Lately I have found myself watching more old movies. To be honest, dear readers, I am becoming weary of all the CGI and special effects that these new movies produce with wild abandon. I long for the days when artists designed amazing physical props that would ignite the imagination and contribute to a story. There is something enrapturing about suspending your disbelief and appreciating a well told story. When I speak of old movies I am talking about ones that were either from the days of black and white film and up to the 1960s. I do greatly enjoy movies from the 80’s (1980’s for those of you born in this century), but I wish to go back farther than that as many classic and well known hits came to the screen in the 80’s. I would like to introduce you to some older films that I believe deserve greater appreciation. Dear readers, prepare to be transported in time as I introduce some old movies that deserve more love.
The Uninvited (1944)
Surprisingly, my husband brought this movie to my attention. He had read an article that it was this movie that began many of the modern tropes that we see in horror movies today. Because we are very spoiled with being library card holders with access to thousands of movies and books, I was able to request this movie from another library in our system (you can as well with the link, dear reader.)
I must say, this movie impressed me. If you are looking for gothic horror-this is for you. An adult sister and brother (Pamela and Roderick) are vacationing on the moody coast of Cornwall when they come across a sprawling gothic mansion. Pamela immediately falls in love with the place and convinces Roderick that they can afford it if they go in on it together (they get a good deal on it, in fact). Moving in they soon discover that their new home, Windward House, is considered haunted by the locals. At first they brush off these stories, but soon the sibling duo encounter strange happenings in the house: drafts, cold spots, and the sound of sobbing in the night. The dog even refuses to enter the second floor.
Pamela and Roderick are likeable people and quickly make friends with the neighbors, especially Stella Fitzgerald whose mother died in Windward House. Stella now lives with her grandfather and is mysteriously forbidden from entering Pamela and Roderick’s new abode. Why? Could Stella be the key to the haunting? What secrets lurk within the walls of Windward House? You cannot go wrong with this movie. The acting is great, the atmosphere is spooky and gothic, the special effects in terms of the ghost were phenomenal for the period. I highly recommend The Uninvited (1944).
Click HERE to request a copy of The Uninvited (1944)!
Doctor Dolittle (1967)
The 1967 Doctor Dolittle movie will always have a special place in my heart. I recently rewatched it and was very impressed with the physical props and effects used in this movie. My grandparents did not have many kids’ movies on VHS when I was there to be babysat as a child, but they had Doctor Dolittle. I probably watched this 3 hour musical hundreds of times at their house as a little one. As an adult I am the proud owner of it on DVD. Doctor Dolittle invites the viewer to suspend their disbelief. The viewer is even requested to give in to the story. Some lyrics state, “My friend the Doctor says the world is full of fantasy, and who are you and I to disagree?” As a viewer I want to believe in push-me-pull-you’s. I want to believe in giant luna moths that fly back and forth between the earth and the moon. I want to believe in giant pink sea snails and floating islands populated by well-educated bookworms. In watching this movie I can abandon reality and allow myself to believe in those things for a time. My husband humorously sums this one up as “a man who can talk to animals is sentenced to life in an insane asylum but escapes with a street vendor, some kid whose parents are somehow fine with this, a couple of animals, and a lady who enter into a quest to find a giant snail.” Yeah, that is pretty much the gist of it. There is adventure, romance, comedy, and fantasy all combined into a wonderful, whimsical story. The music is also absolutely wonderful. My favorites include, “My Friend the Doctor”, “I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It”, “Beautiful Things”, and “Fabulous Places”.
My favorite lyrics from Beautiful Things: “Our lives tick by like pendulum swings, poor little things, puppets on strings. But life is full of beautiful things, beautiful people too.” I try to think of this when I need to be reminded that there is beauty in the world amongst all the darkness.
