My Love Affair with Cinema

I’ve always been a huge movie buff.  My childhood is filled with great memories of cinematic outings, and as an adult, going to the theatre was a common family event.  During the Blockbuster rental era, I caught up on a lot of old movies I had never seen and rewatched many old favorites.  It is rare for me now to find a Hollywood movie I haven’t seen.

The first movie I ever saw was The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.  Christmas, 1958.  I was 5.  Dad offered to take me and next-door neighbor buddy Gary Lyford to go see Tom Thumb, which was getting buzz as a family friendly fantasy akin to a Disney movie.  We went to a small 2-screen theatre somewhere in St. Paul.  It was packed!  I still remember the line to buy tickets snaking around the corner of the building.  When we got to the ticket counter, it was sold out, so Dad bought tickets for the other screen, which was showing Sinbad.   I never did see Tom Thumb!

(Both films made money.  Tom Thumb was a big family hit over the Christmas holiday, but over time Sinbad made more money, and has held its appeal for decades. Tom Thumb is largely forgotten.)

I still recommend Sinbad.  The move is best known for its use of special effects by legendary Ray Harryhausen, but the casting is also superb, the action fast-paced, and the plot sensible, if fantastic.  It features Kerwin Matthews as Captain Sinbad and one of the great beauties of all time, Kathryn Grant (Bing Crosby’s wife), as Princess Perisa.  The music is pulsatingly good.  Some critics claim the score is one of the most underrated of all time.  Oh, and by the way, the ending is perfect.

We rented the movie when Peter was about 8 and Chris 4 and I remember Chris peaking behind a blanket to watch the scary bits.  The movie is frightening for a 4-year old, especially when the multi-armed witch snake makes her appearance.

The second movie I saw was The Inn of Sixth Happiness (1958) starring Ingrid Bergman. It was based on the true story of Gladys Aylward, a British missionary who ran a home for orphans in Shanhsi Province in the 1930s called the Inn of the Eighth Happiness.  (The number 8 is considered lucky in Chinese culture.)  When the invading Japanese threatened the area in 1938, she successfully escaped over the mountains with over 100 orphans.

In rewatching it in the 1990s, I felt Sixth Happiness was too long and even tedious at times.  Nonetheless, it still retains a certain power, especially with Ingrid Bergman in the lead.  Without her, the film is probably unwatchable.  Bergman, by the way, actively sought this role.

The third movie was Ben Hur (1959), arguably the greatest Christian epic ever made.  It won 11 Academy Awards, only matched since then by Titanic in 1998 and LOR: Return of the King in 2004.  The chariot race remains a gripping must-watch 75 years later!  It took a year to plan and over a month to shoot.  The set constructed for the race was up to that time the largest ever built.

My fourth movie was Land of the Pharaohs (1955) starring Joan Collins, a cult classic.  My father took me to visit his office in downtown Buffalo, New York, and we went to a nearby theatre to watch the matinee.  The film was made in 1955, but must have been re-released.  I think I saw it in 1960, maybe 1961.  This movie loomed in my imagination for decades.  The claustrophobic horror of the ending haunted me.  But I forgot the title, never saw it rerun on TV, and couldn’t find anyone who had ever heard of it.  I wondered about it for years.  Finally, in the late 1980s, a colleague at work knew immediately which movie I was talking about and gave me the title.  Martin Scorcese says it is one of his all-time favorites.  William Faulkner helped write the screenplay.

When you think about it, my first movie experiences were set in —

• a fictional island near Arabia
• Ancient Rome & Biblical Israel
• China
• Ancient Egypt

Possibly that helps explain my strong interest in foreign lands and ancient cultures.

I also remember seeing a number of animated Disney movies, but can’t recall which years.  I know the first one was Bambi.  That probably was even before Land of the Pharaohs.  I also saw Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Peter Pan, and Sleeping Beauty before 1966.  My two favorites were always Pinocchio and Peter Pan.  The Peter Pan story has always held a special hold on my imagination; I never wanted to grow up.

I can’t remember the order of the movies I saw in the 1960s, but here’s a list of some memorable ones from 1961-1965:

• The Sundowners (1961)
• The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and Son of Flubber (1963)
• The Music Man (1962)
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• The Nutty Professor (1963, Jerry Lewis)
• It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
• The Great Escape (1963)
• Shane (1964 or 1965; It must have been re-released because it was made in 1953)
• My Fair Lady (1964)
• The Pawnbroker (1964)
• Zorba the Greek (1964)
• The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
• Dr. Zhivago (1965)
• Mary Poppins (1965)
• Lord Jim (1965)
• The Sound of Music (1965)

My brother and sisters might have a different take on this, but I think the most memorable movie outings in our childhood were It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and The Great Escape, both of which came out in 1963.  Two hugely entertaining movies.  In both cases, Dad piled us into the car and drove to a local drive-in theatre.  When I asked my brother in 2023 what his all-time favorite movie was, he immediately answered, “The Great Escape!”

During my teenage years, my friend Steve Juergens and I used to take a bus on Saturday from Stillwater to downtown St. Paul once or twice a year to shop and see a movie.   I remember Steve and I watching The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Planet of the Apes (1968), Yellow Submarine (1968), Midnight Cowboy (1969) and The Illustrated Man (1969).

For many years, I considered Lawrence of Arabia the greatest movie.  I saw it in the theatre again in 1971 and then in 1989 when it was restored for theatrical release.  Other favorites always included the Great Escape, Shane, and Dr. Zhivago.

But would be impossible for me today to pick one film as my personal favorite today.  I’ve seen so many films and one’s views evolve over time.  Sometimes a movie doesn’t hold up as well as you thought when you were 10 or 20 years old.  I remember thinking in 1973 that Clockword Orange was the greatest film I’d ever seen, but I would never say that now.  It is thought-provoking, that’s for sure.

I’m sure I’m missing some, but here are a few of my all-time favorites.  You can tell I’m a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, and the Coen brothers.

• Wizard of Oz (1939)
• Casablanca (1942)
• Shadow of a Doubt (1945)
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
• It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
• A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
• Shane (1953)
• Rear Window (1954)
• The Caine Mutiny (1954)
• The Searchers (1956)
• The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
• Vertigo (1958)
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• The Great Escape (1963)
• Charade (1963)
• Dr. Strangelove (1964)
• Sound of Music (1965)
• Dr. Zhivago (1965)
• Oliver! (1968)
• American Graffiti (1973)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
• Ordinary People (1980)
• Amadeus (1984)
• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
• Babette’s Feast (1987)
• The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
• Unforgiven (1992)
• Groundhog Day (1993)
• Twelve Monkeys (1995)
• Fargo (1996)
• As Good As it Gets (1997)
• The Fifth Element (1997)
• The Big Lebowski (1998)
• Saving Private Ryan (1998)
• Gladiator (2000)
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
• Price and Prejudice (2005)
• Lust, Caution (2007)
• True Grit (2010)
• Hugo (2011)
• Silver Linings Playbook (2012)