Friends,

This coming Wednesday, at 6 pm at Catamount Arts, there will be a free screening of the classic "The Princess Bride." This is the second film that I, your friendly neighborhood doctor of movies, am hosting this month. When putting together these screenings, I like to connect my films with a theme. Well, this month the theme is "films I think my kids would like, and maybe yours would too." So you, and your kids, are invited!

It was only after choosing the films and even after the first screening two weeks ago that I realized, though, that our theme this month is a bit more that "for the kids." Both films we're screening are fairy tales, but fairy tales that work to connect a child-like magic with the "real", mundane world of adulthood. Come on Wednesday, and I'll tell you a bit more about what I mean. But never fear, kids, I'll keep remarks brief - these screenings are all about having a fun theater experience.

"The Princess Bride" - do I even have to introduce it? It is a story with "fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles," as the grandfather puts it at the beginning of the film. The film's framing device, in which it is presented as a story being read by a grandfather to his sick grandson, both plays with and shows the possibilities of the Classical Hollywood Style. Ultimately, as the film uses that power to bring a little bit of its magic into the real world, "The Princess Bride" is a product of the Dream Factory that is Hollywood at its best. The progenitor of any number of often quoted lines, with a little something for the whole family and a celebration of the power of the story, it is a classic for a reason.

I'll see you all - young and not so young - there!
Dr Pete

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