I am an avid movie goer. I would say a movie buff, but that would imply that I can hold my own in a movie trivia contest which is far from the truth. It would probably also suggest I am discerning in my likes and dislikes. That too would be a stretch. I will go see almost anything as long as popcorn and peanut M&Ms are involved. I have only voluntarily walked out of two movies in my life. One was the very disturbing “A Clockwork Orange” from 1971, now considered a Kubrick classic and some awful western with Willie Nelson called “Redheaded Stranger” released in 1986.
Recently, I made a point of seeing “Saving Mr. Banks” before it went off the local movie screens. Mostly I determine what I will see from the people who are in the starring or supporting roles. There is nothing novel about that method and this one was an easy call, since Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks were the stars. However, my main reason for going to this particular film was the subject matter.
As a baby boomer who grew up on every Walt Disney production during those early years, I wanted to learn more about that cherished movie memory. I was not disappointed. It proved to be a fascinating human back story to the wondrous production Walt Disney gave children and adults for all time. Apparently Mr. Disney chased the tale of Mary Poppins for 20 years before he was able to convince P.L. Travers, to even consider selling him the movie rights to the book. Her imagination and his perseverance created our treasure.
What is wonderful about movies is much of what is wonderful about music and smells. They snap you into your personal history as though there were no intervening times. Hearing a song again can be the time machine to your past. It takes nothing more than The Temptations singing “My Girl” to send me back to a dance at the fairgrounds in Columbus with a date my father detested because of his long hair.
The smell of British Sterling men’s cologne and I am back in high school behind Bob Buchanan in line to get on the bus for a basketball game. Seeing a movie again, or even seeing the marquee or an outtake can send you back to when you were enthralled with the huge screen and the sound and the feel of being part of the unfolding story. If you indulge yourself, the years fall away and you are back to the day you first saw it.
One of the things I miss most about a big city is the opportunity to escape to an early matinee. It is a luxury small-town movie theaters can’t afford, but it is oh such a treat. Idyllic is a noon feature, hunkered down centered in the top back row, large bucket of fresh, hot popcorn with peanut M&Ms dumped on top getting a bit warm and a large diet Coke, kicked back with your feet on the seat in front of you. That describes my idea of a little slice of heaven.
Though reading is a joy, books don’t seem to trigger that same sort of memory jolt that movies provide. No matter how good the book, it doesn’t take me back to the time I read it. Reading doesn’t seem to claim the immediacy of the senses in the way movies do. All that may be changing as MIT scientists are currently working to develop “sensory books” that give biofeedback. All in the hopes that people will return to reading. That would be an outcome to be greatly desired, but with our Twitter focus on 140 characters or less it would seem to be a steep hill to climb.
I returned to many of the Disney films over the years since I first enjoyed them as a child. Some of them like “Mary Poppins” translate well and others such as “The Shaggy Dog” are obviously dated. The current Disney films have all the excellence in special effects that modern technology can bring to bear, but even the older movies that didn’t have those techniques are still marvels of imagination and creativity.
Disney was a master of the business of entertainment and having fun. On Sunday evenings at 6 everything stopped because “Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” was coming on. Not only was it one of the few television shows broadcast in color, but it had an incredible collection of warm and wonderful children’s stories found nowhere else. Some things simply transcend time and some just gently take us back. Disney gave us both and they are wonderful indulgences.
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