Listening to Stanley Kubrick (37 page)

Utrenja
(1970–1971) is a religious choral piece that marks a follow-up to Penderecki’s famous
St. Luke’s Passion
, which was composed in 1963–1965.
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The first part of
Utrenja
deals with the entombment of Christ, after his crucifixion, while the second part—from which Kubrick took two excerpts—deals with Christ’s resurrection. The first movement of the second part,
Ewangelica
, or
Gospel
, is not sung in a traditional way, but chanted like rhythmic spoken words. One particular musical feature of the movement, a “sting” of sorts on percussion, that begins the movement is used numerous times in this final section of the film to punctuate particularly horrifying events. It first appears just after Danny writes “Redrum” on the door in lipstick. He screams, “Redrum,” and Wendy wakes up and holds him, only to see “Murder” in the mirror. Just as this happens, Jack uses an ax to break through the door of the apartment. Stainforth doesn’t allow the cue to continue, but instead cuts quickly to
Kanon for Orchestra and Tape
. The sting appears again as Jack surprises Hallorann with an ax to the chest. Here the cue is allowed to continue and we hear the rhythmic chanting of the choir, which is very sibilant. Another rattle occurs about half a minute into the movement, and this one accompanies Danny running from the cupboard in the kitchen and Jack limping after him. The movement continues with more chanting as Wendy looks for Danny. Again we hear the sting when Wendy happens upon a man in a bear suit leaning over into the lap of a man in a tuxedo; when they look up at Wendy, there is another sting. The sibilant chanting continues for another thirty seconds. When Wendy comes upon Hallorann’s corpse, we hear the sting again, followed by the rhythmic chanting. Another sting enters when Wendy sees a party guest who appears to have a head injury. The chanting continues as we cut to the hedge maze. Jack is chasing Danny, and the chanting is layered with
Kanon for Orchestra and Tape
. Jack, slow because of his limp, warns Danny, “I’m right behind you,” as the next sting occurs. The music becomes more frantic, mirroring both Jack’s insanity and Wendy’s panic.
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The other excerpt from
Utrenja II
,
Kanon Paschy
or
Easter Canon
, starts at the beginning of the movement, with three heavy, low chords in the brass followed by two flourishes upward in the strings and woodwinds. This cue is first used as Wendy hits Jack with the baseball bat. The cue begins when she hits his hand; when the bat makes contact with Jack’s head, it matches perfectly with the first flourish. Stainforth used this part of the cue twice in quick succession. Jack falls down the stairs, and as Wendy drags him to the walk-in pantry,
Polymorphia
begins again. Later, when Jack is using the ax to break through the bathroom door, we hear the beginning of
Kanon Paschy
. Jack says, “Here’s Johnny” between the two flourishes in the strings. As before, Stainforth repeats the opening gesture—three low brass chords followed by two upward strings flourishes—and then allows the movement to continue with more brass chords and a dissonant vocal entrance of the choir. It continues over into Hallorann’s POV as he’s driving up to the Overlook. After that, it’s just the sound of the Sno-cat followed by the howling wind. As Wendy runs through the hotel, she sees the wave of blood coming from the elevator to the low brass chords and flourishes. It continues as Jack loses Danny’s trail in the maze.

Jack Hylton and His Orchestra: “Masquerade”

Appearance:

1:20:49–1:21:20 Jack, upset at Wendy, hears this tune from the hallway

Jack Hylton was a British bandleader after the First World War. Born in 1892 as John Greenhalgh Hilton, Hylton achieved success as a bandleader and arranger in the 1920s and recorded numerous albums for both the HMV and the Decca labels. In the 1940s, he became a theatrical producer, and in the 1950s he worked in television. “Masquerade,” a waltz, was recorded in 1932 on the Decca label.
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Wendy suggests that Danny needs medical help, and Jack is angry that she would have him leave his responsibilities at the Overlook. But he must succeed . . . As he storms out of their room, he hears muffled music in the hallway by the kitchen. He turns a corner to find balloons and streamers in the hallway, almost as if a party has just taken place.

