It’s eight o’clock on a Saturday night: a little girl huddles on the sofa, hands over her eyes, peering at the television. Rod Taylor is caught in a desperate battle against morlocks and if he doesn’t succeed, surely the monsters will break out of their cave to invade her living room. Yesterday she cheered as Charlton Heston and his chariot thundered round the race track. Tonight The Time Machine terrifies and thrills her. She’s six years old and completely entranced. She loves old movies.
I suppose I have my parents to thank. The very first films I watched were Chaplin silent comedies: The Kid, The Gold Rush and City Lights. I was fascinated by the dapper little ragamuffin twirling his cane, bumbling into and out of trouble with sometimes dizzying speed. He seemed a magician who could make a meal out of an old shoe or make bread rolls dance. He made the ordinary extraordinary. When the world inevitably knocked him down he simply got back up, reclaiming his dignity and the girl, and proving, time and again, that the little guy could win.
Yet it was the MGM musicals which made the biggest impression on me. Watching one of these was the equivalent of being transported into a glorious Technicolor fantasy, rather like Dorothy stepping out into Oz. I went backstage on Broadway shows, got snowed in with seven rowdy backwoodsmen, had dinner and a dance at fin de siècle Maxime’s, and joined sailors and their gals On the Town in New York City. Utter bliss. The citizens of ‘MGM land’ broke into song as naturally as breathing, or danced up a storm at the drop of a hat. Everything shimmered and shone; there was beauty, joy and delight. (I might add that this fascination with fairytales has been as much a burden as a blessing. Yes it’s done wonders for my imagination. No, I don’t expect spontaneous dance numbers in the street. But you can hardly imagine the crushing disappointment when my first and only college ball was nothing like the finale of Good News.)
It’s been a while since the Saturday night sofa. Over the years I’ve hummed along to more than my fair share of musicals, devoured everything from swashbucklers to science fiction and even made the occasional foray into horror (I watched The Exorcist in broad daylight). I can honestly say my love for movies remains undiminished. I simply wouldn’t be the same without them.
This blog is my chance to dive in at the deep end and express my passion for the silver screen. So, without further ado:
Lights, camera,… action!
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