Since today’s song of the day came from The Shining, it only seems appropriate that today’s scene should come from the same film.

I’ve always felt that Barry Nelson’s performance as Ullman is one of the best parts of the early part of the film.  Whereas Ullman was presented as being a stereotypical jerk in King’s novel, the film presents him as a blandly friendly bureaucrat who can talk about what happened with the previous caretaker and make it sound like the most normal thing in the world.  The scene were he interviews Jack Torrance for the caretaker job is wonderfully ominous, even if it’s hard to describe why.  I know that Stephen King disliked this scene because it made Jack look unbalanced from the start but, personally, I think it does a wonderful job of setting the mood.

Finally, Ullman’s office reminds me of Ben Horne’s office in Twin Peaks, right down to the somewhat campy name plate on his desk.