childhood films

[charliechaplinfan]

After watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mary Poppins on constant loop with my children I got to thinking about what films I knew has a child.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a favorite of my childhood too, it seemed to get played every holiday. Other films The Wizard of Oz was played every Christmas. 101 And One Dalmations was my first trip to the pictures. My other film memories are of the Carry On films and Laurel and Hardy films.

I never got any encouragement in my love of films from my family, if Dad was in sport would always be on. I discovered my love of film as I grew older and could afford my own VHS tapes and older films on the TV.

I'd love to know what films invoke childhood memories for others

[knitwit45]

Hi Alison.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a favorite of my boys, one of them actually had the car, can't remember who made it, but it was a great toy car.

My favorite movies as a child (and still are, for that matter) were the Shirley Temple version of Heidi, shown every Christmas at my grade school, and Robin Hood with Errol & Olivia, shown on tv quite often.

[jdb1]

I think answers to this question will form largely around generational lines; our own generation, and possibly what we saw wiht our children, if we have any.

As a child I, too loved Shirley Temple movies, which were shown often on TV. We also had various Disney movies - both animated and with real people - the ones made in the years when Uncle Walt was still alive. I was also very partial to Danny Kaye films, which were very popular with children of my era.

I especially loved Disney's Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. We also had the first broadcasts of The Wizard of Oz, but of course I didn't know about the b&w/color switch until I had already seen it a few times on TV. It was shown in a movie theater once, and I was taken to see it and loved it even more when I saw what it really looked like.

However, since both my parents were avid moviegoers, and usually took me with them, I didn't really differentiate children's from adults' movies; only that some were fun and some were "serious."

[MichiganJ]

Wow, I completely forgot about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! Probably the second movie I saw in the theater (drive-in, actually). I remember the kidnapping giving me a number of sleepless nights, but wanted the soundtrack album anyway. I got that, plus the car! Slightly bigger than a Matchbox, as i recall, but I do remember the wings folding in and out. I wonder what happened to that car....

My first movie was Pinocchio (drive-in again. My twin bother and I were four, and my sister, six). The first movie I saw in a “proper theater” was It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. (Must have been a re-issue). While I loved it, I was really sad about Jimmy Durante. I thought that he really died in the car accident. My father had to explain the “kicking the bucket” joke to me.

My favorites would have to include anything shown on Creature Features (usually Universal classics) and the annual trip to our neighbors, who had the color TV, to see Wizard of Oz. Every Sunday morning at 11:30, I was planted in front of the TV because one of the New York stations aired an Abbott and Costello movie. I’ve seen them all at least twenty times, and treasure them still. The fun thing is, when they were released on video (and now DVD), they were complete (not edited for commercials), so I got to see new footage in films I know by heart.

[ChiO]

Judith said:

We also had the first broadcasts of The Wizard of Oz, but of course I didn't know about the b&w/color switch until I had already seen it a few times on TV. It was shown in a movie theater once, and I was taken to see it and loved it even more when I saw what it really looked like.

I watched THE WIZARD OF OZ on TV religiously each year. Then, on a semester break when I was in college, it happened to be showing at a local theater and I went. What a shock! I had no idea that Oz was in color. Color TV didn't arrive in my parents' house until the early '80s, as I recall (it was a waste of money, you know).

In the theater, THE VIKINGS is my first vivid memory (7 years old) -- and a traumatizing one. Jumping into a pit of wolves and amputation of a hand -- yikes! Always saw the Disney's, but I liked going to see them more than seeing them.

On TV: I liked the Weismuller TARZAN's, of course, the Abbott & Costello's, and WEE WILLIE WINKIE, but, at around the age of 10-12, I saw REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, CITIZEN KANE, KING KONG, and DUCK SOUP. Now those were life altering experiences.

[Mr. O'Brady]

I wonder what happened to that car...

Hah, I had the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" car too. Being the lifelong aviation nut, I imagine mine was destroyed in a flying accident. One of the first movies I remember seeing as a kid, too. Also remember hiding in the back floorboard at the drive-in during "Rosemary's Baby". I recall seeing "The Valley of Gwangi" and "Tora! Tora! Tora!" at the base theater. Now, I consider all pretty dreadful and can't watch them.

I also watched "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Sound of Music" every year on television in glorious black-and-white.

[Hollis]

Good evening all,

Growing up in the late 50's and early 60's (I was born in 1952) I remember the Saturday morning cavalcade of westerns (Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, etc) and late night showing of horror ("Frankenstein," "Dracula," "The Wolfman," "The Mummy," etc) movies more so than anything else. I guess I was a pre-teen when the first of the Japanese sci-fi and "monster" movies came along and were instantly popular. Movies like "Godzilla," "Mothra," "Gorgo" and the like. I've grown away from Westerns for the most part, but I still enjoy a good horror or "monster" movie on occasion. That wouldn't include what's known as "slasher" films because I find them all too predictable and the gratuitous violence has just been done to death (no pun intended.) I find a good suspense story far more rewarding than having someone try to scare the daylights out of me. I guess I've just mellowed with time.

