I SAW IT ON TAPE - Making The Shining

I was gonna be presumptuous and declare that 'everybody remembers the first time they saw The Shining' but there are plenty of reasons as to why that may not be the case - largely because it's so famous and so beloved (while also being so divisive) that it basically permeates the culture in a way that may make it difficult to nail down that 'first time'. I speak from experience - as I gave an overly detailed account a few years back, regarding how the film's mood manages to seep in more than any of the other qualities (especially if you're still technically a toddler). I remember it existing because I remember those creepy feelings, and it's hard to remember a time without them. Like they've always been there (in sinister Philip Stone delivery).

Flash forward to 1999 when I'm in full metal Kubrick mode as the release of his next (and final) film looms large and I'm trying to amass his entire filmography on Home Video. Thankfully (though I'm sure not accidentally) Warner Bros. rereleased each of his titles under The Stanley Kubrick Collection, which, for the most part, meant a restoration of the transfers - and for VHS, they looked really damn good. Also, within the video boxes they included a postcard-size repro of the original theatrical poster of whichever movie it was packaged with. Collect 'em all! But as exciting as a Cracker Jack prize with a cassette was, the most immense special feature was literally a "special feature" before that became a household phrase. 

Preceding the Feature Presentation of The Shining was Vivian Kubrick's Making the Shining - a 35 minute documentary that she shot and produced in 1980 and aired as a TV special that same year. After that I don't know what happened to it, I'd never even heard of such a thing until I was watching it on my new Shining tape. Also I'm not entirely sure that I knew it was part of the video beforehand - there's a good chance I didn't read the back of the box before I popped it in and suddenly this Holy Grail of Stanley Kubrick fandom unfolds before my eyes. This wasn't like some episode of HBO First Look where they show you how all the special effects are done and then you go see the movie two weeks later. This is a behind-the-scenes account of a film that most people know inside and out and suddenly the curtain is pulled back and we witness a fourth dimension where Jack is polite and Wendy is grouchy and Danny is happy and everything feels a lot less like Colorado and lot more like England. 

It's always fascinating to watch the process of moviemaking (it's why they make these kindsa things) but to get a glimpse of a Cinematic Classic coming to life is like witnessing History. And all of that stuff is "cool" I suppose, but the real reward of this footage is seeing Stanley - directing, interacting, creating. For so long I'd only had still photographs and print interviews, but this, this was more than I could ever hope for; this wasn't some stilted Q&A either, this was motion picture documentation of my hero doing the very thing for which I heroized him. It was truly miraculous, and at the time all I could do to express my joy over this was to watch it over and over again; I felt as though this was a gift to me personally that no one else could ever appreciate as much as I. Then, over the next couple decades, I began to get the sense that maybe other people had recognized just how important this was, beyond the "behind the scenes" novelty. Kubrick was of course Mr. Recluse so I had to remind myself that this was sorta revelatory to just about everybody who saw it. He also wasn't exactly some avant-garde amateur with a small cult following - this was a giant in the world of the most popular artistic medium of the 20th Century. No one seems to talk about this 'making-of' much and I think we all take it for granted now but it's remarkable that this documentary exists, and it was, and continues to be, A Big Deal. 

- Paul