The opening of a film introduces the audience to the world of time and space in which the narrative takes place. Opening sequences provide a platform from which the narrative is launched and are often called "set ups".

During the opening sequence the filmmaker introduces the characters and begins to develop these characters for the audience who is also orientated into both the physical settings and the historical settings.

The Shining Opening Sequence/Credits

The opening sequence in The Shining starts off by us flying through a massive lake, we are then sent up in the air to get a bird's eye view of a small car travelling through a snake like road. This is to show us how grand and vast America is.

The opening credits then scroll up, the colour of the font is blue which is usually seen to be a more gentle colour but Kubrick makes this font seem more eerie by the sound he uses of tribal music and screaming women.

After two and a half minutes of the opening scene and credits we are introduced to the overlook hotel for the first time, we know nothing about it but what it looks like and how big it is. We assume this is where the story is going to take place straight away.

Character

Character development is the relation to the audience of a character's personality, beliefs, strengths, weaknesses and emotions. We are normally introduced to the main protagonist at the start of the narrative. From this point onwards, we learn more about who they really are.

Character development can be done through various narrative devices. The simplest is the traditional "Once upon a time…" fairytale format, which we are immediately introduce to the main character and then told their story.

Another technique is to look back on the character's life or part of it.

The Shining Characters

The characters in The Shining include: Jack Torrance, Wendy Torrance, Danny Torrance (and Tony), Dick Hallorann, Stuart Ullman, Delbert Grady, the Grady Twins and Lloyd the bartender.

Jack Torrance: The father of the Torrance family, we are first introduced to Jack when he walking into the Overlook Hotel at the start of "The Interview" scene. We learn that he is applying for the job of caretaker for the hotel over the winter while no one is using it, he learns about what has happened there in the past, but passes this aside by saying that time alone is exactly what he needs for his new writing project.

Jack rings his family to let them know he got the job and sounds like a typical loving father and husband. However, we start to notice changes in him as soon as Danny starts asking questions when they are driving to the hotel.

Through out the movie Jack is continuously changing, becoming a "mad man", he finally loses it when Wendy accuses him of hurting Danny, which he really did, and Danny makes up the story that there was a women in room 237 that did it. He goes to the gold room and to cover the fact that he really hurt Danny he starts talking to ghosts, one of which is Delbert Grady who convinces Jack to "correct" his family. By the time Wendy notices all the papers that all say "All work and no play make Jack a dull boy." he has completely lost it and attempts to take the baseball bat off her to beat her with it.

Once he is let out of the food storage room by Delbert and "the others" he goes on a mad rampage with an axe, he kills Dick Hallorann before he had a chance to save them and chases Danny into the maze, but is out smarted by him, this then leads Jack to his death.

Wendy Torrance: From the moment we meet her to the end of the movie we find her very annoying, she is a nuisance as she is continually interrupting Jacks work and making stupid remarks and statements.

Wendy is your typical mother and wife, always looking after her child and waiting hand and foot on her husband. At least she thinks she is going the right way about doing this.

Danny Torrance (and Tony): We are introduced to Danny when Jack is having his interview, we think he is your average kid for his age, he even has an imaginary friend, Tony, who later we find out is the boy who lives in his mouth.

Danny has a special gift called "shining", jack also has this gift but it is not used how Danny's is, Danny uses his gift to communicate with Tony who lets him see things of the past and future and he can communicate with Dick Hallorann (who also has the shining) using telepathy.

Setting

The setting of a fictional film narrative refers to the location and the historical period in which the story takes place.

Location refers to the physical geography of the story.

The setting of a narrative helps to tell the story because the audience already has an understanding of settings and their context within film genres.

In genres such as western, film noir, comedy, romantic comedy, science fiction and fantasy, the audience also understands the codes and conventions that apply to specific genres.

The Shining Setting

Just like Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick also left nothing to chance when it came to the setting of his movies, especially The Shining anyway. Some good examples of this is when Jack is throwing a tennis ball against the wall, the wall he is hitting contains Indian traditional drawings of two twins. Continuing with the Indian theme, the whole hotel is filled with Indian tapestry, carpet and wall items to remind us that this was once an Indian burial ground.

