Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

This movie reminded me of an episode of The Love Boat where Julie, the cruise director, wanted to be a part of the "club" that the male crew members told her existed. They said that to be initiated, she would have to memorize Moby Dick, which starts "Call me Ismael." (The only reason I know that is because of this episode.) She did memorize the book, but it turns out, of course, that the "club" was fake - they never thought she would actually commit the novel to memory. Lucky for her that in the future there is a community of people who have memorized books to preserve them & to protect them from the fire men.

For more famous first lines from novels, click here.

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Le Notti Bianche (Italy, 1957)

With movies like this, no wonder people believe that love is simple. Two strangers pass in the night, one just as naive as the other. If the story lacked content, the visuals were awesome. I love black & white!

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Freaks (1932)

What a crazy visual montage! The "freaks" are real circus sideshow people: a man who walks on his hands because he has no lower body; a woman with no arms who eats, smokes, etc with her feet; a pair of Siamese twins; a man with no arms & no legs who "walks" on his hips & shoulders. & this movie even has a plot!

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A Nous la Liberté (France, 1931)

A brief internet search tells me that the first "real" movie was made in the late 1890's, & that "talkies" were first introduced in the late 1920's. That would explain why this film had very little dialog, & why the soundtrack did not reflect all that was happening (for example, a handkerchief being ripped did not make a sound). I always associate overacting & too much make-up with early films, but the acting in this movie wasn't so dramatic, & the people looked normal.

It was a cute story, but I found myself wondering when it would end. Maybe that's a reflection of my own inattentiveness in today's world of over-stimulation.

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One Week from a Man's Life (Poland, 1999)

One week indeed! But what was the point of the whole thing? Maybe it'll come to me later.

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