The Silver Screen Oasis

Hi, Movieman,
I'm sure you would like 'The Inspector General'. It's as good as any of Kaye's films. .... mel

One time playing Trivial Pursuit someone started to ask a question about movies. She got part of the way through when she began to stumble over a name. I finished the question for her and then answered the question. Everybody quit.

Often everybody wants to play on a team against only me. (I'm not that smart but they think I am.)

I'm the only one in my family. My wife likes some of Howard Hawks' movies, but then her choices get rather peculiar. (She finds silent films incredibly boring and pointless.)

This doesn't especially bother me. The problem is that my wife's mother has vehement likes and dislikes that clash with mine. She hates Gene Kelly to a degree that I can't understand.

Anyway, I nearly got into a fight with her this summer when she referred to the "real" "Phantom of the Opera" as the 1943 version with Claude Rains. To her the 1925 Lon Chaney version doesn't exist.

So I guess if you are the only person in your family who likes classic films, count your blessings. You could be surrounded by people who think your choices are lousy.

MikeBSG wrote:
So I guess if you are the only person in your family who likes classic films, count your blessings. You could be surrounded by people who think your choices are lousy.

I dunno, if you look at the flip side the arguments and debates could be fun. At least one good thing to being the only classic movie buff in my family is that I don't have to be bothered by other people talking or making noise while i'm watching the movies.

I'm it went it comes to being a true film buff in my family. My wife likes watching some older films, especially those she saw on tv as a kid, but I wouldn't call her a buff. She prefers to stick to the ones she knows and doesn't bother with others unless I get her to watch something with me.

My 7 year-old grandson is a "work in progress". I'm trying to get him interested in classics. He still prefers films in color, but I got him hooked on The Three Stooges so he's starting to get the idea that all b/w films aren't boring.

Two of my closest friends are true buffs and we share the same tastes in classics so that's great. I've also been a member of a local film society for over thirty years so I know a number of like minded people around here.

I've always found it interesting that most film buffs don't have family members (especially spouses) with the same passion for film that they do.

My daughter watches old films with me, which is wonderful. She's an evangelical old movie fan--she tries to convert her friends (with little success, unfortunately) My son considers any movie without at least 2 explosions or car chases int he fiurst 15 minutes a waste. My husband is funny--he makes fun, but then gets sucked into what I'm watching and usually gets more into it than I do.

My grandmother was the old movie fan in our family. I used to watch old movies on Sunday afternoon with her and sometimes, when I'd drop by her house late at night (I was in college and Grandma by that time only needed a few hours sleep a night)I'd watch whatever old movie she was watching.

I think My mom would like to be an old movie fan, (she always says stuff like, "They just don't make 'em like they used to") but really can't get beyond the ones everyone knows, like "Wizard of Oz" or "Gone with the Wind" or the Doris Day-Rock Hudson movies. But she tries.

My wife and I watched "The Bitter Tea of General Yen" this weekend. My wife mentioned to her mother that she had liked Barbara Stanwyck in the film and her mother gave her a lecture about how Barbara Stanwyck was just not a good movie star. (Apparently my mother-in-law has never forgiven Barbara Stanwyck for "Double Indemnity.")

MikeBSG wrote:My wife and I watched "The Bitter Tea of General Yen" this weekend. My wife mentioned to her mother that she had liked Barbara Stanwyck in the film and her mother gave her a lecture about how Barbara Stanwyck was just not a good movie star. (Apparently my mother-in-law has never forgiven Barbara Stanwyck for "Double Indemnity.")

Your Mother in Law is NOT cool in my books!

Why doesn't she like Double Indemnity and Stanwyck's performance in it?

My Mom brainwashed me! And I still can't find anyone to play Silver Screen Edition of Trivial Pursuits with me! (And I don't know why I'm using so many exclamation points today!)

We were always talking about what movie stars had come to town.
( I still wouldn't have met Eva Gabor if my mother hadn't dragged me to a Battlestein's wig party in the early 70's.)

