Posted on 09/23/2004 2:14:20 PM PDT by Monterrosa-24
Many of us have complained about potty humor and other earthy humor becoming very common in films and shows made for children. To counter this, one can select to use the DVD or VHS player more than television and put better quality material in front of our children.
I feel it is something of a sin for a sixth-grader to see a movie like GREAT EXPECTATIONS before reading the book so the following list is intended only to offer some suggestions for when electronic entertainment can follow or supplement reading. Many of these films provide good starters for discussions on topics of historical and social importance.
Many Freeper parents have their own list of such films and this list will perhaps provide teacher mamas and daddys with a few more ideas.
THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, 1982 noblesse oblige, adventure, romance and history. THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, 1975 Give this '75 version a chance.
BEN HUR, 1959 BARABBAS, 1962 THE ROBE, 1953 Such biblical epics can also supplement the teaching of Roman history.
300 SPARTANS, 1962 Great for boys, especially 2nd graders through fifth graders.
ATTACK, 1955 The fruits of cowardice are explored. THE LAST COMMAND, 1956 Great depiction of Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett THE LONGEST DAY, 1962 IS PARIS BURNING?, 1966 LAST OF THE MOHICANS, 1992 too violent for younger children. ZULU, 1964 TORA, TORA, TORA, 1970 THE BLUE MAX, 1966 Boys are bound to love this adventure in biplanes and triplanes.
BOYS TOWN, 1938 Mickey Rooney at his youngest and finest. THE WIZARD OF OZ, 1939 Many of today's children have not seen this classic. Girls love it the most.
CROMWELL, 1972 Protestant vs. Protestant and Royalist vs. Parliamentarian themes provide for much discussion. NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA, 1971 The Russian Revolution from the perspective of the royal family.
HAWAII, 1966 A overly severe missionary manages to produce some good works in the rapidly changing islands.
THE SEARCHERS, 1956 TRUE GRIT, 1969 Girls will love the young, determined, and headstrong heroine playing opposite John Wayne.
GONE WITH THE WIND, 1939 Old times there are not forgotten.
TARZAN AND HIS MATE, 1934 Romance between a man and a woman "and that's the way it should be." High adventure and still a popular film.
THE SEVEN SAMURAI, 1954 In Japanese so the children still have to read the subtitles.
UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE, 1967 This film illustrates the difficulties in approaching people of different cultural expectations.
THE NUTCRACKER, 1993 There are many versions but try this Russian State Theatre Academy performance available through Kultur.
THE KID 1921. An Elian Gonzalez threatened by earlier Janet Renos. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, 1926
Now discounted to 299 Spartans.
Father Goose bump! (Great minds and all that)
Now being reshown as a religious movie: TORAH, TORAH, TORAH.
ACK- AAACCCK!!
To say nothing of Ursula Andress Andressing in a towel.
The 2nd disc in my set skips something awful!!
All time great kid movie is the Wizard of Oz.
My kids all liked the Shirley Temple movies.
Lord of the Rings movies for older kids(violent, but no bad language or sex, and a great message)
We also like Signs. It's one of my girls favorite movies, and I like it's message about faith.
There is a DVD version of Donny Osmond in Andrew Lloyd Weber's The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat that is a great DVD. It's has great music, a great Bible story, and it is very colorful. I love the music!
I'll have to think about some other ones.
I got the DVD's for my brother but sisters won't sit still for them.
The value of Sargent York and High Noon cannot be forgotten, or just about any John Wayne flick. It's a Wonderful Life is a classic, as well as Come to the Stable, which makes me cry everytime I watch it. I also like To Each His Own, a real tearjerker about adoption. I really loved Of Human Hearts (1938) with James Stewart. In fact, 1938-1939 was the best year(s) ever in the history of movie-making in the US. Rent any of them and you have a winner.
Take it back. All mine are working great.
Three Good Movies for Children...
The Black Stallion
The Never Ending Story
Star Wars
- Double Indemnity
- Gone with the wind
- Casablanca
- Dead Poet's Society
- Educating Rita
- Being There
- Braveheart
- Schindler's List
- Das Boot
- The Passion
I would include the Pink Panther movies starring Peter Sellers, the old Herbie movies starring Dean Jones, The Man from Snowy River, The African Queen, The Ghost and Mr Chicken (starring Don Knotts), Parent Trap (the Haley Mills version), and Tron.
My daughter and her girl cousins also like the old musicals such as My Fair Lady, Gigi, Mary Poppins, The Music Man, etc.
Those are all good movies, though some of them might be too much for a kid -- the poster was looking for movies they could show their kids.
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