Literature Movie Nights

(Current Movie)

 

  • Each month, on a Friday night, we will show a movie based upon a fine work of literature.  Movies will be close to the original work but, of course, somewhat different. 
  •  
      • Handouts will be given that include information on the author of the literature piece, the style of writing, the piece itself, and composition ideas parents can choose to use or not use.
      • The Friday nights have been chosen inconsistently, so that those who have permanent obligations to a particular Friday night will be able to attend some of the movies.
      • Movies will generally be geared toward grades 5-12, but we may sometimes choose to show one with a more narrow age range.
      • While a snack table with packaged snacks and sodas will be available, attendees can bring their own snacks and drinks as well.
      • We encourage you also to bring comfortable seating such as lawn chairs, pillows, blanket, etc. and enjoy the movie in more comfort.
      • Movie details - titles, length, rating, etc. - will be posted about a month in advance.  Suggestions are appreciated.  This year's focus is on American Literature.
  • You must sign up to attend so we can make sure the room size is appropriate.  Sign up by emailing the school office by Tuesday before the showing date.

 

  

November 20

Our Town

by Thornton Wilder

Rated NR (stars Paul Newman; stage version)

  
Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning play covers the lives and events of two families in a woodsy New Hampshire village from the year 1900 through 1913. In this film adaptation, William Holden and Martha Scott reprise their roles from the Broadway production, playing teenagers who fall in love, marry and bear a child. Throughout, the film hammers home its message about the preciousness of time in people's short lives.
 
Rated NR Not rated. This movie has not been rated by the MPAA.
Length:
90 minutes
  
  

December 18

Anthology:   O. Henry's Full House

 

 

Top movie talents lend their gifts to this 1952 anthology of O. Henry short-story adaptations, introduced and narrated by Nobel laureate John Steinbeck. "The Gift of the Magi," "The Clarion Call," "The Cop and the Anthem," "The Last Leaf" and "The Ransom of Red Chief" come to life, thanks to an impressive roster including Anne Baxter, Richard Widmark, Marilyn Monroe, Charles Laughton and directors Howard Hawks and Henry Hathaway.

 

Rated NR (made in 1952)

 
 
 

January 8

Watch on the Rhine

by Lillian Hellmann

Rated NR (made in 1943)

 
 

February 19

ShowBoat

by Edna Ferber

Rated NR ( made in 1951)

 
 

March 12

Lifeboat

by John Steinbeck

Rated NR (made in 1944; a Hitchcock movie)

 
 

April 9

A Midsummer Night's Dream

by William Shakespeare

PG-13

Not American Literature, but twice a year,

students should see some Shakespeare

 

************ END OF THE YEAR*************

 
 
August  28

The Last of the Mohicans

by James Fennimore Cooper

Rated R for colonial battle violence

 
 

September 4

Moby Dick

by Herman Melville

Rated NR - made in 1956

 
 

October 16

Edgar Allen Poe Tales