[lbo-talk] real movies for kids

[Colin Brace]

I was talking on the phone yesterday with my sister who lives in
Seattle, and we got on the subject of what movies to rent for her
kids. She says she draws a blank now whenever she is in the video shop
or DVD section of the public library. They've outgrown and/or gotten
tired of Disney fare and rented Chitty Chitty Bang Bang too many times
already. Ditto The Sound of Music (yuck). The boy is eight, likes to
read. The girl is nearly six (she is still in the Disney phase but
will probably watch anything her brother watches). Neither of them
watch TeeVee, so their imaginations are fresh in many ways.

So I am trying to put together a list of titles for my sister to look
for. As a kid I remembered seeing and enjoying:

* Ring of Bright Water
* Born Free
* Wizard of Oz
* Le Ballon Rouge

and of course silent Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

At some point, my mother (a Canadian with obvious Anglo affinities)
took us to see some classic Ealing fare:

* Lavender Hill Mob
* The Ladykillers

but I can't for the life of me remember how old I was. An eight-year
old might have trouble with Cockney accents but how could he not help
but fall for Peter Sellers?

She also took us to see A Hard Day's Night in the middle of winter in
that drafty barn the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square (this will
surely date me) soon after it came out. Can someone be too young for
the Beatles? I don't think so.

I never saw anything by Jacques Tati as a kid, but am adding this to
my list. Obviously the eight-year old will have trouble with
subtitles, but Tati's humor is largely visual and he will at least get
used to the idea of subtitles. A little later he can watch Traffaut's
Wild Child,  which I also enjoyed seeing in my youf.

Then there is the British classic "Whistle Down the Wind" with Alan
Bates, which is about children, but would children also enjoy it?

OK, all you parents and ex-kids: what can you recommend? Any musical
films (not necessary musicals) à la Hard Days Night.? I would
especially love some comedy recommendations (Dennis P?)...

-- 

  Colin Brace

  Amsterdam