In the bathroom of the Gold room the room is nearly completely red, this is to show us what is to happen by representing blood (the blood spilt by the death of Dick Hallorann, the blood that Wendy sees come out of the elevator and the blood all around the room that Danny sees when he sees the twins dead).

The setting of The Shining also has an American theme, we are constantly shown an American flag in nearly every room, and also Danny is always wearing American clothing to show us how "great" America is.

Storyline

Story lines, including

• Central and concurrent story lines and the motivations, conflicts or narrative issues raised in them
• Ways in which story lines comment upon, contrast or interrelate with other story lines in the text

The Shining Storyline

The story starts when Jack is interviewed for the role of caretaker of an isolated hotel where he plans to write his novel over the winter. Danny is warned about the hotel by the boy who lives in his mouth, Tony. The first month goes past without an incident, Jack starts to get writer's block and steadily gets more frustrated and deranged. Danny sees the twins murdered, Tony tells him that they are merely pictures so he doesn't tell his parents.

Danny comes to room 237 for a second time, this time it is open so he enters, later he Jack has a nightmare about chopping Wendy and Danny up into little pieces, Wendy rushes to his side and Danny enters with a bruised neck, Wendy immediately accuses Jack because he has done this before.

Jack furious by this accusation storms into the Gold Room where he meets the bartender, Wendy rushes in to find Jack asleep and tells him about the lady in room 237. Jack and Wendy argue over Danny's health and leaving the hotel. Jack returns to the Gold room which is now a 1920's style party, here he meets Delbert Grady who convinces him to "correct" his family.

Dick Hallorann who has been contacted by Danny using his telepathy makes a desperate attempt to save the Torrance's, while he makes is way to the hotel jack has gone on a mental rampage after Wendy knocked him out with the bat and locked him in the food storage room.

Hallorann arrives but is killed by Jack almost instantly, Jack discovers Danny's hiding place and chases him into the maze where he is outsmarted and left to die as Wendy and Danny escape in Hallorann's snowcat.

Just before the end credits, we zoom in on a photograph of a lavish ball which had been hanging in the hotel the entire time. In the center of the picture is a young Jack; the caption reads: "Overlook Hotel, July 4th Ball, 1921".

Structuring of Time

Film narratives operate within codes and conventions, and as the audience we view them with an understanding of these conventions. The structuring of time within a narrative is an example of these conventions. Film uses convention top help the audiences overcome the limitations of real time. Occasionally, a film narrative presents the story in real time, in other words, screen time and story time are the same.

Audiences accept the convention that films compress time so that the events of a character's lifetime can occur for us within 2 hours we have set aside to watch the film.

Time can also be manipulated in a film narrative though such devices as time-lapse photography, slow motion, fast motion, flashback and flash forward.

The Shining Structuring of Time

Most of the film is in real-time as it is all happening step-by-step in a sequence that is east for us to follow. For example when Jack is having a nightmare we follow Wendy the whole way when she runs to his side. Time is sometimes compressed to help us move on with the movie as we don't need to see certain parts, like when Hallorann is on his way to the hotel we see him on the plane, then in a car and then in a snowcat before he arrives at the hotel.

Cause and Effect

Cause and effect is a narrative function. Everything that happens in a story must happen for a reason. There must be a cause for there to be an effect. The cause and effect chain is a foundation of story telling.

The Shining Cause and Effect

A good example of the use of cause and effect in the movie is when Jack kills Hallorann, he is then left to die in the maze.

Another example of cause and effect in the movie is at the start of the movie when Stuart Ullman warns Jack of what can happen when you are isolated for too long, Jack brushes this off as if it is nothing, the result of this is Jack becomes exactly like the man in the story and tries to kill his family.

Point of View (From Which the Narrative is presented)

In presenting the narrative, the filmmaker decides from whose point of view the story will be told. In a conventionally plotted narrative, the point of view that one or two main protagonists. Point of view does not need to be limited to only one character.

