Stanley Kubrick was a strange imperialist, someone who gave up his own country (America) and yet refused to notice his new home (Britain). Instead, through his extraordinary sense of craft and his unique ability to dominate the studios that funded him, he simply inhaled and had Hollywood in the English Home Counties. Example: The Shining, and its unforgettable Overlook Hotel all put together on British soundstages. Yes, it is from Stephen King, and Mr. King (a great talent) felt hard done by. It wasn't really frightening, he said. So he did his own version, years later, and it was frightening, but very dull. King had not noticed the thing that appealed to Kubrick and his writer Diane Johnson-that horror is really for idiots and children, but horror served up for adults might be the revival of screwball. Incidentally, The Shining is also about the kind of crazed artistic ventures that Kubrick delighted in.