For some reason, during the Complicated Women craze of 2002, my sister just went gaga over anything Norma Shearer. And my boyfriend and son are both becoming well-versed in classic film more than they ever thought possible.

I show Metropolis, or parts of it, when I teach English or Spanish literature courses, and we read shorts stories with futuristic themes.
Using classic film is a way to teach history, culture, and social themes if students want a broader perspective on all aspects of a topic.

Definitely not. We have two main film-festival theaters plus 4 locally-owned 'second-run' or Dollar Theaters that show classic films. In 2007, we saw 150 classic films in those theaters, and only 9 'new' films all year. And our friends and neighbors are noticing they're doing the same thing - eschewing new films and enjoying classics on the big-screen all the more.

We think it's a Risk Issue first ("Why spend $8 or $10 for a mediocre product that's probably over hyped anyway, when we can spend $5 and see one of the greatest films in history?"

I saw 40-odd classics on the big-screen for the first-time ever, too, thanks to new prints being made available. And strangely, almost all of those were having DVDs released as well. In a day and age where I'm used to hearing Hollywood execs proclaim "The TV, DVD, Downloads, etc. are killing the theaters", our classic film theaters did more business than ever in spite of or perhaps because DVDs allowed couch-potatoes the chance to say, "I wonder what that'd be like on the big screen?"

The lesson that I wish Hollywood Execs would learn - and espouse - is that good films still get people into theaters.

Ollie, where are you located? and can I move there?

It may sound funny but after hours of watching color TV, I find it relaxing to my eyes to settle down to a black and white movie. Does anyone else ever notice this?

Anne

I was willingly indoctrinated by both my parents. We went to the movies absolutely every weekend while I was growing up (1950-65). That's one hell-of-a-lot of movies.

My mother never missed a Doris Day film. She always talked about how she and her friends in high school used to drive to Salt Lake City to see Doris sing with "Les Brown and his Band of Reknown." When Doris started to sing, everyone stopped dancing and huddled around the stage. The way Doris could caress a song!

In 1953 my mother and some neighborhood ladies in Stockton, Ca., went to see Tyrone Power in "John Brown's Body." After the performance, her friends went back stage to get a glimpse of "Ty," and my mother waited for them outside near the star's touring bus. Who should roll down a bus window and ask my mother how she liked the play, but Tyrone! He had all kinds of questions for her -- about her life, her work, her family. She was on "Cloud 9"! The neighbor ladies hated her when she told them.

My mother's big heart-throb was William Holden. Dad would get angry (jealous) whenever she would swoon at Holden on screen. As a reward for all her idol worship, I took her to San Francisco in the late 1960's to see Holden in person. He was guest star at the San Francisco Film Festival. And, yes, I had some verbal exchange with him duirng a question and answer session. I was planning on going into the Peace Corps and had requested Kenya. Well, Holden lit up a thousand watts -- came forward on stage and talked enthusiastically about my decision and seemed far more keen on wildlife conservation than he did about his film career. What a warm, bright, sincere soul!

OScott that's a lovely story about William Holden

I'm the only film buff in my family. My parents can't understand where it has come from as neither of them like classic film.

I'm breeding a mini film fan. She's five and loves Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Gene Kelly. Just like Mum

CharlieChaplinFan

Chaplin, Keaton and Gene Kelly films are a Universal language. Your five-year-old is lucky! My youngest sister became a Barbara Stanwyck fan through my inundating her with classic films. My partner, who knew little about pre-1960 Hollywood before I met him 9 years ago -- is now smitten with Alice Faye (in anything), Norma Shearer (Private Lives) -- his all-time favorite is Dames, which we've watched a dozen times. Once a week we have our "Dr. Silver's Golden Elixir" (red wine in gold wine glasses)!

It's so much fun to show an array of vintage films to a novice and see who they turn on to!

oScott