Point of View in which the narrative is presented, including

• Character, or other viewpoint
• Story information given or withheld at different points of the narrative

The Shining Point of View

The main point of view in the movie is told by the narrative, though some of the movie is told by the point of view of Danny and Tony.

Narrative point of view: tells the whole story from start to finish.

Danny and Tony point of view: shows us what has happened in the past and what will happen further along in the movie.

Closure or Closing Sequence

The closing sequence brings the plot of climax both in a story and emotional sense; it is the point at where the audience reaches an understanding about unanswered questions relating to the story and characters.

The Shining Closing Sequence

The suspenseful closing sequence of the movie starts off just after Hallorann's death when Jack chases Danny into the maze, Jack starts off following Danny's track until they suddenly end and takes another path where he gets lost, up to this point we thought Jack might get him, this ends up resulting in Jacks death and Wendy and Danny's escape.

Just before the end credits, we zoom in on a photograph of a lavish ball which had been hanging in the hotel the entire time. In the center of the picture is a young Jack; the caption reads: "Overlook Hotel, July 4th Ball, 1921".

~ Production Elements ~

Camera/Film:

Camera is the most obvious of the production elements. Camera techniques develop the plot, narrative possibilities and characters. The camera angle affects how viewers will perceive that subject. Angles can establish relationships, create moods and develop story lines. Camera movement can also be used to create emotion or draw the audience's attention to a subject. Camera shots are used in context to a situation in the film.

There are 5 basic camera angles:

• Eye-level
  Example 1: When Jack is in the Gold Room, we see Lloyd the bartender in an eye-level angle.
  Audience Reaction: We can see everything around Lloyd's background and adds to the ghost-like effect.
• High Angle
  Example 1: When Jack is following Wendy up the stairs as she is swinging the bat at him, there is a high camera angle located on Wendy's shoulder looking down at Jack.
  Audience Reaction: We feel as if Wendy is more superior to Jack and it looks like Jack is walking up towards us. Suspense is felt by the audience.

Low Angle
Example 1:After Danny has written "" on the door we see a low camera angle of what he just wrote.
Audience Reaction:This makes the word look more frightening.

• Birds Eye
  Example 1: At the start of the movie we see a birds eye view of the car driving through the wavy road.
  Audience Reaction: This makes the car look as if it is not a threat and shows us how long it has to drive.
• Unusual
  Example 1:When Jack has been locked in the food storage room we get an unusual camera located under Jack looking directly up at him.
  Audience Reaction:We feel awkward.

There are 3 basic camera movements:

• Panning
  Example 1: When Jack is walking across the Gold Room to the bar during the 1920's ball.
  Audience Reaction: We follow Jack as he walks and see that he is changing again.
• Zooming
  Example 1: At the end of the movie there is an extremely long and slow zoom in towards the photo frame of the ball containing Jack.
  Audience Reaction: We are very curious and want to know what is in the photo.
• Tilting
  Example 1: When Jack is walking up the stairs after Wendy the camera tilts down to view Jack and up to view Wendy.
  Audience Reaction: This makes Wendy look ore superior than Jack

There are 7 basic camera shots:

Close-up
Example 1: When Danny is contacting Hallorann by telepathy there is a close-up of his shocked reaction.
Audience Reaction: We are also shocked and know something bad is going to happen.

• Extreme Close-up
  Example 1: There is sort of an extreme close-up when Jack is hacking at the door, the extreme-close up is of the axe coming through the door.
  Audience Reaction: We are terrified along with Wendy.

Medium Shot
Example 1: When Jack is in the Gold Room, we see Lloyd the bartender in a medium shot.
Audience Reaction: We can see everything around Lloyd's background and adds to the ghost-like effect.

• Long Shot
  Example 1: When Danny gets out of the cupboard after Hallorann is killed. We see this happen in a long shot of the hall.
  Audience Reaction: We assume Danny is far enough away to run away from Jack.
• Extreme Long Shot
  Example 1: At the start of the movie there is an extreme long shot of the overlook hotel.
  Audience Reaction: This allows us to see all of its surroundings and how isolated it is.

