Since a little cinephilia never hurt anyone, and it’s time to start gathering ideas for programs to watch on vacation, here are five suggestions for classic films that should win the heart of the audience. essential for family audiences from the age of 10 – the age necessary for a more or less correct mastery of subtitles (because it is obviously forbidden to use the French version!).
Be careful, plan a small VOD budget because unfortunately these classics are rarely included in platform subscriptions. All the more reason to make it a real moment of cinema all together, with dim lights and popcorn on your knees.
“All on stage”: for those who liked “Let’s sing in the rain”
If you read our listings carefully, you have already seen and reviewed Let’s sing in the rain. To continue to introduce the brats to the classic musical comedy, the great film by Vincente Minnelli, released in 1953, is a good complement to that of Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. More classic, perhaps a little less whimsical, All on stage (The Band Wagon in original version) nevertheless constitutes a very good introduction to Fred Astaire and his style, all in lightness and refinement. Ask the kids to hang in there, because the first half hour of the film, which narrates the efforts of a nerdy actor to make his “comeback” on stage, is not the easiest. It is in its second part that the film unfolds all its charm, with some of the most beautiful dance numbers by Cyd Charisse and the mythical number of “Triplets”, many times copied and parodied. Guaranteed success with the youngest, who probably did not imagine that their grandparents had so much fun at the cinema.
Film directed by Vincente Minnelli. With Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Jack Buchanan, Nanette Fabray (EU, 1953, 112 min). Available on VOD on Amazon Prime, La Cinetek and MyCanal.
“Some like it hot”: Poupoupidou!
No one is perfect, perhaps, but an evening with Marylin Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis cannot be missed. Accessible to a wide audience – with the necessary explanations about the era and the plot – this classic by Billy Wilder will please everyone, including parents who have already seen it twenty times. The cross-dressing of two musicians who witnessed a crime, forced to blend into a female orchestra to escape reprisals, will make the youngest smile with its grotesqueness, taken very seriously by two very big Hollywood stars. As for the older ones, let them flush out the innuendoes and double meanings that pepper the dialogues of this production with a very free tone for the time. And then there’s Marylin, Marylin’s dresses, Marylin’s voice, Marylin’s humor… If Some like it hot is an excellent choice to gently introduce the youngest to the beauties of black and white, it is also the ideal starting point to explore the filmography of the actress.
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