As always,

Hollis

[CharlieT]

Being only a year older than Hollis, most of the films and TV series he mentioned were also among my favorites. Of course, The Wizard of Oz and anything Disney was always an event at our house. Just about anything Shirley Temple was in was special viewing - my favorites being Captain January, Little Miss Broadway and Heidi. The Road to Morocco was required viewing whenever it aired. And, of course, Tarzan, Jungle Jim and anything about Greek mythology (Hercules, Jason and the Argonauts, etc.)

King Kong scared the crap out of me when I was about 4 or 5, but it got me ready for Mighty Joe Young. Many of my favorites from my youth were from my parents generation that were just making it to television when I was growing up. I can just imagine the feeling of seeing these on the big screen for the first time.

[Dewey1960]

My first experiences in a movie theater were either traumatic or boring and it's a wonder, really, that I even became interested in movies at all.

In 1952, when I was four, my mother took me to see BAMBI at the Avalon Theater in Detroit. It was back in theaters that year celebrating its tenth anniversary. The moment the woods were ablaze and it became apparent that Bambi's mother would perish, it was all over for me. I had to be practically carried out of the theater in a state of hysteria. Mom and I took a cab home and the whole ride back she tried to console me but it was no use; the damage was done. I cried for days.

I never wanted to see another movie again. Later that year my mom and dad took my older brother and me to see HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON starring Danny Kaye. I thought it was horrible and boring and from the minute it started I wished it would be over. Next came THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH which was not only boring to me but unbelievably long. According to my mom (I have no recollection of this) at one point I stood up on my seat and screamed out "somebody change the channel!" Mom loved to tell that story.

I was pretty much a confrmed movie hater after that. Two years later my brother let me tag along with him and his friends to the Royal Theater on Detroit's northwest side one sunny Saturday afternoon. The movie was THEM! and it changed my life---well, my movie life---forever. Those radioactivated mutant ants paralyzed me with an exhilarating fear I'd never experienced before. We went back to see it the next weekend too. From then on it was a steady diet of monster movies and when, in 1957, the Universal film library of horror films made it to television (Shock! Theater) I knew that I had found my destiny. These were the films of my childhood.

One of the few non-monster movie experiences of my childhood that truly stands out happened in the spring of 1956. James Dean had died several months earlier, and now his first two films, EAST OF EDEN and REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE were out together as a double bill. Mom and Dad took my brother and me one Sunday afteroon and we were all in a state of bliss when it was over. Well, my brother and I were.

[Ann Harding]

I think the first ever film I saw in a theatre was The aristocats. I was around four. I never managed to see Bambi (probably just as well after Dewey's story): the cinema was full and we couldn't get in....

A bit later on, I was completely hooked on costume drama and swashbucklers. My great treat was watching The Adventures of Robin Hood or Ivanhoe. It was dubbed in French, but, who cares? I just loved the clash of swords!!!

At that time, I didn't like much musicals and anyway, there weren't featured on French TV as much as in English-speaking countries.

[knitwit45]

Aw, Dewey, a guy after my own heart! I can just see and hear you screaming for them to change the channel.

If you watched "Friends", one episode was about "Old Yeller". Phoebe (or Phebes as she was called) turned off the movie on tv just before the ending. Her mother had always done so, and Phebes thought that was the ending. When they explained it to her, she had much the reaction you had to Bambi

[charliechaplinfan]

I have never seen a Shirley Temple movie, I don't remember one being shown here in a very long time. It's difficult to appreciate now how big a star she was.

A Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car, wow both my kids would love one of those.Ebay here I come, I bet they're really expensive now.

Two films I remember being on often when I was small were The Posiedon Adventure and The Towering Inferno or The Towering Bore it seemed when I was small.

The first adult film I watched on TV that I enjoyed was Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid I was about 6 but I was not a happy bunny when they died at the end.

My daughter has seen a lot of the Disney features (this generation's access to Disney is incredible) her favorites have the The Aristocats and Dumbo and anything with a princess in it.

[movieman1957]

CCF:

Did you see Disney's "Enchanted?" I saw it with some friends and thought parts of it were fun. I like the inside jokes it played on Disney's history.

If you haven't seen it it has a princess.

[charliechaplinfan]

Libby has watched it, she watched it on board ship with her Dad, she didn't seem too impressed but perhaps the jokes were too old for her. Dad liked it, I was occupying our youngest at the time, I'm his parent of choice, sigh. I wouldn't have minded watching it.

[mrsl]

You didn't miss much by not seeing Enchantress. Even my 8 year old grand daughter was bored with it, yet she has all the Disneys' and rewatches them all the time.

My generation only really had Disney cartoon type movies, the live actor ones came along in my teens. Whoever it was who didn't see any Shirley Temple movies should really try to rent some or borrow them, or look through the TV guide for special showings of them. Even after all these years of growing up, I still cannot believe all the talent packed into that little girl. You will be amazed.

My parents couldn't afford movies at the theater. Sometimes we were treated to the drive in but that was timed for us to fall asleep. (They never knew I sneaked a nap in the afternoon, so I could stay awake.) That's how I saw The Las Vegas Story and a couple of others that would have been definite no-no's - ha-ha-. They did make it to special shows like Wizard of Oz, and all the Disney re-issues. So I can't complain too much.

Anne