Point of View or Subjective
Example 1: When Jack is looking down at the model of the maze we see it from his point of view.
Audience Reaction: Because we can see Danny and Wendy in the model we then realise Jack also has "the shining".

• Reaction Shot
  Example 1: When Danny is contacting Hallorann by telepathy there is a close-up of his shocked reaction.
  Audience Reaction: We are also shocked and know something bad is going to happen.

Additionally the film format will affect the mood and look of a film. Some format options available are black and white, colour film, digital video and animation.

Lighting:

Lighting allows objects and characters to be seen by the audience. This can be the most creative elements of film making. It can also help with character development. Characters can be made to look friendly or evil through the use of lighting. The background of a shot is lit up to create a broad depth of field. Additionally lighting can describe a relationship or set a mood.

Lighting can be described in four categories: Soft, Hard, High-key and Low-key.

• Soft Lighting: wraps around an object, casting shadows with soft edges. This creates a soft, warm feeling.
  Example 1: When Jack and his family are driving to the overlook hotel.
  Audience Reaction: This makes us believe this is a happy loving family.
• Hard Lighting: Consists of bright whites and dark blacks and creates harder edged shadows. This creates a cruel, cold feeling.
  Example 1: When Jack sticks he head through the door and says “Here's Johnny”.
  Audience Reaction: We are freaked and scared.
• High-key Lighting: Creates little shadow. Set tends to be flooded with light. This is often used to create a normal “Happy” scene. The use of strong key lights mean that only parts of the set are lit other parts remain in shadow. This can create a very dramatic effect with only some object being high-lighted.
  Example 1: When Jack is talking to Delbert Grady in the bathroom of the Gold room.
  Audience Reaction: This is a very dramatic scene for the audience a we learn that Jack is about to kill his family.
• Low-key Lighting: If key lights are set at a Low point very strong shadows are thrown on surfaces. This can create an eerie effect.
  Example 1: When Hallorann is driving the snowcat to the Hotel.
  Audience Reaction: This makes us believe he isn't going to get there on time to save them.

Lighting also helps convey the point of view of a character.

Visual Composition (Mise - en - Scene):

Visual composition refers to everything within the frame. It determines how the shot develops the characters and storyline. It can also incite responses and emotions within the audience.

Questions that need to be considered for visual composition are:

• How will the shot be lit?
• How will the shot be arranged?
• Where will the actors be placed?
• What props will be placed in the shot?

In the movie The Shining, just like Alfred Hitchcock, Kubrick left nothing to chance with the visual composition of his movie an example of this is:

Example 1: When we first meet Lloyd there are three panels behind him, the middle is lit up and the outside ones are dark, this is to emphasise his face.

Audience Reaction: The lighting of the panels gives a ghost-like effect to Lloyd.

Example 2: We see a lot of shots containing these three panels, another example is when Wendy comes into Jacks work room and again the two outside panels are dark and the middle is light to bring out her face.

Audience Reaction: This shows us her extremely annoying face and reaction to all Jacks questions and comments.

Acting:

This refers to the work of an actor or actress who tells the story by portraying a character. Through the use of body language, tone of voice, posture and delivery of lines develops the character and creates a relationship between the character and audience. In some cases the qualities of the character are due to the reputation of the character.

The acting in The Shining is not to shabby, though Wendy (Shelly Duval) lets the whole movie down, she takes things completely overboard, for example when Jack is hacking at the bathroom door she looks completely fake. On the other hand, Jack Nicholson, who plays Jack plays his part perfectly, when it comes to the range of emotions and personalities he must portray we are completely fooled into believing it is actually happening.

Example 1: Wendy's reaction when Jack is hacking at the bathroom door.

Audience Reaction: We are scared for Wendy, but can see she's just an actor as she goes way overboard.

