Nostalgia, isn’t it great?

Posted by highhurdler on August 12, 2007

I don’t know if you’ve ever given this much thought, perhaps you discovered old movies for yourself, but maybe there was someone in your life that’s at least partially responsible for your love of classic film. Richard wrote about his movie mentor in one of his first articles. For me, that person was my mom. While it was my father that would take us to the movies, it was my mother that discussed them with me. When I was in my teens, I received a 9-inch B&W TV for Christmas and, late at night instead of studying or sleeping, I would frequently watch old movies on it. While most of my friends talked about what they saw on Johnny Carson (the night before) during lunch period, I would only listen. But after school, I’d sometimes discuss a gem that I’d found on channel 17 (TBS), WGN or WOR with mom.

There was another factor which contributed to my love for older movies – since my family had recently moved from the neighborhood where I’d lived as a fifth grader through the first two years of high school to another community five miles away, my friends were no longer readily available (I’d have to get a ride or permission to use the car). Feeling somewhat isolated (that first summer away) from our regular activities – bike riding to the pool, corkball in the park, etc., my younger brother and I began skateboarding with the kids in our new neighborhood because it was the only thing we had in common with them. However, on hot afternoons and especially Saturdays, I would often stay inside to be entertained by an Abbott and Costello or a Bowery Boys comedy. Obviously, not everything I watched was a classic, but it was better than watching reruns from all the syndicated shows – Gilligan’s Island, The Brady Bunch, The Wild Wild West, etc. – over and over again, even though I often had to tolerate the many commercials and Million-Dollar-Movie call-in contests.

King Solomon's Mines (1950) One of the first true classics that I remember finding and watching, which I later discussed with my mom, was King Solomon’s Mines (1950) with Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger, which next airs September 2nd on TCM. I didn’t even realize that the movie was in color (in fact it won the Oscar for Color Cinematography) until years later! Of course, now many of the movies that I watched in my youth at the movie theater are considered classics (yeah, I’m that old).

While I wasn’t as blessed – as several of my fellow Morlocks – to have lived near or visited one of those great old movie theaters, I do remember the magic of the more common movie-going experience which included a grand ballroom-sized auditorium with floor to ceiling curtains on the walls and (if not chandeliers) elaborate lighting. Curtains at the front of the theater would open to reveal a magnificently large curved screen. Cartoons (in lieu of endless loud previews) would precede the feature film, which began with a numerical countdown sequence that featured a spinning hour-hand and a beep to mark the passing of each second. It was in a theater such as this that I can most vividly recall first seeing Oliver! (1968), The Wind and the Lion (1975) and (what must have been a re-release of) Lawrence of Arabia (1962). I also remember being bored by the comedy Murder By Death (1976) which, now that I’ve seen all the associated characters in their original movie roles on TCM, I now find to be hilarious (as my parents inexplicably did).

I’m not sure when it first happened, perhaps when I’d returned home during a college break one year, but we developed a habit of watching a movie together (sometimes at the theater, but just as often at home on television). But besides just viewing the film itself, my mom and I would try to find (and be the first to come up with the name of) the inevitable character actor or actress that would pop up in an obscure role at some point during the show. This game would usually start with one of us naming another of the actor’s roles and continue until we were pretty sure we’d gotten the name right (this was before the Internet). It’s a developed memory skill that I still use today to identify uncredited actors for my website’s movie synopses (and/or correct the errors that I find on IMDb.com).

Maybe you’ve thought of your movie mentor, or perhaps you never had one. One of the reasons why I love classic movies now is that they remind me of a simpler, less complicated world; the dialogue was more important than the special effects and it was easier to find a film that the whole family could watch together, and have everyone enjoy it (e.g. without having to wince at all the foul language, or other inappropriate subject matter, the kids were hearing, or cover their eyes for the gratuitous sex or too real violence).

9 Comments |

submit

9 Responses Nostalgia, isn’t it great?

Posted By mjryan : August 12, 2007 7:26 pm

My love of classic movies is from my mother, also. With the advent of the VCR, my poor little movie exsistence broadened considerably (I lived in a small town that didn't have a movie theater). The list of movies I we watched on the weekends is long – The Birds, Psycho, Rope, Rear Window, Vertigo, Back Street (with Susan Hayward, very difficult to find now), Madam X, Imitation of Life, Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Rebecca, The King and I, Auntie Mame – to name a few. As I continue to watch TCM I'll come across a movie and will remember watching it with her. Even now, I'll call her or e-mail her when I see a movie that is coming up or an actor that's being honored on TCM and, after it has aired, we'll call and talk about the movie like a couple of girlfriends. It really is wonderful. I'm trying to instill a love of classics in my two boys. The only movies that I've had any success with is King Kong (1933), The Blob and Wizard of Oz. But, I'm going to keep trying.

Posted By MDR : August 13, 2007 7:32 am

I'm glad that you too have a movie mentor mother, Mjryan! I'm not sure how old your boys are, but there are certainly some terrific (coming of age and other) classics that I could recommend. Do they like Westerns? In any case, airing this coming weekend on TCM – Sinbad the Sailor (1947), Boys' Town (1938), and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) to name just three (plus two Errol Flynn pirate movies in the wee hours of next Monday morning). Another adventure starring Spencer Tracy would be Captains Courageous (1937). Later this month, check out the Summer Under the Stars days for Gary Cooper (8/21), Kirk Douglas (8/26), and Sean Connery (8/31), among others.

