The Great Old Movies Survival Guide to Cold Weather

Winter’s weather is really here, even if the “official” start of winter is a few days away.  With the accumulation of recent snow storms and very cold temperatures we are forced indoors more than usual.  But enforced time indoors gets old, very fast. There is only so much reading, board games and television you can watch. So you go to the video store and are appalled by the displays of graphically violent slasher videos and inane, cynical comedies. In a departure from our usual email I will introduce you to a great new book ….

“The Best Old Movies for Families: A guide to watching together” by Ty Burr, 2007, an Anchor Original, Burr is the father of two and Boston Globe movie critic, This book is an introduction to the video treasures of old movies you and your family will enjoy.  Rather than viewing the recycled dreck coming out of Hollywood today, why not introduce your kids to the treasures of Hollywood’s past? Burr reasons if your little one enjoys Barney, why not Charlie Chaplin? Younger children can enjoy the stories and broadly drawn characters, not to mention the music of “Singing in the Rain”.  Your Harry Potter-charmed ‘tweeners will enjoy the adventure and humor in “The African Queen” or the deeper context of “To Kill a Mockingbird”. And your teens will enjoy the suspense of Hitchcock and the power of the young Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront”. And you avoid all the commercial tie-ins for toys, backpacks and clothes.

Written in a conversational style and from his own experience as a parent, Ty Burr begins with a “starter kit” of a handful of movies, sorted by appropriate age groups. Then he moves on to different film genres.  Each movie listed includes recommended age range, why this is great movie for your kids, “pause-button explanations”, trivia and other movies that you might want to check out if this one was a hit for you and/or your kids.  The “pause-button explanations” cover everything from letting you know there are silent movie inter-titles to read to pre-schoolers, historical contexts to explain, and even a reminder that some of our treasured classics were blind to social issues and easily slipped into stereotypes (such as the depiction of slavery and African-Americans in “Gone with the Wind”) These can be excellent for launching real discussions with your children about history and social issues afterward – as well as clue you into issues that may not be appropriate for a particular child.

Burr presents everything as recommendations. He encourages you to make judgment calls as to what is appropriate for your children. The author also encourages you to allow their children to decide if something is really interesting to them. He suggests that no matter how much you may love a movie, you guarantee teen rejection if it is presented as “you gotta see this” or “I just loved this film at your age.”

This book is not just for parents only, I have made notes to myself on unknown or overlooked movies that I would like to see for myself. Enjoy the holidays and enjoy some of the best movies Hollywood offers.