Stewart Thorndike, who played Nuala in Eyes Wide Shut and is a horror movie writer and director (Lyle), discusses Wendy’s problematic situation, what’s missing in horror films, and what it was like to act for Kubrick.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 18
Part one of Rob Ager’s essay about the possible gold standard theme in The Shining
Trailer for Lyle (2015) written and directed by our guest, Stewart Thorndike
If you enjoy the podcast, please support my work by donating!
Musicologist Jonathan Stern discusses the stunning soundtrack to The Shining, how the overhead maze scene was shot, plus Kubrick’s connection to Gilligan’s Island.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 16
The Vampira Show
If you enjoy the podcast, please support my work by donating!
WFMU Midnight Matinee’s John Schnall sat through The Shining fourteen times when it first came out and lived to talk about it 37 years later for this week’s podcast.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 15
Folk song from Werner Herzog’s Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970)
Commercial from the Keep America Beautiful campaign in the 1970s, with the iconic crying Native American.
John Schnall’s highly experimental, totally nutso Midnight Matinee version of The Shining Polka.
If you enjoy the podcast, please support my work by donating!
Elstree Studios film historian Howie Berry dollops out some amazing inside scoops about the elevator of blood, continuity errors, and some scenes we’ll never see.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 14
A map of where everything was filmed at Elstree Studios.
Watching the Vision Assist, which captured each day’s takes with Kubrick having to print the film. (He printed most of them anyway!)
A TV spot with alternate takes never used in the film.
A call sheet from The Shining.
Inspiration for continuity errors in the film?
From Stephen King’s The Shining
Danny lay awake in his bedroom, eyes open…
His glider floated overhead from a string. On his bureau the VW model, brought up from the roadway setup downstairs, glowed a dimly florescent purple. His books were in the bookcase, his coloring books on the desk. A place for everything and everything in its place, Mommy said. Then you know where it is when you want it. But now things had been misplaced. Things were missing. Worse still, things had been added, things you couldn’t quite see, like in one of those pictures that said CAN YOU SEE THE INDIANS? And if you strained and squinted, you could see some of them—the thing you had taken for a cactus at first glance was really a brave with a knife clamped in his teeth, and there were others hiding in the rocks, and you could even see one of their evil, merciless faces peering through the spokes of a covered wagon wheel. But you could never see all of them, and that was what made you uneasy. Because it was the ones you couldn’t see that would sneak up behind you, a tomahawk in one hand and a scalping knife in the other…
Joe and Megan converse with me about conversations, we neurologically probe the smell of toast, and we are treated to a ditty by Scatman Crothers.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 13
An interview from 1980 with Mick Garris. Scatman sings at about 3:00.
Scatman and Redd Foxx on Sandford and Son in 1975
The coin toss scene in No Country for Old Men(2007), directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, with Javier Bardem and Gene Jones
Orson Welles and James Cotton in The Third Man (1949), directed by Carol Reed.
Peter Boyle and Robert DeNiro in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976)
John Huston and Jack Nicholson in Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974)
Toni Collette and Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense (1999), directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Put the two scenes together…
Martin Landau and Sam Waterson in Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
Lots of great conversation scenes in Alex Cox’s Repo Man (1984), here with Emilio Estevez and Fox Harris.
If you enjoy the podcast, please donate!
Marcus Pinn from Pinnland Empire and Zebras in America talks with me about this intense scene, plus the stuff that messed with our brains in childhood.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 12
Trailer for Bob Balaban’s Parents (1989)
Trailer for Elem Klimov’s Come and See (1985)
Marcus refers to this scene from Alan Clarke’s Scum (1979) with Mick Ford and Bill Dean
Marcus refers to this scene in Steve McQueen’s Hunger (2008) with Michael Fassbender and Liam Cunningham
Scene from Richard Attenborough’s Magic (1978) with Anthony Hopkins and Burgess Meredith
Goddamn scary trailer and television commercial (used for both) for Magic
If you enjoy the podcast, please donate!
John Cribbs from The Pink Smoke talks about The Shining in the context of horror, and Kubrick in the context of food.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 11
Trailer for Scalps (1983)
Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter, originally a short story and also adapted and directed by Alfred Hitchcock for Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
The scene that almost got John Cribbs thrown out of a movie theater. “How’d you like some ice cream, Frodo?”
The beautiful Andreas Gursky photo to which John was referring.
Trailer for The Sentinel (1977)
Trailer for The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2017)
Trailer for Toshio Matsumoto’s Funeral Parade of Roses (1969), which influenced A Clockwork Orange.
This is low quality but a prime example of the creepiness of Federico Fellini’s Giulietta degli Spiriti (Juliette of the Spirits) (1965). [NB: On the podcast I mistakenly call it Juliette of the Spring] Bonus: Twins! I suggested this and other Fellini films that contain creepiness were an influence on The Shining, but heck, let’s throw in Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist and most of David Lynch’s stuff as touched by Fellini. WARNING: Super-scary.
