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Post by galacticgirrrl on Feb 14, 2023 2:00:13 GMT
Family Day - February 20, 2023
In true Canadian fashion, the third Monday in February is a holiday so complicated lawyers have to be consulted to help us understand who can and cannot celebrate this day.
For me Monday February 20 is Family Day.
Sadly I see our CFTR genre tab for family movies is empty. Which makes me realize...
Family is a pretty complicated concept. Finding movies that an entire family can enjoy together isn't an easy task. I am reminded of Sam Fuller's comments on how hard it is to make a movie that appeals to the masses.
What movies would you recommend to those looking for a Family Day film?
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Feb 14, 2023 2:23:27 GMT
My Family Day pick this year is a movie I am drawn back to time and time again for it's beauty, simplicity, humour and grasp of the human spirit:  Where the Lilies Bloom (1974)
Rating: G Director: William Graham Producer: Robert B. Radnitz Writer: Earl Hamner Jr. Runtime: 1h 36m Rotten Tomatoes: 91% imdb: 7.2 A family of Appalachian children live together in the backwoods so that they can stay together after the death of their widower father.
 The title song, on a soundtrack composed by Earl Scruggs, is hauntingly beautiful: Barbara Mauritz - Where The Lilies Bloom Placing the historical lens on any archival work is fraught with difficulty. Reviews and articles seem to confirm Where the Lilies Bloom was and is still a respectful story of mountain people. 
Very engaging film, beautiful scenery, you care about the characters.
It's too bad this movie and the child actors aren't more well known
Endearingly simple, honest and moving film - NYT
It is the kind of small, well-written, well-acted, poignant, earnest and meticulously crafted piece of filmmakingThe life of lead actress 13 year old Julie Gholson is remarkable. Nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Mary Call, she never worked in film again. Her later job title is revealing - Executive director of GivingFlite, an Alabama nonprofit that arranges charitable air transport. Former Alabama child actors: Where are they now?
www.al.com/entertainment/2015/04/alabama_child_actors_where_are.html I could spill a lot of ink on the actors including Sudie Bond, Harry Dean Stanton, Rance Howard, but I'll just touch on one entry of note - Jan Smithers. Her singing, along with her acting is wonderful. I'm surprised I can find no trace of a musical career beyond the movie soundtrack. We know from our tv thread discussion what became of her acting career.  Soundtrack with a few copyright drop-outs www.youtube.com/watch?v=-byzjhgJER4I Love My Love - Jan Smithers
Been A Long Time Traveling - Jan SmithersThe internet I hope is correct in proclaiming the film is finally widely available after languishing for decades in digital obscurity. "As of 2020, it is streaming free on Amazon Prime. On July 19, 2022, it was released on both DVD and 1080p Blu-ray." I get by on a so-so Youtube copy. It was touching to see there was a recent reunion with cast and crew. I wish this movie was shown on tv every year like The Sound of Music or The Wizard of Oz. It is like a cool, clear dip of mountain spring water - refreshing, inspiring, life affirming. “Where The Lilies Bloom” screening with cast and crew reunion hailed as success at App Theatre
Jun 29, 2022 — BOONE — Film enthusiasts and local history buffs were lining up outside the Appalachian Theatre on King Street in Boone almost an hour before the June 18 film screening of “Where The Lilies Bloom,” the only major motion picture release ever filmed entirely in the High Country. Close to 200 audience members from near and far gathered to celebrate the movie some 48 years after it was first shown at the venerable theater in 1974. The festivities included a tour of the historic landmark immediately after the screening. Nearly a dozen original cast and crew members reached out to the theater staff about the event www.wataugademocrat.com/blowingrocket/news/where-the-lilies-bloom-screening-with-cast-and-crew-reunion-hailed-as-success-at-app/article_abe7bbb4-f757-11ec-9719-13962d2116f6.htmlTCM Notes
prod-www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/17392/where-the-lilies-bloom#articles-reviews?articleId=021487 |
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Post by topbilled on Feb 14, 2023 16:37:03 GMT
WHERE THE LILIES BLOOM seems like ALL MINE TO GIVE (1957) meets The Waltons.
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Post by BingFan on Feb 14, 2023 21:58:00 GMT
WHERE THE LILIES BLOOM seems like ALL MINE TO GIVE (1957) meets The Waltons.
