CMBA Blogathon: The People That Inspired My Love of Classic Films

Have you ever asked a classic film fan how they became an admirer of classic cinema? Many of them can't provide a definitive answer--like so many things in life, their love of classic films just evolved over time. For others, though, the answer might be one life-altering film experience. Or, it could be a silver screen star that ignited their passion for classic movies. For me, it was all about my family and friends.

If there was such a thing as a gene for classic film fans, I would have inherited it from my parents. Mom and Dad grew up in a small West Virginia town during the Great Depression. There was no local cinema, so movies were a rare experience (in fact, I don't remember my mother ever mentioning watching a movie in her youth). Somewhere along the way, my father became a fan of Lon Chaney, Sr. and Jean Harlow. He used to regale me with plots of his favorite movies (like an occasional bedtime story). One plot I remember vividly had Chaney as a fugitive who straps his arms to his side and poses as an armless knife-thrower in a circus. Dad couldn't remember the name of the movie, but, boy, did I never forget that plot! (Years later, I learned the movie was The Unknown, directed by Tod Browning.)

As a young man, prior to the outbreak of World War II, Dad worked briefly as an usher in a Loews Theater in Detroit. That was pretty much our family's experience in the entertainment industry until the 1970s. Then, the U.S. entered World War II and my parents' lives changed forever. By the time I was born in the late 1950s, local television stations were showing movies from the 1930s and 1940s. A few years later, NBC ushered in network-broadcasted films with its Saturday Night at the Movies.

My parents had their favorite performers, but none were held in higher esteem than Errol Flynn and Bing Crosby. Whenever one of their movies was on television, it was a special family event. In the days prior to cable, we would frequently fidget with the rooftop antenna trying to pick up a faraway station showing Errol in The Adventures of Robin Hood or Bing in The Bells of St. Mary's. There were others favorites, too, such as Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Colman, and (perhaps more for Mom) Paul Newman.

My siblings, both older than me, also helped shape my love of classic cinema. When he was in college, my brother sent me a copy of Leonard Maltin's TV Movies (it has undergone a number of title changes since the '60s). I wore that book out, perusing capsule reviews of movies I'd seen and noting ones I wanted to see.

My sister and I gradually convinced our parents to let us stay up late on the weekend to watch movies. Shock Theater was a Saturday night staple in our house and that's where I first saw the Universal horror classics as well as early Hammer films, George Pal's War of the Worlds, and other science fiction and horror flicks. When my sister got her driver's license, the two of us often spent Saturday afternoon at a local cinema. (If required for R-rated films, she'd be my "adult guardian"). When she was older, she spent two summers working in a movie theater, which meant I got to watch movies for free! Most of my favorite 1970s films (e.g., The Day of the Jackal, The Andromeda Strain) were ones I saw with my sister.

College expanded my classic film horizons by exposing me to foreign-language cinema and more silent-era films. I took courses in early-sound movies, horror and science fiction films, Fritz Lang, Jean Renoir, the French cinema, and, yes, one called "Sex in the Cinema." Although I had some wonderful professors, I also benefited from friends, who not only attended the movies with me but also enrolled in the courses. One young woman in my American Film Culture class became my future wife! (We had actually met briefly as juniors, but love blossomed during our senior year.) Her film essay for that class was on Laura--it's a marvelous piece that I should post on the Cafe one of these days. I have seen more films with my wife than with anyone else and it's amazing how often we agree on whether we liked a movie.

I could pretty much take you on a journey of my life and describe all the various people who have shaped my love of classic films. In some cases, I may have "converted" them into classic movie buffs. In other instances, they may have changed my perceptions of filmmakers and performers. (For example, I always liked Deborah Kerr, but became a huge fan after we had a "Deborah Kerr Film Festival" when one of my nephews visited).

No, there's not one film that sparked my interest in classic movies. Instead, there are dozens of people who have kept my passion for classic cinema alive with their love of Errol Flynn, Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Alfred Hitchcock, Danny Kaye, Gene Tierney, Paul Newman, Hammer Films, Jean Renoir, Hayley Mills, David Niven, Bruce Lee, Powell & Pressberger, Vincent Price, Akira Kurosawa, Bing Crosby, 007, Laurence Olivier, Walt Disney, and many, many others.


This post of part of the Classic Movie Blog Association's Film Passion 101 Blogathon. Click here for the full blogathon schedule and for links to other members' posts.