Author Q&A: Part 2

The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together
by Ty Burr

(Page 4 of 4)

Q: In your book, you recommend films for different aged children. How did you decide which films suited which age group?

A: I looked to my own daughters as a barometer and erred on the side of caution. And of course they each have their separate likes and dislikes. Eliza, the older, is a weenie when it comes to violence or scary scenes; she's almost 12 and refuses to watch the original "Frankenstein". Natalie, two years younger, is already noodging me to show her "Psycho." (It's not happening until she's at least 13.)

Any movie that deals with themes mom and dad will need to help out with or that isn't shy about doling out the shrieks, I recommend for kids nine and up, depending on their tastes and yours. I understand there are plenty of young children who are taken by their parents to hard PG-13 action movies and even R-rated horror movies. I'm one of those fuddy-duddy dads who think that's the stupidest idea he's ever heard.

Q: You write a lot about your daughters' reactions to classic films. What worked and what didn't work? Did any of their reactions take you by surprise?

A: There's a whole chapter in the book about how "King Kong" and "Citizen Kane" seriously messed with my children's heads. I learned that you have to be guided by their tastes in choosing classics, not by what your inner Cinema 101 professor says they should see. There were movies I didn't think that much of but that the girls flipped for: "The Harvey Girls," a minor but enjoyable western musical with Judy Garland, for example. I was astounded by how quickly Natalie took to the "Thin Man" movies and even more so that "Vertigo," that most challenging of Hitchcock movies, turned out to be her favorite (and not because it was the most entertaining but because it was the most emotional). Once you get kids used to the idea of old movies, it's like opening a door onto a superstore - which section do you want to go to today?

Q: How do old movies introduce children to older culture, and why is this important?

A: Bear with me here for a second. Modern children are surrounded by a media culture that caters to their every whim, as long as they're buying the products and in sync with the attitude. This media culture is based squarely in the present - in the synaptic moment of the impulse buy - and not in the past or future. It's most effective when you're momentarily convinced the past and the future don't even exist, when you're being happily entertained in the Now. Media culture is ahistorical. If you even want history, you have to go to the History Channel.

Conversely, it's my belief that growing up in a world without considering the past and its lessons is a very, very bad idea..

Classic movies introduce the notion that there was a past, and that it was interesting. I have never watched an old film with Eliza and Natalie without having a widening conversation about what was going on in the world at that moment, and so they know the details of WWII, Prohibition, the Depression, and on and on. And so do I, because I've often had to look things up to get the answers they want. None of this is forced. The films beg for context, and the girls have learned that context can be fun.

Q: How do old movies bring families together?

A: You can watch old movies together. More to the point, you want to. The modern American household probably has one child watching "Monster House" for the 33rd time in the den, Mom surfing the news in her home office, Dad checking the weather on the kitchen TV, and older sibling plugged into the iPod/IM/YouTube grid upstairs. If you pick the right classic, though - I don't know, "Lawrence of Arabia" or "Gone with the Wind" or "Some Like It Hot" - everybody will be piled on the couch together. They'll talk about it later, too. The more shared experiences you can get in our splintering mediaverse the better. Your kids will thank you, if not now then someday.

Q: Are there any films you wish you could have included but just didn't have room for?

A: Are you kidding? I just scratched the surface. Douglas Sirk's great weepie "Written on the Wind." Epics like "Ben-Hur." Obscure 30s comedies like "Hands Across the Table," with Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray back when he was hot. There's an endless amount there and the studios are putting it all on DVD. My book's an introduction: I point out the cave, hand you a flashlight, and tell you where to go spelunking. But maybe part of the pleasure is finding Cukor's "Gaslight" or Powell's "Black Narcissus" on your own.

Copyright © 2007 by Ty Burr.

About the Author

Ty Burr is a film critic for The Boston Globe. For eleven years prior, he worked for Entertainment Weekly as the magazine's chief video critic and also covered movies, books, theater, music, and the Internet.