In any event, LILIES sounds like something I’d like — I’ll have to look for it. |
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Post by I Love Melvin on Feb 16, 2023 0:41:35 GMT
One I like but may not be easy to find is Walt Disney's So Dear to My Heart (1949). One of my earliest memories is my older brother being taken to see it but I had to stay home because I was "too young" to go, so it was a good 40 years before I finally got to see it. It stars Bobby Driscoll (Disney's go-to kid at the time) as an Indiana farm boy who takes over the care of a black lamb which was rejected by its mother, against the advice of his grandmother (Beulah Bondi) and uncle (Burl Ives). He successfully raises it, with the ultimate goal of entering it in the county fair. The lamb is rambunctious, which makes for some cute comedy. It was filmed by Disney but released by RKO, which asked that he include some of his signature animation, which Disney did but it's basically extraneous. It also includes the song "Lavender Blue", as sung by Burl Ives. I recorded it when Leonard Maltin introduced all those Disney movies on TCM years back, but I know Disney loves to banish stuff to the "Vault" so I don't know if it's still out there. I also recorded 20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, which is something all members of the family should love. Swiss Family Robinson (1960) too. A film I did get to see as a kid is Lili (1953). I loved it then and love it now, so that may be another one for families to watch.  |
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Feb 16, 2023 5:33:04 GMT
Once again I can't believe how many movies I have never even heard of....and I adore both Burl and Beulah. The trailer looks good, not maudlin. And more importantly not a hint of mint jelly. %^D
I am hoping to squeeze in Hers to Hold (1943) and Oklahoma (1955) depending on which family members are at the festivities.
Swiss Family Robinson (1960) would be great to see again. I haven't watched it in ages.
I was a bit broken-hearted when they closed the 20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ride at Disney. It was fabulous fun at any age.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Feb 16, 2023 14:07:52 GMT
Nice that you chose a musical.
A fun comedy might be The Trouble with Angels (1966), with Hayley Mills facing off with Rosalind Russell at a girls school run by nuns. There's nothing sanctimonious about it and we get to see it from both sides, so it's something old and young could enjoy. Mary Wickes is one of the nuns and she's always a plus, as is Gypsy Rose Lee as a dance teacher. Ida Lupino directed it and overall it's a lot of fun, with a few really touching moments thrown in, without a lot of heavy moralizing.
Another one I adore is The World of Henry Orient (1964), which is generally marketed as a Peter Sellers movie even though the story mostly unfolds through two teenage girls who bond over a dislike of the same things at their private school. The two girls, Tippy Walker and Merrie Spaeth, don't seem to have gone on to notable acting careers but they absolutely dominate a screen also occupied by Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury and Tom Bosley. The girls fixate on smarmy pianist Sellers and make him their idol, stalking him while he's trying to get an affair with a nervous (and married) Paula Prentiss off the ground. Sellers also initiates an affair with Lansbury, one of the girl's mother, so that's a potential sticking point in thinking of it as a "family" movie, but it's dealt with realistically and pointedly. It also features an "alternative" family situation, with Phillis Thaxter and her daughter sharing a home with the mother's friend, played by Bibi Osterwald, who gets in a string of absolutely perfect one-liners. The script is based on a novel by Nora Johnson and was co-written with her father Nunnally Johnson, one of the more prolific and reputable screenwriters in movie history. Again, both young and old are well-represented so there's something for everybody.
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Post by Lucky Dan on Feb 16, 2023 16:00:12 GMT
A fun comedy might be The Trouble with Angels (1966), with Haley Mills facing off with Rosalind Russell at a girls school run by nuns. There's nothing sanctimonious about it and we get to see it from both sides, so it's something old and young could enjoy. Mary Wickes is one of the nuns and she's always a plus, as is Gypsy Rose Lee as a dance teacher. Ida Lupino directed it and overall it's a lot of fun, with a few really touching moments thrown in, without a lot of heavy moralizing.Another one I adore is The World of Henry Orient (1964), which is generally marketed as a Peter Sellers movie even though the story mostly unfolds through two teenage girls who bond over a dislike of the same things at their private school . The two girls, Tippy Walker and Merrie Spaeth, don't seem to have gone on to notable acting careers but they absolutely dominate a screen also occupied by Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury and Tom Bosley. The girls fixate on smarmy pianist Sellers and make him their idol, stalking him while he's trying to get an affair with a nervous (and married) Paula Prentiss off the ground. Sellers also initiates an affair with Lansbury, one of the girl's mother, so that's a potential sticking point in thinking of it as a "family" movie, but it's dealt with realistically and pointedly. It also features an "alternative" family situation, with Phillis Thaxter and her daughter sharing a home with the mother's friend, played by Bibi Osterwald, who gets in a string of absolutely perfect one-liners. The script is based on a novel by Nora Johnson and was co-written with her father Nunnally Johnson, one of the more prolific and reputable screenwriters in movie history. Again, both young and old are well-represented so there's something for everybody. . |