We need to talk about the amazing physical effects in this movie. While there are many very real animals in Doctor Dolittle, some are made as puppets. The mother fox in the fox rescue scene is a puppet and her pups are played by small dogs. Clearly we would not want a real fox to be traumatized in a fox hunting scene so disbelief had to be suspended. I can very much appreciate this and just accept the story being told. What I do want to praise is the giant pink sea snail. I am sure there is an article out there on how they did that. It is huge! It moves across the water and up near a beach. It’s eyes and mouth move! Doctor Dolittle even has to feed it at one point. This is a prop that was made without CGI that I believe was so very cool. The push-me-pull-you is clearly two people in a lama suit. I know this, but my brain does not accept it as they move and act so well. A push-me-pull-you is a rare breed of llama from Mount Everest. They evolved one head in back one head in front so they can run up and down the mountain without having to turn around. This is a fantasy, yes, but Doctor Dolittle can make me believe as I am sucked into the great costume work in this movie. If you are looking for an escape from reality and want to embrace a whimsical adventure for awhile, I highly recommend checking Doctor Dolittle (1967) out.
Click HERE to request a copy of Doctor Dolittle (1967) from our catalogue!
Wuthering Heights (1939)
Disclaimer: I have not read Wuthering Heights nor have I watched the new movie. The 1939 movie was my very first (and very recent) introduction to the story. My friend, Shannon, is more versed in the original plot than I am so it was interesting getting her take on it. For those of you new to the story of Wuthering Heights like I was, it is a tale of yearning, love, hate, and revenge.
I enjoyed this black and white movie, though I am told I was not supposed to like Heathcliff. In this rendition of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is depicted as a sympathetic character. There are no murdering puppy scenes or him being a despicable human being. He just seems sad and lonely. Heathcliff is adopted onto the estate by the father of Cathy and Hindley. He lives in the manor with them as a kind of brother. Soon their father dies and Heathcliff is cast out of the manor by the jealous Hindley and turned into a stable boy/family servant. He is forced to sleep in a drafty room in the stable. He suffers abuse upon abuse as he grows into a rather handsome man (played by Laurence Olivier). He is called “a dirty gypsy” amongst other racist remarks and taunts. What gets him through the dark times is his love for Cathy, perhaps the only one who has ever shown him any love at all.
Cathy herself feels deeply for Heathcliff, but has a fickle heart. Heathcliff cannot give her the life she wants full of money and pretty dresses. He is poor and dirty in her eyes. So, she betrays his heart and settles for a handsome rich suitor. Heathcliff goes to America for many years and makes his fortune. Will Cathy accept him when he returns? Will their love rekindle or will love turn to hate and passion to revenge?
As I said, I have not seen the new movie. I really think the actors and actresses in this older version did a very wonderful job. Their acting pulled me into the story. The sets were also wonderful from the mansions to the moors. I believe it to be worth a watch.
Click HERE to request Wuthering Heights (1939) from our catalogue!
Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961)
Last year Disney came out with a rather awful (in my opinion) live action adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. After watching it I turned to my husband and told him that there will only ever be one true live action Snow White for me: Snow White and the Three Stooges. Yes, the Three Stooges sub in for the Seven Dwarves, but they are not the focus of this story! This movie stars figure skater, Carol Heiss, as Snow White. She is absolutely wonderful! This live action musical adaptation really focuses on the winter element and highlights Carol Heiss’s skills in figure skating and singing. I cannot stress how amazing she is in the role of Snow White. In this adaptation Prince Charming (who is quite attractive despite the tights) was saved by the Three Stooges from an assassination attempt at a young age. Unfortunately, he was hit on the head and lost his memory. Not knowing what to do with him, our clumsy heroes adopted him as their own. Moe, Larry, and Curly star as a troupe of traveling minstrels/con men who travel the country. The Seven Dwarves let them use the cottage from time to time.