If you enjoy the podcast, please donate!
Megan Dooley and Joe Dator boogie with me through the Gold Room, as we consider other amazing sets in film history.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 10
The Vandamm House from Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest”
The Manderley estate from Hitchcock’s “Rebecca”
The town of Sweethaven from Robert Altman’s “Popeye”
The set of Orson Welles’s “The Magnificent Ambersons”
One interpretation of the color palette for “The Shining” from Cinema Palettes.
Wendy gif by Joe Dator. Play “The Hustle” as you watch.
If you enjoy the podcast, please donate!
Jon Solomon & Joe Dator play darts with me as we ponder the twins and the Torrance’s new “homey” apartment.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 9
Statue of a Native American child riding a turkey at the Paramus Park Mall.
Diane Arbus’s “Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, 1967”
Stanley Kubrick’s photo from a Look Magazine essay titled “Deaf Children Hear for the First Time” (1948) [NB: The colorized version also shown was not colored by Kubrick]
The twins’ dresses at the traveling Kubrick exhibit, photo courtesy Tula Jeng from her wonderful site Whorange.
Mrs. Grady’s head, from a scene in “Making ‘The Shining,'” a documentary by Vivian Kubrick. In this scene, Wendy would look in a mirror and see Mrs. Grady behind her, and then the mirror would shatter. [EDIT: This head may, instead, be a make-up test for the bathtub woman.]
Scene from Scorsese’S “Taxi Driver” (1976) in which the camera pans to the side, down a hallway, at about 1:02.
The facade of the Overlook Hotel, under construction
Jon Solomon’s radio show can be heard every Wednesday from 5PM to 8PM on WPRB
If you enjoy the podcast, please donate!
Kevin Maher and Joe Dator help me examine the road trip to Hell, plus a fun discussion of the bazillion parodies and comedy bits spawned from this beloved horror flick.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 8
Jack drives about as well as Paul does.
If there is a better way to learn about cannibalism, I don’t know what it is. Wakiki Wabbit (1942)
The Simpsons, “The Shinning,” from “Treehouse of Horrors V”
A scene from South Park’s “A Nightmare On Facetime” (2012)
Shining, the delightful rom com. Not sure who made this.
The Grand Overlook Hotel by Steve Ramsden (2015)
There are some brief references to The Shining in Family Guy, here and there.
Bob’s Burgers does The Belching, from their episode “Crawl Space” (2011)
Key & Peele in a sketch called “Continental Breakfast,” season 3, episode 7 (2013)
4Creative’s trailer for More4’s “Kubrick Season” (2008) (NB: I was wrong about it being by the BBC.
Here’s a link to some of the images from The Toy Story Shining by Kyle Lambert.
Here’s a link to Frank Lesser’s piece in McSweeney’s titled “Notes on Your Novel.”
Mad Magazine’s “The Shiner,” found on The Overlook Hotel website.
And the Crazy Magazine version, “The Signing,” also on The Overlook Hotel site.
The Pac Man version of The Shining by M. Whaite (2011)
From the movie Keanu (2016)
Regular guest Joe Dator’s Citizen Candy Man (2005)
Here’s Kevin Maher’s website, chock full of fun stuff, including a link to Kevin Geeks Out.
If you enjoy the podcast, please donate!
Actor Zandy Hartig talks about what it’s like to be directed by the likes of Soderbergh, and the good and bad of being directed by a genius like Kubrick.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 7
Vinessa Shaw with Tom Cruise in Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut.
(If anyone has the clip of this whole scene I’ll post it. Thanks!)
An interview with Vinessa Shaw in Collider, in which she talks about being directed by Kubrick.
One of the trailers for Soderbergh’s Mosaic, in which Zandy has a role.
Zandy Haritig up front, in blue, with the cast of the Emmy award-winning (and goddamned funny) Childrens Hospital.
If you enjoy the podcast, please donate!
Megan and I discuss ghost wasps and ghost lamps, plus a whole conversations about sexism and how it relates to the Kubrick world.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 6
Dopey decal, present and missing.
Goofy doll in the background, Shelly reflecting the doll. Shoes, too!
Vivian Kubrick on the set of A Clockwork Orange.
The amazing Adrienne Corri, who starred as Mrs. Alexander in A Clockwork Orange.
Kubrick’s Lolita had her as a brat, completely complicit in the affair with an innocent (Kubrick’s words!) Humbert Humbert. I will soon post an essay on Lolita.
The Babadook (2014)
If you enjoy the podcast, please donate!
Documentary producer Elizabeth Yoffe discusses Danny Lloyd and his acting coach Leon Vitali, the subject of Filmworker. Bonus: Joe Dator!