Editing:

Editing is the process of placing images and sound in an order to tell a story and create emotion. Editing is the process of looking at the footage shot and selecting the most appropriate shots which then are assembled in a sequence that conveys a narrative to the audience. It can establish setting, develop character, restructure time and express point of view.

Editing serves three major purposes:

• Narrative:allows the audience to follow the character throughout the narrative and can also express a character's thoughts.
• Emotional:the way in which a film is cut can produce an emotional response from the audience.
• Intellectual Editing:the director is able to plant a thought or concept in the audience's mind.

Additionally editors often combine visual images and sounds to develop narratives.

Example 1: When Danny sees the two twins, then it flashes to them dead, back to them, again to them dead and finally back to them.

Audience Reaction: We are completely horrified.

Sound:

• Dialogue
  Example 1: When Wendy comes into Jacks work and he has a go at her using an aggressive tone and dialogue.
  Audience Reaction: This adds to our knowledge of Jack changing into a mad man.
• Music/Score
  Example 1: In the opening sequence there is tribal music in the background with the occasional women screaming.
  Audience Reaction: This creates an eerie effect and makes the opening blue credits more daunting.
• Sound-effects
  Example 1: When Danny is riding his tricycle across the floor over the floor boards and then carpet, then floor boards again etc.
  Audience Reaction: This sounds like the music when Jack is chasing Danny in the maze so it might be a hint as to what is going to happen later on.

 The Shining is about Jack Torrence a man travelling to a hotel for a job interview with his wife Wendy and son Danny.Through the film the family has strange encounters with ghosts and weird things happen to the characters and they see strange things. Tension builds between the characters and finally Jack goes mad which is showed in the maze scene at the end of the film.

 We see Jack deteriorate through the film slowly from as soon as enters the hotel. Jack began to change in his character; we noticed this by the change in his voice because it becomes deeper and he starts to shout at Wendy when she talks to him. Jack represents a monster by the end of the maze scene as we see him froth at the mouth and his voice sounds un-human like because he wheezes when he shouts Danny’s name. Jack also slogs when he is in the maze which shows he has lost the ability to walk like a human being.

The audience see the maze scene is going to be a significant place as in the hotel lobby room it shows Jack sitting down and observing a small model of a maze. When the camera zooms down into the smaller model of the maze you see two ant-sized figures representing Danny and Wendy. The model is a replica of the model outside in the hotel garden.

The lighting and colours used in the scene were dark to symbolise the horror, fear and tension in different scenes. The contrasting lighting in the hotel was light and by that we know that Wendy was safe. Red is a ‘danger’ colour but it also a ‘warm’ colour. These colours are different from what we saw at the beginning of the film because the lighting at the end of the scene was low-key lighting but the scenes leading from the beginning of the scenes were high-key lighting.

The shining film uses dark colours to portray the tension in scenes and create fear which fits into the horror genre. Kubrick’s uses dark blue in the maze scene to represent how cold it is in the maze and Kubrick makes Jack’s face shaded dark which makes him more mysterious and seem more evil. Kubrick shades Danny face black which created a different effect because we felt sympathy for Danny and worry. Kubrick then changed the light on Danny’s face when he took control of the situation it was lighter and the audience felt more hopeful for him and the audience could see his face which had meant he had succeeded.

Kubrick’s use of lighting and colour plays an important role in the scenes because it determines the audience feelings and emotions.

Kubrick’s use of the ‘mis-en-scene’ is a technique he used to create tension at the last scene. Kubrick made Jack’s facial expression to be cold and almost un-human to show that he has gone mad. The audience can feel Jack’s anger and see it on his face because the camera has a zoom shot on Jack’s face so the audience can see him clearly. The axe in Jack’s hand tells the audience that he is serious which makes them fearful because if he catches Danny he will hurt him. Jack trudges in the snow which makes it clear that he has lost the ability to walk normally. Wendy’s facial expressions show horror in her face and fear. The difference from Jack wielding a weapon to Wendy wielding a weapon is that Jack looks like he is prepared to use it because he is angry but Wendy has more of a weak character and although she attacked Jack with the knife we see by her body language and continuous shaking she is unlikely to use the knife again.

