throwout all the video. that's the thing that i always admired about stanly's career, is his daughter involvmnent in some of his movies, and you don't see this happen with others directors, where their sons play let's say a minor or intresting part in their filmaking journey, this is a true "hidden" gem for every kubrick fan, you should difenetly watch the full footage if you have already, i will provide the link in the comments.
Was lucky enough to snag this from eBay this week. Crispy condition, some sun damage to the colour on the spines though. Still, for £10 can’t argue!
Stanley Kubrick’s 1956 film noir classic The Killing is a masterclass in tension, structural precision, and fatalistic storytelling. Centered on ex-con Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) and his meticulously planned $2 million racetrack heist, the film breaks traditional linear narrative by jumping back and forth in time, replaying the same central minutes from multiple character perspectives with mathematical exactness. Enhanced by Lucien Ballard’s razor-sharp high-contrast cinematography, Jim Thompson’s hard-boiled dialogue, and a standout, nerve-jangling performance by Elisha Cook Jr. as a weak-willed teller, the movie constructs a airtight mechanism where human flaw and absurd bad luck inevitably collide. It stands as both a foundational masterpiece of non-linear crime cinema—directly influencing works like Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs—and early proof of Kubrick’s obsession with human systems unraveling under the weight of fate.
what is your favorite psuedo-remake of a Kubrick film? is there a more influential director?
There are two photographs of Black women with large afros visible in Hallorann's Miami bedroom scene. One is above the TV, one is directly above the bed. Fans have been trying to identify them for decades.
I tracked down the one above the TV. It's Azizi Johari, from a 1973 poster called "Supernatural Dream." She'd formed a singing group called The Marvelles as a teenager in Seattle, was Playboy's Playmate of the Month in June 1975, appeared in Cassavetes's The Killing of a Chinese Bookie the following year, and showed up on Leon Ware's Musical Massage album cover and Sun's Wanna Make Love reissue around the same time.
The photo above the bed is a different woman, similar afro, red background. Some people assume it's Johari again, but I haven't found anything that actually backs that up. As far as I can tell, nobody's ever identified her. If anyone here recognizes her, or knows where that image came from, I'd genuinely like to know. I know there's more knowledgeable people here that may have some information.
I put together everything I found (sources, side-by-sides of the film stills against the original photos) here, if useful:
Hi !
I got that collection. Does it worth to see them again on this format or I should seek blu-ray ?
Is that boxset worth something ?
Thanks !
If you’d like to explore more of what you probably already know or understand to some degree, this may explain a bit about Actor’s Allusion and its companion technique Film Allusion. These are the methods I know Kubrick utilised along with a whole separate bag of storytelling tricks. This is just a beginning of discovery, and breakthroughs and only a shortlist.
In Gross Anatomy (1989) Todd Field’s character, a medical school student who also happens to play piano, is asked to leave medical school by the administration. Modine’s entrance as unserious is an allusion to his Full Metal Jacket character.
Ghosts: The Chemistry Lesson (1994) Alan Cumming comes across a circle of witches in an old henge and begins to affect all involved. A nod to 2001 at start is notable.
Here is the shortlist unexplained. Far and Away (1992)
Jerry MaGuire (1996)
The New Mike Hammer: S3E9 (1986) Two Deaths (1995)
Sunday’s Children/ Söndagsbarn (original title) 1992 (Bergman)
The Boys From Brazil (1978)
The Electric Horseman (1978) Pollack Reunion (1994) dir. Lee Grant
In the Presence of a Clown (1997) Bergman Marie Richardson.
Half Moon Street (1986)
Alexa (1988) Lowe
Feel free to add what you know to the list.
If there is not one film alluded to each actor in Eyes Wide Shut it would be a surprise therefore this list above is incomplete.
Each film or series should be watched with a level of intensity as if a witness to a crime.
Each film or series carries away with it a little piece of the plot of Eyes Wide Shut and it is a dark, dark ride.
This I believe to be Kubrick’s most complicated and artfully abundant work, yet another masterpiece in his canon but maybe his greatest contribution.
Late to the list:
Crooked Hearts (1991)
Mac (1992)
Point of No Return (1993)
Illustrated by Rion Vernon
On Photography (1977): Susan Sontag. Taken from the front page of the New York Review featuring Sontag’s “Illness as Metaphor” as displayed on the Torrance’s coffee table, contains the inspiration for the twins. Points toward the author’s canon of work.
The Catcher in the Rye (1951) J.D. Salinger alludes to the double dog eared pages 132 to 133 and finishes out chapter 17 with page 134. The pages allude to the turbulent relationship between both main characters specifically the screaming and whether or not Holden Caulfield is a madman.
