Apparently an
alphanumeric term or
designation for..
something, it appears in most of
Stanley Kubrick's films from
Dr. Strangelove on. I've read a lot about old Stanley, and I've never come across an explanation for what it means. Other directors do the same thing, say
George Lucas and
1138 or
THX 1138, which is of course in reference to his first (admittedly very cool) feature film
THX 1138 (
1971). In any case, it appears in the following Kubrick films:
Dr.Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
- This is the first and most obvious use: On the B-52 heading towards Russia, they use a "CRM-114 discriminator" to filter out "subversive" radio transmissions.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
- The spacecraft heading for Jupiter (Discovery one) has the model/serial/identification number CRM-114.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
- Here it's starting to get a bit more opaque, but he still points it out for us - note when Alex is in the 'hospital' / reneducation facility undergoing the Ludovico treatment, the nurse injects him with a serum, but not before Stanley gives us a quick zoom in to reveal that it's "Exp./Serum No. 114" (C-RuM 114).
Barry Lyndon (1975)
- OK, it doesn't seem like it's in this one, but I felt like mentioning it because it's such an underrated film.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
- In this film is the most buried reference to it; the room that Bill Harford visits in the morgue is barely noticeable, but if you look, it's 1st floor, C-Wing, Room 14.
I've read one unconfirmed rumour that it means "Critical Rehearsal Moment", purportedly a term Kubrick often used, but I don't know about that. As far as I can see, it's probably just one of those things that will remain lost forever.
Incidentally, as further pointless items of trivia, Kubrick had a scene in a bathroom in every one of his films, and in every film used an obvious zoom shot, and distorted faces.