Download the file here: Shining Episode 5
Article announcing Danny Lloyd’s casting in Kubrick’s film.
Danny Lloyd with Kubrick
One of Polanski’s innovations in Rosemary’s Baby was the odd cropping of framed subjects, or their being turned away from the camera. This added to a feeling of disorientation and paranoia for the audience. Kubrick may have borrowed this idea in his shot of Danny in the bathroom, with his face cut out of the scene.
Leon Vitali starred as Lord Bullingdon in Barry Lyndon (enters this scene at 1:20, in green). He was also Red Cloak in Eyes Wide Shut.
Article in the Daily Beast about Filmworker
Click on this image to go to the Filmworker website
If you enjoy the podcast, please donate!
Tasha Robinson and Bob J. Koester ponder the characters’ motivations and eyebrows in this unusual interview scene.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 4
Jack Nicholson with crazy hair at the beginning of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Jack Nicholson as The Joker trying to pass for normal.
Trivia that just occurred to me, post-taping: Pat Hingle, who starred as Bill Watson in the 1997 miniseries version of The Shining, played Commissioner Gordon in the Tim Burton’s Batman, which also starred Jack Nicholson as the Joker.
Grady Twins interview!
Kubrick’s take on ghosts.
Shelley Duvall talks about the unflattering lenses Kubrick used.
If you enjoy the podcast please donate!
Star Wars Minute’s Pete the Retailer helps us explore the surprising overlap of Star Wars and The Shining, along with analysis of Jack, eagles, and the mysterious Bill Watson. Bonus: Plenty of arguing.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 3
Obi-Wan Kenobi sacrificed his life when he saw that Luke, Leia, Han and the others could escape the Death Star in this pivotal scene.
Kubrick, clearly troubled by the burned-to-the-ground Colorado Lounge set.
Bill Watson’s pants seem to change. Supernatural or sloppy?
Eagle statue behind Ullman’s desk.
We loves us some Barry Dennen.
If you enjoy the podcast, please donate!
Megan Dooley and I stroll through the Overlook, hang out in the office, discuss some ghostly weirdness, and then have a terrible sandwich with Wendy, Danny and Tony.
Download the file here: Shining Episode 2
One of many stories about Kubrick and his obsession with his cats and other pets.
This seems to be the painting outside of Ullmann’s office (or one version of it), titled “The Great Mother.” The Native American artist’s name is Norval Morisseau. More on him in another episode!
The conspiracy erection. We’re not buying it, although Ullmann certainly IS glad to see him.
Here’s a link to some evidence to my own Shining conspiracy theory, about Ullmann.
Entertainment Weekly article with Jan Harlan
Danny’s phaser, which apparently will be of no use to him.
Kubrick’s constant use of cartoon characters and fairy tale references was likely influenced by his reading the 1976 book The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales by Bruno Bettelheim, which he studied with his co-writer Diane Johnson. Bettelheim turned out to be a fraud and child abuser. Ultimately, a fascinating story of sociopathic power that ruined countless lives.
Wikipedia entry on Bruno Bettelheim
Saul Bass’s wonderful original poster. Sufficiently scared a young Megan.
If you enjoy the podcast, please donate!
We look at the first two minutes and thirty-seven seconds of Kubrick’s masterpiece. The music! The flying! The credits! More weird trivia than you can shake an axe at!
Download the file here: Shining Episode 1
This album was huge.
The version of the Dies Irae that inspired the opening of The Shining begins at 3:30.
Scatman Crothers in one of his most beloved roles.
“Horn.” [pause] “Toad.” (The password was “trombone.”)
He’s not actually in the opening credits, he barely says a word in the movie, but we love him anyway: Mr. Barry Dennen.
It’s all about the music.
If you enjoy the podcast, please donate!
Joe and I take a wide-eyed jog (in less than half an hour!) through Kubrick’s life and films leading up to the release of The Shining. Good prep for episode one, coming soon!
Download the file here: Shining Bonus: Kubrick and His Movies
A kid from the Bronx.
A photo Kubrick sold to look magazine while he was still in high school.
The actual flying padre! We should have noted that these were shorts. This film was about nine minutes long.
Fear and Desire (1953)
Killer’s Kiss (1955)
The Killing (1956)
Paths of Glory (1957) with Timothy Carey
Spartacus (1960)
Lolita (1962)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) with Peter Sellers
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
A Clockwork Orange (1971) with Philip Stone
Barry Lyndon (1975)
If you enjoy the podcast, please donate!
A quick orientation. Join us on FB and Twitter for new episode updates!
Download the file here: Shining Ep 0
Here’s my Kubrick list, best to worst. Kubrick would not be happy with this list.
If you enjoy the podcast, please donate!