The Bell Jar (1978): Taken from the January 1978 Playgirl edition, stars Ann Jackson as Greenwood’s doctor with similar but reversed lines in The Shining. Points toward actor’s canon of work and the appearance of the magazine issue seems as “self referential” in The Shining.
Omnibus: The Blue Hotel (1956) S05-E08 contains heavy elements of the Grady character. Was known to be a favorite or Kubrick’s. The themes explored share common underlying threads with The Shining.
Rocky (1976): Tony Burton. Shares some similarities to his role in The Shining.
Road Runner: Stop! Look! and Hasten! (1954): as featured in The Shining. Refers to the beginning of the relationship between Roadrunner and Coyote as seen through the eyes of a child.
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973): Barry Dennen Roles are similar in that both characters seem to have made decisions against their will. Alludes to the actor’s canon of work.
The Twilight Zone: Stopover in a Quiet Town: Barry Nelson.
Points toward the actor’s canon of work.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977): Left Unexplained with the exception that Winnie the Pooh makes an uncredited appearance in The Shining as himself.
Black Narcissus (1947) film, written by Rumer Godden: taken from the book In This House of Brede by Godden which sits on the shelf above the doctor. Points toward author’s canon of work.
Das Labyrinth (1922): by Ina Seidel taken from The Wish Child (1930) also by Seidel which resides on the side table in a stack of books in the Torrance apartment. Points toward author’s canon of work.
Emergency! (1972) S02E02 “Kids” taken
from the Emergency! lunch box behind the doctor in Danny’s bedroom. Kubrick utilised not only lines of script from this episode yet some of the camera work as well.
3 Women (1977) dir. Robert Altman: Duvall. Twins. eerie af.
Young Jethro by Roy Clews this novel sits at the very bottom of the stack of books between the doctor and Wendy. Clews wrote under the name Sara Fraser, a pseudonym for himself, a one-time Marine Commando and Foreign Legionnaire who has travelled and worked all over the world.
Now Voyager (?) 1942: Contained within the film Summer of ‘42 and is by definition
mise en abyme, a tool Kubrick often used in storytelling.
Foul Play (1978): left unexplained
Black Christmas (1974) Dullea, left unexplained
Marnie (1964) an allusion from the title Angell, Pearl and Little God by Winston Graeme observed on the window shelf in the Torrance apartment.
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (1975): Nicholson, taken from his initial interview with the hospital doctor and correlates to the Overlook hotel office, its salmon painted walls and the framed photographs of trophy fish.
“The Parish Boys Progress,” a blue hardcover which sits atop the stack of books between Wendy and the doctor on the side table in the Torrance apartment living room is sometimes known as “all of a twist” but mainly as Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. This book appears without a title or author’s name and is an allusion to itself.
The Fourth Ghost Book (1968) James Turner: considered one of the great anthologies to ghost stories.
The Beach Girls (1959) John D. MacDonald: As seen in the larger stack of books behind the main column, an homage or nod to Stephen king, who is known to have great praise for this book and writer. The novel is told in a mysterious round robin fashion by each of the witnesses.
The Witches Thread Throughout The Shining:
The excerpt from the opening title sequence is from Dies Irae but this piece is specifically titled “Dream of the Witch’s Sabbath.”
Beldam: The name Beldam as in Lia Beldam the actress in the bathtub is an archaic word for an old woman, often carrying a derogatory or frightening connotation meaning a hag, crone, or witch.
Chang'e and her Jade Rabbit: Chang’e is China’s moon goddess, is banished along with her jade rabbit to the moon for eternity.
Every culture has their moon goddess or witches and the room 237 witch appears as an amalgamation of those including the guest who stayed there from the book. The bathroom itself is the jade rabbit. Go check it out.
Mayday or May 1st or Beltane: is the 6 month mark to Halloween. April 30 is additionally known as Witch’s Night.
- an allusion to the Collection of works from: Dorothy Oxborough
Crying Boy
The Girl with Pigtails
Native Child
Native Pastel
Native American Girl Child
Alex Colville - an allusion to the Colville Collection:
Horse and Train (1954)** **
Woman and Terrier (1963)
Moon and Cow (1963):
Dog, Boy and St. John River (1958)
An allusion to the omitted painting in the Colville collection:
Mayday (1970)
THIS is what I would like to see in the Criterion collection, I want balance, both sides of everyone's experience with him.
Lolita would’ve worked better had it been made in the 80s or 90s with less censorship. No point in adapting a controversial novel in 1962. What about his other movies? Do you wish he had directed a certain movie years earlier…or later? Eyes Wide Shut could’ve been made as far back as the 60s, but it would’ve been a totally different movie. I wonder what Clockwork Orange would’ve looked like had he made it years later
If Kubrick were to be like “resurrected” let’s say after this latest season of House of the Dragon and manage to show it’s rise and fall original show and explain the spin-offs, what do you think his thought on it be like? I know it’s TV series and not movie series but still wonder what he’s think of this massive tv franchise.
