We all know the opening. The Warner Bros. Pictures logo fades into helicopter view across the pristine Saint Mary Lake in Glacier National Park. We fly past a solitary Wild Goose Island with a few inviting pine trees. The scenery is so perfect we’d believe it to be CGI if we didn’t know we were looking at 1980. The eerie Main Title from the score is playing. The creepy notes defy the imagery. Without the soundtrack it might be confused with an insurance commercial or a car commercial as the familiar yellow Volkswagen Beetle comes into view. Settle in for an old time hotel viewing of The Shining.
Very recently I drove across country in a move from the east coast to the west coast, so I smiled for several reasons as the opening credits scrolled… A STANLEY KUBRICK FILM… (reminder to watch the details), JACK NICHOLSON… (He’s had Joker written all over him from the moment we see his face in this film), SHELLEY DUVALL… (so perfectly cast it hurts! Her iconic terrorized face is only the surface of a depth of expressions she delivers. Scream queens, take note. Her face is the one to study), THE SHINING… It’s here. Stop rustling through your popcorn. Every moment counts from here on. The soundtrack changes as the title appears. The mood goes from uncertainty to spine-tingling in that instant. Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Barry Nelson, and Philip Stone all benefit from the directional change. Then Joe Turkel and Anne Jackson’s names scroll by with a chilling string instrumental wail. He’s the apparitional bar tender. She’s Danny’s doctor. The score goes back to normal with Tony Burton’s name. Characters are not wasted, but we’re made aware of the significance of their presence with the music. Executive Producer, Jan Harlan. The music changes again. Strings whine as we read: Based upon the novel by STEPHEN KING. The audience claps. Not because top billing didn’t also deserve it. We were transfixed. This opening scene is paramount among cinematic masterpieces. Abrupt silence follows among the small audience.
Our first view of the remote hotel at the base of a mountain reminds us that we are all watching this from the comfort of The Langham Huntington, Pasadena. Our host is Movies On Location with My Valley Pass. They specialize in viewer experiences meant to immerse you into the movie. It was a perfect introduction to Los Angeles for me. It’s not The Overlook Hotel, but it was built over a hundred years ago as Huntington Hotel, and it felt close enough. “REᗡЯUM” was scrawled on the mirror outside the theater entrance. I would like to have seen it scrawled on a door facing the mirror, but that’s nitpicking. We couldn’t have asked the hotel to change their carpet either, now could we? Before entering we had an opportunity to sit at the writer’s desk and get a picture in front of the typewriter, complete with Jack Torrance’s famous repetitive novel wrapped in the platen. I believe they counted the pens and pencils in the cup and on the desk. I didn’t check to see if there were actual cigarettes in the Marlboro box. I was seriously waiting for someone to start throwing a rubber ball against the wall.
Inside you could buy popcorn and a special Red Rum cocktail and take a seat at one of the tables for four. The experience took us back in time because the register wasn’t working and credit cards had to be taken manually. Thank goodness for cash! In a room full of horror fans, cinema fans, and Halloween enthusiasts we were right at home. I have never watched a movie so intently as I did on Saturday night. The Shining was already one of my top scary movies, but the experience of seeing it in a century old hotel forced me to really appreciate the details in the film. I couldn’t help but wonder if anyone in the wedding reception next door was staying in room 237. I hope the employees there had a little fun with that. All work and no play makes jack a dull boy.
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