Mis-en-scene has a big effect on creating tension at the end of the film because it the character’s emotions in more detail and it builds tension.

The maze scene used Diagetic sounds and non-diagetic sounds to help create tension. Diagetic sounds are sounds that belong naturally with what can be seen in the picture. Kubrick uses diagetic sounds in the film when Jack is shouting Danny’s name whilst he is chasing him in the maze, another diagetic sound used by Kubrick is the blowing of the wind in the maze scene. These are diagetic sounds because they can me been throughout the scene and the audience know why and how the noises are their.

        Non-Diagetic sounds arte sounds that do not come from anything that can not be seen in a scene. Kubrick uses Non-diagetic sounds as the high-pitches orchestra music in the maze scene, Kubrick uses a high tempo for the music which increases the tension because we feel Jack will catch Danny. Kubrick then lowers the tempo of the music when Danny takes control of the situation in the scene and the audience feel hope for him. This is particularly effective because the sounds that are placed in the scene can determine the mood of the scene and in this particular film it was used to create fear and build tension.

Kubrick is trying to show that Jack has finally become mad and that he is not actually Jack anymore but somebody else. Kubrick has Jack use a deep voice in the Maze scene and when Jack tries to talk we see that it is no longer words but noises which shows he has lost the ability to talk. By this point the audience can see that he has completely lost himself which makes him even more dangerous because he can now do anything. The audience see anger in his face  and Jack froths at the mouth which makes him look monster like.

      At the beginning of the maze scene the music is at a high pitched and Jack is clutching the weapon with aggression which is when the audience feel Jack is at his scariest point. However when Danny takes more control of the situation the music begins to quiet down and turn into a heartbeat which is when the audience feel tense but as Jack falls to the floor the audience feel relief that Danny is safe.

Kubrick uses different camera angles to create affect in the maze scene. Kubrick uses a tracking camera when Danny is running through the maze, this makes the audience feel like they are Jack in his madness and that he will catch Danny. The tracking affect feels like Jack is right behind Danny and the audience feel hopeless for him.

Kubrick uses a close-up camera in the maze scene, the camera effect is used to show Jack’s facial expression and the persistence of aggression on is face.

In the last scene the camera uses ‘cutting scenes’ between the hotel and the maze. Danny and Jack have fast cutting scenes which make them look in the most danger and it creates tension. When the camera cuts to Wendy in the hotel we know that she is safe because the tempo of the music is low and the volume is low. The camera angle shows her in perfect view and her surroundings and the audience see that there is nothing in view that can hurt her so we know that she is safe.

The shots and editing techniques Kubrick uses builds up tension because it shows everything moving really fast and it makes the audience’s feel the pressure because they are unexpected to what will happen next which puts them at the edge of the film.

The uses of Kubrick’s techniques have been crucial to the final scene in the film. Kubrick brought the techniques in a sequence which was proportional to how the audience felt at each effect Kubrick used because it brought in more tension.

The maze scene is the final breakdown in Jack’s madness. The maze scene helped show madness because a maze is confusing places which can make somebody go mad especially when they are lost. The maze scene represented Jack being confused and ‘lost’ in his mind. Jack’s frozen face in the ice symbolises that he is dead and will never come back to life. By the end of the film we are left with an idea that this has happened to many other families that have visited the hotel as we see Jack’s face appear in a photo, however the audience feel that this is not the end and it will happen again to other people who stay at the hotel and that it will be a continuous sequence.

Tashan Edwards

When the pilots in the B-52 bomber received instructions to bomb primary targets in Russia, their first reaction was of utter disbelief. They even went as far as to think it was a test, only to check the loyalty of the pilots. But when they realized it was an order, loyalty to the United Stated had priority over sanity and moral standards.