Our villains are also wonderfully performed. The Evil Queen is played by Patricia Medina who is lovely in her many dark themed dresses and performs the character far better than Gal Gadot in the new movie (in my opinion). A new villain is also added in this production as the evil henchman on the queen, Count Oga. The Evil Queen may have her mirror, but Count Oga has his magical wishing sword. Count Oga looks the part complete with the dark satin clothes, pointy beard and curling mustache. The Wishing Sword also leads to one of my husband and I’s favorite-to-quote lines when Curly gets ahold of it…I am not going to post it here as it would ruin some laughs when you watch it.
All in all, this is THE live action Snow White you did not know you needed in your life. Forget the Disney movie-watch this one instead. It is fun for the whole family and a real feel good movie. I always get the warm cozies after watching it time and time again. I also have to commend the music in this movie. All the songs are spot on and Carol Heiss as Snow White is just an absolute joy to watch. Some people find The Three Stooges annoying, but fear not: Snow White, the prince, and our villains steal the show. The Three Stooges do manage to find their heroic side and can be appreciated as staunch protectors of Snow White and her prince.
Unfortunately, this title is not in the Monarch Catalogue. You can still request it via Wiscat though! Follow the link by clicking HERE or give us a call at 920-459-3400 to place your request for this movie today!
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Dear readers, as The Wizard of Oz is a beloved classic, many of you probably know more about this movie than I do. I originally saw it when I was five at my aunt’s house…I remember hiding in the kitchen for part of it and having to be coaxed back into the living room. I recently rewatched it and I think I know why I had that reaction as a child. I had forgotten the whole thing with the witch of a neighbor lady wanting to kill Toto! As an adult I was upset by that! Also, the munchkins really freaked me out. They were just too much, I almost could not. I persevered as I was really looking forward to our main characters entering the story: the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion.
What most impressed me about The Wizard of Oz was the amazing makeup work on The Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. I really enjoy when productions go into makeup and prosthetics over the use of CGI to make someone look alien or different. It just gives a more real feeling somehow, especially when it is pulled off well like in The Wizard of Oz. The costume and makeup work pulled me into their characters more. Each of them are so very likeable as they discover that what they were seeking was inside them all along. I mean Dorothy is fine and all, but the big three are my favorite by far. In my opinion, they also have the best music and dance numbers. People have told me that they find the flying monkeys to be scarier than the munchkins. On the contrary, I LOVED the flying monkeys. Somehow the costume work made them seem very real and less human. I like dark gothic things and the Star Trek Voyager episode: The Thaw is my favorite, so I guess that explains my tastes. All in all, I did enjoy my rather overdue rewatch of The Wizard of Oz. Though there are unsettling elements, it is a story that stands the test of time. It teaches a valuable lesson that sometimes what we seek has been right there with us all along.
Click HERE to request The Wizard of Oz!
Cinderella (1965)
1965 Cinderella is a Rodger’s and Hammerstein musical production. It is my father’s favorite version of Cinderella, actually. He made sure that I watched it as a child as I do not know that he was as fond of the Disney version (though, I also like that one). He always referred to this as “the original Cinderella”. . . even though Disney’s version came out in the 1950s. Anyway, I too enjoy this version of Cinderella. I even have the soundtrack included on my favorite playlists. I think that one aspect that endeared me to this version is Cinderella’s escape into her imagination. As a young girl growing up in the country, there were not many kids my age to play with. I ended up using my imagination a lot to escape into my own fantasies just as Cinderella does in this movie. The song “In My Own Little Corner” illustrates how Cinderella escapes from her life of drudgery from her own chair by the fire and goes on amazing adventures in her imagination.
This movie is one to sweep you off your feet and make you believe that the impossible is possible. The songs are perfectly catchy. The chemistry between Cinderella and Prince Christopher Rupert Windermere Vladimir Carl Alexander François Reginald Lancelot Herman Gregory James (Prince Christopher for short) is swoon worthy. I love their duets (“Ten Minutes Ago” and “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?”). If you are looking for a warm feel good movie, this one is for you. I still consider this one to be one of my favorite comfort movies.
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