Many years ago, we lived in a world where the one TV in your house might be black and white, perhaps color if you were lucky, but either way the screen was small and the arial on your house would struggle to deliver a decent signal but often fail in a fuzzy mess. Most of the movies you saw were old, there was no home video or rental - you got a chance to see something and then it was gone. Planning your viewing was important to make sure you didn't miss something so you'd carefully scan the TV guide to pick out your favourites ... good job there were only 2 or 3 channels to look through.
But you could still see quality if you went to the movie theatre and there you got to see glorious film on a giant screen (which is only now being equalled quality wise). Again, whatever you saw you couldn't see again unless you bought another ticket, there was no DVD to buy, no pause, no rewind.
One day, you'd go to the cinema and you'd see an angel and fall in love.
We didn't go to the movies often. I think we'd been taken to see Bambi and The Jungle Book as kids, but the first "real" movie I saw was The Slipper and The Rose which my grandparents took us to see when I was about 11. Maybe that's what made me the sucker for a musical that I am today, but I just thought Gemma Craven was beautiful.
It was a lavish production based on Cinderella, made in the UK so maybe not as well known as if it was a Disney product but it has a certain charm about it and the music is great (by the people who wrote songs for Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). There's some great old english actors in it that I remember from TV and the fairly godmother later played the long-suffering wife of "Victor Meldrew" in the TV series. But there was only one person worth watching. Sadly, she didn't do many other movies or TV roles, nothing as captivating 'cause I know part of it is the role being played.
I was just going through a box of old DVDs, ripping them in to watch through Plex, and came across a copy of it that I'd bought years ago. We watched it yesterday because my wife likes the movie too (but hey, she also lists "Krull" in her favourite list so it's hardly an endorsement) but you know what? It's a great movie and I'm still in love with 'Cinderella'.
It's strange to think how moments in time are captured, people as they were - the actors on screen obviously as a more perfect facsimile, but also our own memories of certain moments of our life, long ago, the people we were with maybe gone, but all brought back in an instant and the feelings we had.
Is it just me? Anyone else have the same experience? Are you thinking "WTF dude, I just saw Jaws and ET ...". in which case, I will not make any mention of My Fair Lady or Breakfast at Tiffany's.
But anyway, here's a short clip of Gemma (the 2nd song in it is the best):
