So, why start a blog on films?

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For myself.  I have always loved films.  

For other women.  Women are often patronised when it comes to films.  We are often told we are only meant to like chick flicks when many of us actually love a variety, if not all genres of film.  

For anybody that loves films.  

Lastly, for my eldest son.  He is only 5, but already I see so much of myself in him.  He already has a love for films.  He is a sensitive, imaginative little dreamer.  Dreamers are often told to wake up, but I want to nourish that side of him.  Without dreamers, we would have no movie industry, or indeed other art forms.  I love the following quote from one of my favourite directors, Tim Burton:

“Certain things leave you in your life and certain things stay with you.  And that’s why we’re all interested in movies – those ones that make you feel, you still think about.  Because it gave you such an emotional response, it’s actually part of your emotional make-up, in a way.”

I have never forgotten the first film I saw that got me thinking, I love this, I would love to be a part of this, I love films.

I was 6 years old.  It was the early 80’s.  My family were visiting our relatives just outside Berlin and my older cousins had to entertain me (my brothers were 4 and 2, so with my parents) one afternoon.  They took me to the cinema.

Their local cinema was a beautiful art-deco building, which was wonderfully old-fashioned in every respect, complete with ushers.  The event started with a couple of old black and white serials, Flash Gordon and the Lone Ranger.  After a rest break (love that) it was time for the main feature.  The lights dimmed and a respectful silence fell (no mobile phones then) with a hushed sense of excitement filling the room.

From the start, with that opening scene, where we don’t see our hero’s face until several minutes into the movie, I was hooked.  The film?  Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The music, courtesy of the legendary John Williams, the cinematography, the pace, the banter between Indy and Marion….perfect popcorn pitch and tone.  Yes, at 6, I was probably too young for such a film.  Clearly, back then people didn’t worry quite so much about stuff.  However, I didn’t understand bits of it and it wasn’t until I watched it again when I was 9 or so that I thought, oh, that’s a bit scary.  The bit I took away with me was the opening scene.

I can almost (hmm, almost) forgive George Lucas for those three films because he created Indiana Jones.  He wrote it because of those old black and white adventure serials he watched as a boy that used to be standard in all cinemas before the main film.  Therefore, it was fitting that my first viewing of Indiana Jones was in the same setting.

Film Facts:

Indiana Jones was actually Indiana Smith when Lucas first wrote the script

The film was made with an $18 million budget and grossed $384 million, worldwide

Tom Selleck was wanted for the role of Indy, but could not commit because of his contract playing Magnum PI

In Empire magazine’s list of the best 500 movies of all time, Raiders came 2nd after The Godfather (another favourite of mine)