Why did Kubrick cut down "The Shining" for international release?

You've got the right one. The disc is indeed 119 minutes - I got mine last week and thought I received the wrong version. Enjoy.

 

^
Yay!! Thanks!

 

After watching the blu-ray, I have to say I prefer the shorter cut. I miss some of the deleted scenes but the pacing here is much better in my opinion and I'm a fan of the film.

 

Just watched the shortened cut myself, and I like it very much indeed. Not only is there an improvement in the overall forward momentum of the thing, but the excising of material naturally creates new juxtapositions between scenes/shots.

The change that struck me the most is going from Danny's "vision" scene in the bathroom, early in the movie, straight to the driving scene as they drive to the Overlook. It works so much better, it's very visual and powerful. The cut scene of the psychiatrist just plods, drags and deflates.

(And I've always thought that the scene towards the end where Halloran visits the gas station to talk to his friend about renting a snowcat was clunky and unnecessary. It's gone!)

–Editing Nerd Out–

 

I picked up the 115-minute version of "The Shining" on dvd, but it's a Region 2 UK dvd. Is there a way to play it on my USA dvd player?

 

No. You might want to look for an easily hackable dvd player. You used to be able to hack Phillips quite easily and they were cheap too.

 

Note that the foreign version probably is playing at 25fps instead of 24fps, so it's going to be 4% shorter than the theatrical version in terms of run time.

 

I watched the shorter cut recently and while I do agree there are some segments that work better, overall I still prefer the longer cut I've been watching for the past 30 years.

 

My dvd player won't play it at all. I heard that there is stuff you can do to get either the dvd or the machine to play it though.

 

It depends on the make and model. Search how to hack region codes.

 

Remember Kubrick liked to finish films his way, even if it's based on a novel. On A Clockwork Orange (my favourite Kubrick's film) he skipped an entire (the final one, the real ending, was it chapter 13?) chapter, happy endings and Kubrick didn't match. In my opinion skipping this final chapter on a Clockwork Orange made it a better film, I don't know about The Shinning as I have the UK Blu ray, I'm always telling myself I gotta get the US version, but I'm always flat broke and I end up buying new releasings and leaving this one for "a future amazon order".

I think the International or European cut works very well anyway, i think both the pace and it's length are right, and that is something tricky with Kubrick, who could be shoothing a film forever and end up with millions of film reels.

 

"The Shinning" isn't on Blu-ray anywhere :

 

Considering The Shining is such a successful, iconic part of movie culture I find it quite surprising how polarising it can be and how a lot of people regard it as a failure from a book adaptation standpoint.

It was rather disingenuous of SK to slate Kubricks vision and then go on to approve that way inferior TV series. I think SK knows zilch about cinema.

 

Sorry for my bad spelling, I meant The Shining, I'm Spanish and my English is far from being perfect.

 

EDDIE EDDIE EDDIE!


Sorry couldnt resist

 

I was just kidding around - "The Simpsons" did a "Treehouse of Horror" segment they called "The Shinning" so I thought it was the perfect chance to refer to it!

 

Part of the reason for Kubrick skipping the last chapter of CO was that he only read the US American edition of Burgess' book, which omits the last chapter. The US publishers too felt that the "happy ending" didn't match the tone of the book. It was the chapter 21, btw, and Burgess wasn't too happy about leaving it out. He said that the number 21 stood for Alex reaching adulthood and leaving his violent youth behind. When Kubrick finally came across a copy including the last chapter, he felt the same as the US publishers and you and felt no need for changing the ending of the film. I sort of agree with him. Without the chapter 21, the story is about the human condition in general, not only about adolescence.

 

Sorry for the aside, but here's a perfect example of why our English teachers told us never to abbreviate. "SK" could stand for both Stanley Kubrick or Stephen King...

Harry

 

Well its kind of obvious I didnt mean that Stanley didnt know zilch about cinema, isnt it?

 

But he directed Maximum Overdrive!!

 

Is it as bad as it looks?

 

I sincerely don't want you to lose 90 plus minutes of your life on it!

 

I just hoped it would be one of those 'so bad its good' films like Piranha.

 

It's been so long that I can't say for sure...but as far as Emilio Estevez goes, "Freejack" might fit the bill perfectly for that sort of thing!

 

Just watched the trailer and I'm speechless.
Rene Russo , Mick Jagger (WTF?) and...why did Anthony Hopkins agree to this just after Silence Of The Lambs? Mustve been before he gave up the booze.

I just found a used copy on Amazon for 99p. I think its going to be well worth it