A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys

If you remember the Peter Paul and Mary song, you know this is an ugly-cry about growing up and laying aside the things that made childhood magical. Jackie Paper relies on Puff, his imaginary friend (or is he? We have a Big Bird/Snuffleupagus situation here) until he gains confidence and grows a bit older and no longer needs him. Puff is devastated. I am devastated. I have been obsessed since my…

Claudette Chronicles 44/53

The real romance here is between Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, or maybe Clark Gable and money. The women (Claudette Colbert and Hedy Lamarr) feel like afterthoughts, like “we should have a love story but don’t let it distract from the oil wells and the fraud.”

The 15 minutes of flirtation between Gable and Colbert is cute and reminds you of how charming they were in It Happened One Night, and then it’s gone and it’s never…

Claudette Chronicles 5/53 (rewatch again)

I subscribed to the Criterion Channel this month just for their Claudette Collection, and when looking at the array of choices, did I choose something I hadn’t seen before? Or something great, a known classic? Reader, I did not. I said “oooh, this straddling-the-border-of-mediocre-and-terrible movie is just my speed, let’s watch it again.”

I appreciate how quickly they get the plot rolling. By minute six, we’ve faced down the bubonic plague, dropped a dead crew…

This, I have maintained for years, is a movie for adults. The balance between pursuing your own dreams and living for others is one I think a lot of thoughtful people struggle with, and the constant deferring of George Bailey’s own dreams so he can do what’s right for his community is so compelling precisely because it really does demand sacrifice. George has a happy ending—but he never does get to be the architect who builds great buildings as he…