Ray Noble and His Orchestra: “Midnight, the Stars, and You”

Appearances:

1:22:13–1:25:26 Jack enters the Gold Room to find a party in full swing; he orders a drink from Lloyd and then bumps into Grady who takes him to the men’s room to help him clean up

2:19:34–2:22:51 The camera closes in on a picture of the 4 July 1921 party at the Overlook Hotel; as the camera gets closer and closer, we realize Jack is in the picture; closing credits

Written in 1932, this tune accompanies Jack’s entry into the party in the Gold Room. It has one other appearance, and that is just before (and over) the closing credits. Al Bowlly is the singer on this recording. Born in 1899 in Mozambique, Al Bowlly grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. He played with bands around Africa and Southeast Asia until gaining some fame with a recording of Irving Berlin’s song “Blue Skies.” In 1930, he signed a recording contract with Ray Noble and His Orchestra, and over the next few years he put more than five hundred songs on wax. Bowlly is thought of as one of the originators of “crooning,” a style of singing that can be described as intimate, gentle, and often romantic. It was made possible by the development of microphones, which allowed even quiet singing to be heard live. Bowlly is credited with a book about the technique of crooning called
The Modern Singing Style
. Bowlly was also one of the very first singers of the era to achieve as much name recognition as a bandleader—something quite unusual at the time. He was popular among the ladies too, who clamored for his autograph after shows. Bowlly’s nickname was “The Big Swoon.” He died in London in the Blitz in 1941. Ray Noble eventually moved to California where he worked in film and radio. Crooning would continue to be popular until the early 1950s. One of his most famous songs was “Midnight, the Stars, and You,” written by Harry Woods, Jimmy Campbell, and Reg Connelly. It speaks of a magical night of dancing under the stars that the singer promises to remember for the rest of his (or her) life. This song perfectly captures the ending of the film, which is quite different from the ending of the novel.

In Stephen King’s novel, one of Jack’s most important duties as caretaker is “dumping” the boiler. Because the Overlook is a very old hotel, Watson, the maintenance man, warns him that Jack must keep an eye on the boiler’s pressure: “Now you got to remember to come down here twice a day and once at night before you rack in. You got to check the press. If you forget, it’ll just creep and creep and like as not you an your fambly’ll wake up on the fuckin moon. You just dump her off a little and you’ll have no trouble.”
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As Jack becomes more and more preoccupied with the hotel’s past, he starts neglecting his duties. And as Jack—possessed by the hotel—attempts to “correct” Wendy and Danny, he forgets the dump the boiler. In the end, the boiler explodes, and the hotel is destroyed. Jack is killed in the cataclysm, and the hotel is gone for good, a somewhat satisfying end. King treats us to an epilogue in which Danny, Wendy, and Hallorann are spending the summer at the Red Arrow Lodge in Maine. Wendy is still recovering from her physical wounds, and Danny’s nightmares are getting less frequent.

In the film, however, the hotel remains unchanged. It will continue to have guests and presumably to haunt caretakers. It also appears to have absorbed Jack into itself. In an epilogue in the film that Kubrick cut, Ullman visits Wendy in the hospital where he tells her that Jack’s body has not been found. In the version of the film without an epilogue, we are shown that Jack’s body froze to death in the hedge maze, but then we see him again, in a photograph from the July Fourth party at the hotel. Jack has now become part of its grand history, although some imagine that Jack was always in that picture and that his return to the hotel was something of a trick of reincarnation. Or perhaps the photo is his reincarnation.
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The haunting melody of “Midnight, the Stars and You” captures this chilling ending, history repeating itself, as Kubrick slowly moves closer and closer to this picture, aiding our gradual recognition of the protagonist, spiffily dressed in a tuxedo, with his arms outstretched.

Ray Noble and His Orchestra: “It’s All Forgotten Now”

Appearance:

1:25:47–1:29:01 Jack and Delbert talk in the red bathroom

The recording of this song is somewhat muffled because the song is ostensibly coming from the Gold Room, although the scene takes place in the men’s room. Delbert Grady has spilled some drinks on Jack and takes him into the men’s room to clean him up. It’s interesting that this song plays as Jack and Delbert discuss the things they do not remember. When Jack learns Delbert Grady’s name, he tells him that Grady killed his family and committed suicide. Grady claims not to remember this happening. According to Grady, Jack is—and always has been—the caretaker at the Overlook. Like “Midnight, the Stars and You,” “It’s All Forgotten Now” was published in 1934, which of course makes it anachronistic to the 1920s party that is going on. The flapper fashion and accessories suggests a 1920s soiree.

