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ROUND ONE: 1 ⎔ 2 ⎔ 3 ⎔ 4 ⎔ 5 ⎔ 6 ⎔ 7 ⎔ 8 ⎔ 9
ROUND TWO: 1 ⎔ 2 ⎔ 3 ⎔ 4 ⎔ 5 ⎔ 6 ⎔ 7 ⎔ 8 ⎔ 9
This track appears during the most horrific sequence in the documentary, as Roger Williamson is burned alive after his car flips over on the track. His friend, David Purley, tries to put him out with a fire extinguisher, but blows through the whole can to no avail. The sequence is extended, and stomach churning, and, as documentary features go, kind of a good case of vicarious trauma for we, the audience. Purley eventually walks off, pushing away anyone who comes to console him, clearly blaming himself for not being able to save the man’s life. And this track will play over the Conquest section of the Four Horsemen, in which Wendy confronts the horror of her own behaviour during this nightmare.
- As a section, Black Flame plays perfectly over the Wendy/Jack talk, Danny’s visions (with their blood-induced darkness), and the doctor visit, ending just as Wendy and the doctor move into the living room, re-entering the room that this song started in, though we won’t be able to see the album in that shot. Although they will pass Alex Colville’s Horse and Train, which was used as the cover for another album.
- Also, one of the books behind Wendy while she answers the phone is The Tower, which was later adapted into The Towering Inferno, a film about people trapped in a burning skyscraper.
- In the mirrorform, there’s a hilarious strike of the violins on the zoom at the blowjob bear. This zoom-out reveals the one painting of Vesuvius, which is rather black in tone, and includes a minor detail of flame. Black flame. On the last strike of the violins, the bloodfall starts shooting up behind a retreating Wendy, rather sublimely.
- Flame is also an aspect of Trapper’s Camp, which appears on both sides of the film, in different parts of the hotel during this next passage, a passage that includes the murder of our black hero, Dick Hallorann.
- During the murder of Dick, the mirrorform gives us this look at Danny’s lunchbox, which is separate from the accompanying thermos, which happens to have a little race car parked at its base. The lunchbox and thermos feature graphics from the TV series Emergency!, which was about paramedic firefighters, and which used some real professionals for its cast. When Danny later asks to get his fire truck, it’s likely a reference back to this fascination he has. But yeah, I think Kubrick saw Dick’s death inspiring Danny to become some sort of paramedic.
- This shot also contains a box for something either called Bull Riders or Bull Rodeos, it’s unclear. But bull riding is a good deal life F1 racing for the danger (and glory) it entails.
- The two paintings closest to Dick when he dies are Red Maple and Mist Fantasy. That “Red” “Mist” reminded me of “Black Flame”, but that seems more like a happy coincidence.
- After the violins die off, there’s a Morricone-esque passage that goes perfectly with Dick’s final death march, and a deeply spooky passage that pairs nicely with Dick’s death.
- Also, just a note about the tone of the song: this track is the most like the kind of haunting electronic nightmare that you would expect to find on the actual soundtrack of a 1968-1988 Kubrick film. So I suspect that resonated with him, though, as you’ll hear, other tracks resemble Wendy Carlos’ work on A Clockwork Orange, none more than the synth-moog version of Vivaldi’s Spring that comes in track 7, Seasons.
Click here to continue on to Track Three: Rain Race
MAIN PAGE ⎔ SECTION PAGE ⎔ SITE MAP ⎔ GLOSSARY
OTHER MAIN PAGES FOR SHINING ANALYSIS
THE MIRRORFORM ⎔ THE BEATLES ⎔ THE RUM AND THE RED
BACKGROUND ART ⎔ OVERLOOK PHOTOGRAPHS ⎔ GOLDEN SPIRALS
PHI GRIDS ⎔ PATTERNS ⎔ VIOLENCE AND INDIGENA ⎔ ABSURDITIES
THE STORY ROOM ⎔ ANIMAL SYMBOLS ⎔ THE ANNOTATED SHINING
EYE SCREAM 