With great delight and unseemly gusto, the cinetrix emerged from her undisclosed bunker long enough to participate in a Banned Books Week reading earlier today. She read from Patricia Neal-ex and frequently film-adapted author Roald Dahl's The Witches, if you must know--because typecasting is alive and well!
Which segues nicely into this week's offering from Quad Cinemas pooh-bah Elliott Kanbar: his recommended movies for kids.
(1) "TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD" (1962). This long-awaited DVD is finally out. A wise and touching portrait of a Southern lawyer on the right side of racial tolerance.
(2) "A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN" (1945). The best coming-of-age film about a precocious young girl and her family struggling to suvive on the teeming streets of Brooklyn.
(3) "THE WIZARD OF OZ" (1939). Yes, often seen on T.V., but still worth renting only to show that it's not necessary to use the latest technology to create magic.
(4) "MODERN TIMES" (1936). The best Chaplin film to show kids so they can see how a genious interpreted the modern industrial age.
(5) "SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS" (1954). The best live musical film for kids with plenty of singing, dancing, and incredible athletics in the Old West.
(6) "THE RED BALLOON" (1956). It's a French film but with no subtitles about a lonely boy and his best friend...a red balloon. It follows him from his home to school and protects him from the big bullies. What a nice story!
(7) "E.T." (1982). Perhaps the best fantasy film ever made.
(8) "A LITTLE ROMANCE" (1979). 14-year old Diane Lane made her debut in this film about 2 young kids who are induced by a mischievous Laurence Olivier to run away to Venice.
(9) "LITTLE FUGITIVE" (1953). Morris Engel's beautiful tale about a little boy's adventures in Coney Island.
(10) "SUPERMAN" (1953). Still the best comic-book adaptation with a perfect blend of silliness and danger, romance and adventure. And kids will get to know what a wonderful actor Christpher Reeve was before his accident.
The cinetrix will fight anyone who disagrees with the inclusion of A Little Romance. Other than that, there's a distinct lack of titles from the past 30 or so years. Let the kibbitzing begin!
