New book! "The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together" - by Ty Burr

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Review
"Every parent has asked for Ty Burr's book. Every movie-mad child will
steal it from the parents. This is a guide to classic movies for kids,
written with verve, humor, and pep. A winner." -David Thomson, author
of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film

"A treasure, a delight, and quite possibly a marriage-saver as well.
Ty Burr's advice on when, how, and even why to share with our children
the movies we cherish from our own youth is funny, hip, and wise. My
ten-year-old stole the book right out of my hands." -Julia Glass,
National Book Award-Winning Author of Three Junes

"Terrific, necessary, and carried out with integrity, intelligence,
sensitivity, and totally without condescension. Ty Burr's book can
lead to a lot of pleasure-of the life-long kind." -Peter Bogdanovich


Book Description
"If a child can watch Barney, can't that same child also enjoy
watching Charlie Chaplin or the Marx Brothers? And as they get older,
wouldn't they grow to like screwball comedies (His Girl Friday),
women's weepies (Imitation of Life), and westerns (The Searchers)? The
answer is that they'll follow because they'll have learned that 'old'
does not necessarily mean "next channel, please.' "

"Here is an impassioned and eminently readable guide that introduces
the delights of the golden age of movies. Ty Burr has come up with a
winning prescription for children brought up on Hollywood junk food."

FOR THE LITTLE ONES (Ages 3-6): "Fast-paced movies that are simple
without being unsophisticated, plainspoken without being dumbed down.
Singin' in the Rain and Bringing Up Baby are perfect."

FOR THE ONES IN BETWEEN (Ages 7-12): " 'Killer stories,' placing
easily grasped characters in situations that start simply and then
throw curveballs. The African Queen and Some Like It Hot do the job
well."

FOR THE OLDER ONES (Ages 13+): "Burr recommends relating old movies to
teens' contemporary favorites: without Hitchcock, there could be no
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, without Brando, no Johnny Depp."

A longer review:
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/artic...ew_family_fun/

Four more - all worth reading:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ne...+Old+Movies%22

And, to use a few old stories I heard of elsewhe


In 1998:
"My daughters fell right in with the spirit of All About Eve and
laughed and laughed, and they're ten and twelve."

In 2001:
"Last Friday, before leaving for Winter break, I did something I had
not done all school year - I showed my students a video for fun.

"I chose Buster Keaton's "One Week" because it seemed like something
they might like. Well, they more than liked it - they loved it! They
laughed almost non-stop for 20 minutes, and couldn't stop talking
about the film on the way out the door. They understood it perfectly,
and I simply can't think of a time when I have heard more laughter in
the classroom."

(For anyone who doesn't know, Keaton was a big inspiration to Jackie
Chan, and some little kids might prefer Keaton to Charlie Chaplin
because he's more "modern.")

Lenona.