Note that while I refer to both the book and miniseries together, it’s because King had a huge amount of control and creative input over the miniseries, and he praises and defends it. And with that it mind, for even the few nuances of the book, the miniseries erases them to paint Jack in a better light.
This has been something I have been thinking about for a while. With a lot of people, it’s easy for them to criticize the 1980 film, but with how they and King accuse the film of being misogynistic and praising how the book/miniseries depicts Wendy, it has made me more suspicious and want to question THEM instead. While Wendy on a surface level seems like a strong and confident woman, she feels written to not fully be her own independent character. She can seem to question and call out Jack, but deep down she never truly challenges or goes against his authority. And alongside the whole story, her moral/narrative center is around Jack Torrance, rather than her own needs and desires. And this is a problem with the overall story: it’s all about JACK and his own needs. Not about the well-being of his family, but more about HIS own self-esteem and confidence, and blaming others whether it be the alcohol or ghosts for his own behavior. And with Stephen King admitting that Jack is a self-insert, it does make me question things, especially when he’s already had a history of writing villains as one-dimensional cartoon archetypes, but then going through so many loops to excuse Jack Torrance.
And while people complain about Wendy in the film for not being a conventional strong woman like her book/miniseries counterpart, take a look at the stuff she does:
- Maintaining the Overlook when Jack won’t
- Is shown to have her own interests (like reading Catcher in the Rye)
- Even when it’s scary, willing to build up the courage to stand up to her abusive husband
And yet for all this, people will dismiss her because she’s an imperfect victim. And for how they’ll complain about the film being misogynistic, they unironically prove its point about misogyny and patriarchy enabling abusers and rejecting victims who aren’t perfect. And looking at Wendy from the book and miniseries, she begins to feel less like a character and more of a caricature/archetype, but people only defend it because it pleases themselves enough. With that, it also made me realize something I notice about King and his audience: Despite how they make themselves out to be, they are kind of shallow and think everything has to be at face value, and it kind of shows in his writing. Having to over-explain every bit of lore, have to announce every single thing, and also not letting things just be ambiguous (*cough* Gerald’s Game ending *cough*). Don’t get me wrong I do like some stories by King, but also at times it feels like he and his fans can insist upon himself too much. But overall, aside from Kubrick’s treatment of Duvall behind the scenes, the more I look into the discussion and criticism of The Shining film, the more I also begin to actually have a less nice view of King and those around him.
And it feels like projection that they call the film shallow, considering the thing they praise is essentially a wish fulfillment story for addicts who don’t want full accountability for their behavior. And the whole argument of “You can tell Jack is clearly crazy from the start” shows BOTH a lack of media literacy, and how lacking their logic is, as they go by the whole thing that it’s not an abuser’s fault truly, but rather the drugs and alcohol (or ghosts in this case).
I think it's one of the greatest films of all time, and it's a gold standard of cinematography, sound and making a cohesive movie. At the same time, I personally find the pacing extremely slow and its not the most entertaining watch.
I've really struggled rating this on Letterbox'd. Giving it an average rating would be flat-out wrong. But giving it a 5/5 would be dishonest to my experience.
I gave it a 4, but it's really not like any "4/5" movie I've ever seen. It's really unlike any movie that's ever existed.
This is the type of movie that was hard for me to get through. But at the same time, I could spend several hours watching analysis videos about the cinematograpy and development of it.
Hi There
Rewatched FMJ last night and yeah I definitely changed my opinion on this movie which is that the first half is still my favorite part since it’s classic Kubrickian and I noticed a few new things,second half is still a bit boring,and yet the sniper sequence really great especially with the fitting ending of them singing the Mickey Mouse club song.
Btw love the score of FMJ by Abigail Mead so also idk why I still don’t like the second half of Joker being in Vietnam and everything leading up to the Sniper sequence but I love the Army Training half and the Sniper half so Thoughts on this?
Since hearing the original Fairlight sound banks years ago, I'd always assumed this was common knowledge for some reason, but I happened to google it today and everything popping up said that the sounds from Full Metal Jacket's score were all custom-made by Vivian Kubrick. Perhaps I'm the first to notice that this is not quite the case.
The first sound is a .wav conversion of the saw.vc preset from the original Fairlight CMI synthesizer. The second is what it sounds like when you pitch it down 9 semitones, shorten the sample, EQ out the low end and reduce the mids, and add some reverb. Should sound familiar as that ominous, metallic sound, memorably featured during tense moments in Full Metal Jacket. This shows what can be done with factory presets.
[This is 33DOEyesWideShut posting under an alt account so that I don't convolute my submissions feed for followers.]