Posted By Chris : August 13, 2007 11:48 am

I'd like to thank the old ( no longer in existence ) MGM in Las Vegas. Before the inevitable implosion, they had a replica theater that showed old ( especially MGM ) films where you could lounge on swanky couches! Catching old Tom & Jerry cartoons before the feature film. It revived my interest in classic films. It introduced the granduer and splendor that created the atmosphere for movies such as Camille and Hitchcock films that was new to me. Having watched most early films in much the manner of HighHurdler, it was sheer decadence to view them in adult-style, uninterupted, twenty-foot high screens in huge sound and with intent. Sadly, like the great theatres of yesterday, this repli-theater is no longer in existence.But I do tip my hat to the Mayan in Denver, for its' Deco feel. The movies are much more contemporary, but so lives film today. And as theater screens get smaller, the rooms dinky ( only the sound gets bigger ) I luxuriate at home, curtains drawn, lights off, on a big screen TV— my own mini-theater, complete with popcorn and surround sound, watching with my girl ( who has seen every Western ever made, thanks to her dad ) and I say Long Live the Classics!

Posted By Frostbite : August 13, 2007 12:36 pm

My high school literature teacher. Because of her boring homework, I began flipping through the cable channels and started watching Hitchcock's "Suspicion." I haven't turned back since!

Posted By Miglet : August 13, 2007 10:31 pm

My mother was my film mentor right up until I discovered independent film via "Sex, Lies, and Videotape". Then she bowed out and let me go out on my own because those films were just not her "thing". However, her love for film definitely informed my own, and she always encouraged me to seek out the films I wanted to see (old and new) and would drive me to where they were playing.Her first favorite genre is musicals and that was my first exposure to classic films, but as I grew older and developed my own tastes…she took me to the Glendale Public Library to see "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial"; she drove me to Santa Monica to see "How Green Was My Valley"; she drove me to the Westside to see "Platoon" in the second week of its release; we went to a screening of "The Searchers" at the Gene Autry Museum; we won tickets to the opening of the Universal Cineplex (before Citywalk was born) to see an LA Times screening of "The Sound of Music" where Robert Wise introduced the film (and I saw my mother starstruck for the first time when she saw James Stewart walk the red carpet); most memorably (because it was far), she drove me all the way to Costa Mesa one Saturday so that I could see "Lady Jane". Her influence, generosity, and mileage was never taken for granted, and I can't imagine how devoid of joy my life would be if she hadn't shared her love of musicals, westerns, James Coburn, and The Academy Awards with me.

Posted By RHS : August 14, 2007 2:08 am

I used to con my mother into staying up late with me to watch all kinds of things. I even got her to watch Dawn of the Dead, which she still refers to as "that thing in the shopping mall." Good times!

Posted By MDR : August 14, 2007 7:29 am

Not only is the selection of films better, because of TCM, but I too much prefer to watch movies in the comfort of my own home theater these days, Chris. It's cheaper and I don't have to suffer cellphones ringing (or their screens glowing while the person sends/receives e-mails or instant messages), adults talking or kids screaming, etc..I think all of us who had a movie mentor are lucky, whether they drove us to classic films unintentionally (Frostbite) or literally (Miglet, who was truly blessed). The fact that your mother would watch DotD with you explains a lot RHS;-)

Posted By JC Loophole : August 15, 2007 7:19 pm

It was my Dad who was my classic movie mentor. But oddly enough, it started with shorts like the Stooges and Looney Tunes. When ever they came on TV he made sure we ran in to watch with him. Then came old time radio- my dad had all kinds of shows- everything from Jack Benny (my fave) to The Shadow. When we got a VCR, Saturday became a weekly excursion to the only Video Rental place in town at the time. We scoured the shelves for Abbott and Costello, The Thin Man, the Marx Brothers, anything with Jimmy Stewart, etc. We'd lug the tapes home and watch them and repeat the following Saturday. What was funny was that when I watched the films – I recognized some of the voices from OTR and got more of the Looney Tunes jokes. Most of the old theaters around here were gone by the time I was old enough, but there was one left when some revivals came through- The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca. I dragged my friends to see them. I know some thought it was odd for someone so young to be so into old movies. That was ok with me, the more I shared my interests with others the more they got into them also.

Posted By joanne : November 11, 2007 12:34 am

My obsession with classic film didn't come from someone, but rather just by shere curiosity. The blame could be put on TCM themselves. Simply flipping through the channels and I saw The Nutty Professor with Jerry Lewis. I watched a bit and I was surprised something this old could still be funny. So I watched other ones and I learned about Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra then Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart. It literally was like a snowball effect. I'm still in high school and I don't know anybody else that likes these films much less in my age group. But I don't care I love my movies!

MovieMorlocks.com is the official blog for TCM. No topic is too obscure or niche to be excluded from our film discussions. And we welcome your comments on our blogs and bloggers.