Mister Roberts (1955)

Why it's here:
Henry Fonda, William Powell, James Cagney (who we've seen and enjoyed separately) and a chance to introduce the kids to Jack Lemmon. What an impressive cast!

Specs:
About 2 hours, black and white. Available on dvd.

Our family's average rating:
8.13

More about the film and our reaction to it:
My family's reaction to the film was that this wasn't exactly full-on comedy, nor was it really war drama, but it was a perfect mix of the two. We laughed a lot throughout, but the film is much deeper than it is silly. We gained incredible insight into the emotions and conditions of men on a boat in WWII.

The film resonated a good deal with us because the boys' grandfather had been at Pearl Harbor and must have lived the experiences of the navy in the era as portrayed in this film.

The performances by all the leads are incredible. As always, we adore William Powell. He is my favorite character here as a dignified, clever, but basically warm-hearted doctor. James Cagney is wonderful as the horrible (and still hilarious) captain Morton. Henry Fonda has to be at the very top of the list of all the actors we've seen during our festival in terms of sheer acting skill. We saw this film weeks ago, and as I sit writing this, I still feel attached to the man he played here. Fonda makes Mr. Roberts incredibly real.

Finally, this was our introduction to Jack Lemmon and a great one at that. Lemmon plays a slightly inept, but extremely energetic and randy young man.  A parent's note: a few of the scenes, especially those involving Lemmon's character, are a bit risque in theme. One scene in the beginning has the sailors using binoculars to watch when they discover that a nurses barracks and shower is viewable from where they are anchored. Although that scene may make the film objectionable for some families, the sexuality doesn't get any more involved than that. There is a fair amount of suggestive innuendo about Lemmon's pursuit of a particular nurse, but overall, this makes a small part of the film, is not too lascivious, and simply adds to the light humor.

The film is exceptionally well-made and does a magnificent job of setting a mood and creating memorable characters. We absolutely loved it.

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Life with Father (1947)

Why it's here:
We needed more William Powell. This one had the added bonus of Liz Taylor just a couple of years after National Velvet.

Specs:
2 hours; color. We could only find it on VHS tape from our library.
Set in Victorian England.

Our family's average rating:
7.75

More about the film and our reaction to it:
William Powell is the highlight of the film and is awesomely funny throughout. He had us in stiches with his out-of-touch, pompous dad, terrorizing the servants, criticizing his wife's relatives, ordering about his children, and generally blustering about. Best of all were his interactions with his wife (Irene Dunn) who somehow always came away with what she wanted. We couldn't quite tell if she was extra intelligent or extra ditzty, but either way, she managed to get the best of dad most of the time.

This film probably lasted about 20 minuteslonger than the plot required, but we didn't mind because of William Powell - I think we'd have happily watched him for another hour.

A side note is that the quality of the tape we watched was quite poor. The day after suffering through the weak color and staticky picture, we were flipping channels and saw that it was being broadcast on TMC! If you can catch it on dvd, or on television broadcast you might enjoy it more, but in any case, enjoy!

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My Man Godfrey (1936)

Why it's here:
We added My Man Godfrey after watching The Thin Man. We wanted to see more William Powell. And I remembered how much I'd loved this film years ago, especially the charming performance of Carole Lombard.

Specs:
An hour and a half, black and white. Available on dvd. I got it from my local library.

Our family's average rating (on a scale of 1-10):
8.25

More about the film and our reaction to it:
This is a really funny movie. Actually, just reading the premise on IMDB makes me chuckle: "a scatterbrained socialite hires a vagrant as the family butler." I mean, seriously. That's some good stuff. This is a "screwball" comedy, probably a better example of the style than It Happened One Night - the action is fast-paced, the dialog witty, the characters do silly, absurd (screwbally) things and you sit back and watch in a bit of a daze.

Carole Lombard was such an enormous talent. Here she is ditzy and very sweet and also reeks of "substance", even though she plays and airhead. She is an interesting mix of qualities and I found myself really mourning that she had died young and deprived us of her incredible comedic talents. There is an interesting backstory here between Lombard and William Powell (who plays the butler with whom she falls immediately in love - as does pretty much every other woman in the household). Although they were divorced in real life, Powell actually recommended Lombard as the perfect woman for the lead in the film! Talk about amicable. And they have a great chemistry. Incidentally, Lombard was then married to Clark Gable and I told the boys the story of how after Lombard died in a plane crash, Gable was distraught and joined the air force himself.

But, back to the movie...This was my husband's clear favorite in the festival. The acting is just astonishingly excellent throughout all the main and supporting roles. (We especially loved Lombard's parents. The mom, played by Alice Brady, is the funniest character in the whole movie and Eugene Pallette as the dad is sweet and sympathetic.) The dialog is hilarious and though it contains serious messages about the depression and snobbery and class divisions, it doesn't hit you on the head with them.

Iconic shot:

The Thin Man (1934)

Why it's here:
Although I'd never watched a Thin Man, I'd always wanted to. It seemed enough of a cultural icon to include in the festival.

Specs:
An hour and a half, black and white. After this first Thin Man was so successful, another 5 movies were released in series over the next 13 years.

Our family's average rating on a scale of 1-10:
7.75

More about the film and our reaction to it:
I've heard it said about The Thin Man that it makes marriage look fun. This is absolutely true. Myrna Loy and William Powell have the most charming chemistry as the detective husband and rich dilettante wife who, unlike modern funny screen couples, actually seem to like each other, which is palpably refreshing. They are both sympathetic characters and equally matched so that their witty banter is a total joy. Another great reason to watch The Thin Man is to get acquainted with Asta, the dog, who is a sweetheart and, according to my husband, comes up constantly in crossword puzzles. So keep that in mind as you go through life.

We found William Powell to be a very charismatic star. He looks a bit like Clark Gable but is more dignified and smooth. We liked him enough to add a couple more of his movies to our list.

The underlying detective story is a good one. Never having been a huge fan of the genre I can't speak for how it compares to others, but it had us all highly engaged and surprised with the plot twists.

I don't think I could call this a family movie guide if I didn't at least mention the fact that the characters in this movie drink massive amounts of alcohol constantly. While old movies in general do tend to contain quite a bit of imbibing (even/especially the prohibition era ones), the consumption portrayed in this one was positively remarkable.

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