Henry Hall and the Gleneagles Hotel Band: “Home”

Appearance:

1:29:10–1:31:34 Continues after “It’s All Forgotten Now,” while Delbert and Jack are still in the red bathroom

Henry Hall was an English bandleader who worked for the London Midland and Scottish Railway chain of hotels, which included the five-star hotel the Gleneagles. Hall helped promote the Gleneagles by doing radio broadcasts with the band. He played with groups all around England, even leading a band on the
Queen Mary
’s maiden voyage in 1936. He signed a recording contract with Columbia, with whom he put out a few records; then he recorded on Decca. “Home” was recorded in the 1930s for Decca, with vocals by Maurice Elwin.

The muffled tunes of the band continue with “Home” as Grady warns Jack that Danny is calling for help from Hallorann. Grady also explains that he had trouble with his family, but he “corrected” them, and he suggests that Jack do the same with Wendy and Danny. This is the only one of the band tunes that appeared on the original soundtrack album, perhaps because of timing issues.

Other Musical Cues

There are a few other musical cues, but most of them are sourced from televisions or the radio. At the beginning of the film, as Jack is having his interview at the Overlook, Danny eats a sandwich and watches cartoons; the sound effects and music from a Warner Bros. cartoon are very distinctive (0:04:17–0:05:08). Later in the film, when Danny is in a trance—only Tony will communicate with Wendy—Danny sits again watching cartoons. This time it’s the theme song to
The Road Runner Show
, followed by the music and sound effects of a Road Runner cartoon (1:39:25–1:41:08). Even this cue was carefully chosen and placed in the scene. The cartoon plays as Wendy leaves the apartment, taking a baseball bat with her for protection. Gordon Stainforth has said of the cue in this scene: “I was particularly proud of the way I ‘choreographed’ the cartoon music on the TV with Wendy’s movements. There was then a long dissolve, as the cartoon music faded, to Wendy entering the Colorado lounge. After a pause I then gently faded in the start of the Penderecki music as Wendy walks towards Jack’s desk.”
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A short theme song to Miami News, Channel 10 is heard just before Hallorann receives a “message” from the Overlook that all is not well (1:09:46–1:10:10). The news reports that Miami is experiencing a record heat wave, while in Colorado there is record snowfall. As Hallorann is driving from the Denver airport to Durkin’s to rent a Sno-cat, we hear a brief jingle from the radio station KHOW, Radio 63 (1:38:37–1:38:43).

Conclusion

The soundtrack to
The Shining
is a tour de force of the use of preexistent music. Kubrick and music editor Gordon Stainforth took the lessons learned in
2001
,
A Clockwork Orange
, and
Barry Lyndon
to create a unique soundscape. They were aided in this by the musical choices, which, because of their structures, atonal language, or focus on sound over melody, made extreme flexibility possible. The sounds dip in and out of consciousness. The band tunes alert the Torrances that they are not alone in the hotel. Dramatic flourishes in the art music punctuate the uncanny events.
The Shining
influenced filmmakers in the horror genre, introduced Penderecki and Bartók to a mass audience, and spawned countless theories as to its true meaning. Perhaps its most chilling message is that we are vulnerable not just to the dangers of the outside world but to the evil that lies dormant in the people we love—and in ourselves. In the film, the Overlook still exists, the July Fourth party continues eternally, and Jack has sacrificed his family and himself to be part of it forever.

Notes

1. Jeremy Barham, “Incorporating Monsters: Music as Context, Character and Construction in Kubrick’s
The Shining
” in
Terror Tracks: Music, Sound and Horror Cinema
, ed. Philip Hayard (London: Oakville, 2009), 137.

2. David Code, “Rehearing
The Shining
: Musical Undercurrents in the Overlook Hotel,” in
Music in the Horror Film: Listening to Fear
, ed. Neil William Lerner (New York: Routledge, 2010), 133.

3. Serena Ferrara,
Steadicam: Techniques and Aesthetics
(Oxford: Focal Press, 2000), 19.

4. Michel Ciment,
Kubrick: The Definitive Edition,
trans. Gilbert Adair (New York: Faber and Faber, 1999), 189.

5. Telex reprinted in Garrett Brown, “The Steadicam and
The Shining
,”
American Cinematographer
61, no. 8 (August 1980): 786.