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Post by BingFan on Feb 16, 2023 17:06:19 GMT
A fun comedy might be The Trouble with Angels (1966), with Haley Mills facing off with Rosalind Russell at a girls school run by nuns. There's nothing sanctimonious about it and we get to see it from both sides, so it's something old and young could enjoy. Mary Wickes is one of the nuns and she's always a plus, as is Gypsy Rose Lee as a dance teacher. Ida Lupino directed it and overall it's a lot of fun, with a few really touching moments thrown in, without a lot of heavy moralizing.Another one I adore is The World of Henry Orient (1964), which is generally marketed as a Peter Sellers movie even though the story mostly unfolds through two teenage girls who bond over a dislike of the same things at their private school . The two girls, Tippy Walker and Merrie Spaeth, don't seem to have gone on to notable acting careers but they absolutely dominate a screen also occupied by Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury and Tom Bosley. The girls fixate on smarmy pianist Sellers and make him their idol, stalking him while he's trying to get an affair with a nervous (and married) Paula Prentiss off the ground. Sellers also initiates an affair with Lansbury, one of the girl's mother, so that's a potential sticking point in thinking of it as a "family" movie, but it's dealt with realistically and pointedly. It also features an "alternative" family situation, with Phillis Thaxter and her daughter sharing a home with the mother's friend, played by Bibi Osterwald, who gets in a string of absolutely perfect one-liners. The script is based on a novel by Nora Johnson and was co-written with her father Nunnally Johnson, one of the more prolific and reputable screenwriters in movie history. Again, both young and old are well-represented so there's something for everybody. .
I’d also recommend Nora Johnson’s underlying novel, also called The World of Henry Orient, which is still in print after roughly 60 years. It seems to be marketed as a “young adult” novel, but I thought it was entirely suitable for adults when I read it a couple months ago. It tells the same story in a slightly different way, making the book definitely worth reading even if you’ve seen the movie. The story was apparently based on the teenaged experience of Nora Johnson and a friend who were big fans of pianist (and occasional Hollywood actor) Oscar Levant, whom they followed around like the girls in the book/movie. (“Orient” = “Levant” — clever!)
I’ve read that Nora Johnson’s father thought her original version of the screenplay was too much like the book, which he didn’t believe would make a good movie. I think he was right — the book’s approach to the story was very well done, but it wouldn’t have made a good movie. Among other things, Nunnally Johnson’s revised screenplay created more opportunities for humorous scenes with Peter Sellers, which was obviously necessary if you wanted a performer of his calibre to play the role. |
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Post by Lucky Dan on Feb 16, 2023 17:15:06 GMT
Well said and done. You should write more often.
I’d also recommend Nora Johnson’s underlying novel, also called The World of Henry Orient ... The story was apparently based on the teenaged experience of Nora Johnson and a friend who were big fans of pianist (and occasional Hollywood actor) Oscar Levant, whom they followed around like the girls in the book/movie. (“Orient” = “Levant” — clever!)
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 16, 2023 18:48:37 GMT
Nice that you chose a musical. A fun comedy might be The Trouble with Angels (1966), with Haley Mills facing off with Rosalind Russell at a girls school run by nuns. There's nothing sanctimonious about it and we get to see it from both sides, so it's something old and young could enjoy. Mary Wickes is one of the nuns and she's always a plus, as is Gypsy Rose Lee as a dance teacher. Ida Lupino directed it and overall it's a lot of fun, with a few really touching moments thrown in, without a lot of heavy moralizing. Another one I adore is The World of Henry Orient (1964), which is generally marketed as a Peter Sellers movie even though the story mostly unfolds through two teenage girls who bond over a dislike of the same things at their private school. The two girls, Tippy Walker and Merrie Spaeth, don't seem to have gone on to notable acting careers but they absolutely dominate a screen also occupied by Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury and Tom Bosley. The girls fixate on smarmy pianist Sellers and make him their idol, stalking him while he's trying to get an affair with a nervous (and married) Paula Prentiss off the ground. Sellers also initiates an affair with Lansbury, one of the girl's mother, so that's a potential sticking point in thinking of it as a "family" movie, but it's dealt with realistically and pointedly. It also features an "alternative" family situation, with Phillis Thaxter and her daughter sharing a home with the mother's friend, played by Bibi Osterwald, who gets in a string of absolutely perfect one-liners. The script is based on a novel by Nora Johnson and was co-written with her father Nunnally Johnson, one of the more prolific and reputable screenwriters in movie history. Again, both young and old are well-represented so there's something for everybody. |
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