The Complete Kubrick

[nicolas]

Getting the international cut in 4K is the biggest plus of the set for me. It’s the cut I’ve watched first and always preferred to the US version for the reason Newman stated and its more organic buildup of tension. I never got the impression that the film is incomplete either, which is hard to believe with 25 minutes “missing.” Looking forward to revisiting that cut after almost a decade.

[Tuppence]

Yes, there's no difficulty understanding any of the characters' backstories in the international cut. When I finally saw the US version for the first time, I was shocked by how redundant and borderline graceless a lot of the exposition within the extra material seemed (the child psychologist scene certainly, but also Jack's "deja vu" conversation during breakfast was particularly egregious). I find the film is much more concentrated and intense in the international version.

[Roger Ryan]

… I was shocked by how redundant and borderline graceless a lot of the exposition within the extra material seemed (the child psychologist scene certainly…

I’ve not seen the international cut yet, but my favorite moment in the film is when Kubrick holds on Wendy for an extended period as she makes excuses for Jack’s behavior in classic co-dependent fashion then cuts to the psychologist looking aghast but trying to keep her facial reaction neutral - the effect is darkly comic and always makes me laugh. I don’t know that I would enjoy the film as much without that scene.

[Stefan Andersson]

In-depth description, and some analysis, of scenes cut from the international version of The Shining:

POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN LINKED TEXTS:
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/sk/films/cutshining.htm
https://www.kingwiki.de/index.php/Shini ... ittbericht (German language)

Movie-censorship.com and Schnittberichte.com also have detailed pages. Both sites are down and the moment.

[Finch]

This is what somebody did to their copy after struggling to get the discs out.

[FrauBlucher]

Oh my. How do they not realize some of their packaging is a problem

[nicolas]

Michael Chaiken was asked about the packaging and said this:

Yeah! I mean, I know that some collectors absolutely hate the sleeve discs, which I was unaware was such a controversy among physical-media collectors. […] I know these conversations were happening when I was working with the art department, and they did do some sort of test. There’s a plastic-lined pack to help with the disc going in and out, so it won’t be scraping against paper. [...]

[Laughs] But I did ask, “How serious is this?” They said, “We don’t get a lot of returns. If anything, we get a lot of returns from people who have broken the center of the jewel cases.”

[James Stock]

Does he not know what a jewel case actually is?

[domino harvey]

If anyone involved in the process is actually unaware that actual movie watchers (not recipients of sets like this as executive gifts and museum shop curios) don’t want slots, I don’t know what to say. Learn your industry better?

[CriterionPhreak]

I got a freeze-up during playback of the international cut of The Shining, at around the 45-minute point when Jack is on the floor, with Wendy consoling him after he wakes up from a nightmare. I had to skip to the next chapter to continue the playback, which was fine the rest of the way. There was no visible damage on the disc surface. My Sony and Panasonic 4K players both showed the same problem. But my computer 4K Blu-ray drive could scan the disc from beginning to end with no problems. I'm still pondering a return request. This is one of three discs that exist only in this set -- the other two are the 3 early short films and Lolita 4K. The Shining 4K discs are also triple-layer (BD-100), which, as we know, is more prone to playback issues. Except The Killing, Paths of Glory, and Dr. Strangelove, all 4K discs in the set are triple-layer.

Regarding redundancies in the US cut of The Shining, I feel that repeating plot points is not always a bad thing. I've seen it done in good films and old classic films. Sometimes the re-iteration shows us a different perspective, as in the case when Wendy recalls Jack's past alcoholism and Danny's injury. We get her side of the story, and we see how seemingly unconcerned she is and how shocked the doctor is. That is important information too, completely different from the way Jack tells the story later.

[hearthesilence]

I may have posted this before, but I saw both cuts years ago when I wasn't really a fan of this film - I thought the international cut would be more palatable because (at the time) the U.S. cut felt too much like a slog. However, I've since grown to love the film and prefer the U.S. cut because what I've come to appreciate most is the atmosphere, not the plot - it's the strongest and most unique aspect of the film, and the strange, hypnotic pacing of the longer U.S. cut feeds into that.

[Lowry_Sam]

The Stand & The Shining were probably the 2 books that instilled an enthusiasm for reading as a kid. When I first saw the trailer for The Shining I was really struck by the opening elevator doors & thought "wow" that's really something. For some inexplicable reason I never saw it when it was released, particularly as King was my favorite writer until I discovered classic literature (at about the same time as the movie's release). When I finally saw it, I was completely underwhelmed & would have to say I found it to be Kubrick's most disappointing film, probably in part because I had such high expectations. Everything seemed to be technically proficient, yet for me it all fell flat & I couldn't believe I was bored with a Kubrick take on King. I've concluded that it's the material itself & that some things just don't lend themselves to film, particularly something where the mystery is so entangled with the act of reading (REDRUM) that it just can't translate visually. I haven't seen the European cut yet & maybe that'll help rectify things, but I'm noy optimistic.