But there were some who could care less about sanity or moral standards. Doctor Strangelove was mad in a characteristic nuclear age way. He spoke very rationally and intelligently about mass murder and global suicide. He was confused in his allegiances. Was he serving democracy, or Hitler? Even his physical body was split, with a “paralyzed” arm that when he was about to commit the ultimate insanity, tried to choke him. “Buck” Turgidson was mad in a sense that casualties of 20-40 million were seen as possible “victories” for the United States.

The tough thing about making Dr. Strangelove was probably creating it to be so ludicrous as to not portray it as complete reality. People during the 60's actually worried about things that seem crazy to us in modern times. Fluoride as a soviet plot to contaminate the water supply of the United States is laughable today, but was actually considered a possibility during the cold war. General Jack D. Ripper was the mad general who issued out the order for nuclear war to protect his “precious bodily fluids.”

In one scene he speaks openly about the fluoride contamination problem, and how it will weaken the armed forces of the Americans. Ripper seems obviously mad to us now, but was he really that far-fetched a character? People like Gen. Ripper were actually based off of real people with the same rationalizations. General Powers, a real general, once said that if there are three people left alive after a nuclear war and two are American, it means we won. This way of nuclear rationalization could have been the trigger that started a nuclear holocaust in the 60's.

The very nature of this film suggests the effects that the cold war had on the American population. An age of absurdity and black humor was born to combat the fear and utter helplessness found in that era. Dr. Strangelove may have well been viewed as a comedy rather than a serious drama during the time it came out for this reason: denial.

The denial that the total annihilation of a way of life was only a bomb drop away. The madness of nuclear war was being expressed and reinforced by jokes and cartoons which emphasized the absurdity, and by novels and television dramas which emphasized the horror. Dr. Strangelove successfully brought these two aspects together, and the sane realization that nuclear war was insane. In this light the movie may be seen as a serious drama, as there was not too much difference in real life as to the life portrayed in Strangelove.

I think some film directors fall in love with their material and can’t be persuaded to cut it out. The trend as far as my memory goes dates back to Lawrence of Arabia, which was directed by David Lean. Lean had made a number of movies, including at least two excellent films based on Dickens’ stories, and they were sharp and to the point.

And then came Lawrence of Arabia. The first half was superb, and the slow moments made sense. But the second half dragged on, with long-winded political material that bored the average viewer.

After that it was almost all downhill, with the worst film of Lean’s career being Ryan’s Daughter, an interminable film, badly acted even by the good actors, and full of cliched visuals that contributed nothing to the overall effect.

Stanley Kubrick is another case in point. After a brilliant career full of often remarkable films, he produced 2001: A Space Odyssey, and fell in love with the material. On first viewing, this film seemed to have some point, but by the end you know it has none, and subsequent viewings reveal it’s as empty as the space that so often films the screen. The remainder of Kubrick’s career was dotted with films made years apart, culminating in the awful Eyes Wide Shut, in which love of the material meant a long-winded and supposedly meaningful film was raved over by those who believe Kubrick could do no wrong, and panned by those who saw he could.

Sadly, I believe there’s another director treading this dangerous path. Peter Jackson made a number of excellent small-scale movies, some of them produced on a shoe-string.

And then came The Lord of the Rings, and for the most part, it’s superb. But the last half hour of the third in the series is a disaster, dragging on and on with endless tears from the Hobbits (who seemed to have lost all their courage and gone in for full-on emotions).

Lord of the Rings would be okay, if it wasn’t for what followed. Against much better judgement, I suspect, King Kong was allowed to screened at its full length, instead of losing the half hour that should have been chopped.

Jackson had fallen in love with the material.

Consequently, we have a superb film at the beginning, a superb film in the middle, and a load of rubbish between. As for the ending with Kong sliding around on the ice: not only is it absurd, but it shows an alarming trend in Jackson’s movies to oversentimentalise. When he’s working with strong characters, things move at a fast pace. When he gets caught up in emotion, his films fall into a trough, and struggle to get out.

He’s doing another remake next: The Dam Busters. Am I alone in thinking this is going to be another three hours’ worth of movie, full of CGI, and dragging in all manner of soppy minutes that will bust it faster than the Ruhr dam itself was busted?