Here’s violinist Lindsey Stirling with a beautiful medley of music from Lord of the Rings:

Thanks to TheOneRing.net for the tip!

Watch Ben-Hur with SQPN in February

The good folks at SQPN, always looking for new ways to network, have launched an initiative they call the SQPN Movie Panel. Here’s how it works:

• Each week, SQPN will suggest a movie to watch, based on a theme for the month. The first theme is “Oscar Month,” and the movies are Titanic, Ben-Hur, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and West Side Story.
• Watch the movie and join in on the conversation, either on Twitter @moviepanel or on the SQPN Facebook page.

Find out more at SQPN.

Made from the contributions of hundreds of people around the world, this version of Star Wars: A New Hope is a crowdsourced wonder:

Here’s the list with a few comments of my own thrown in:

Religion:
Andrei Rublev
Babette’s Feast – I really enjoyed this slow-moving but tender film.
Ben-Hur – The four-disc edition also includes the original silent film–an excellent dvd set.
The Flowers of St. Francis
Francesco
The Gospel According to St. Matthew
La Passion de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ
A Man for All Seasons
The Mission – I love the music in this film.
Monsieur Vincent
Nazarin
Ordet
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Sacrifice
Therese

Values:
Au Revoir Les Enfants
The Bicycle Thief
The Burmese Harp
Chariots of Fire – Show this movie to all the athletes in your family.
Decalogue
Dersu Uzala
Gandhi
Intolerance
It’s a Wonderful Life
On the Waterfront – One of my favorite movies of all time–Brando and Malden are brilliant.
Open City
Schindler’s List
The Seventh Seal
Tree of Wooden Clogs
Wild Strawberries

Art:
Citizen Kane – Another one of my favorites.
8 1/2
Fantasia
Grand Illusion
La Strada
The Lavender Hill Mob
The Leopard
Little Women
Metropolis – I can’t believe how powerful this movie remains after all these years.
Modern Times – My family’s favorite Chaplin movie–hilarious and touching.
Napoleon
Nosferatu
Stagecoach
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Wizard of Oz

For more information, see Steven Greydanus’ excellent article, “The Vatican Film List: Ten Years Later,” and reviews of all the films on the US Bishops’ web site.

My wife loves The Sound of Music, so one Christmas I bought her the movie, the soundtrack and the original book. Now I see that there’s a cd of music by the Original Trapp Family Singers available, as well as a book about the making of The Sound of Music. The Sound of Music is great family entertainment, and for Catholic families there’s the added bonus of being able to use the movie to talk about our faith.

As much as I enjoyed the performance on Saturday, I was more excited by the news that the Spokane Civic Theater was going to be staging a performance of Man of La Mancha next year! If you’re a regular reader of Literary Compass, you know how much I love Don Quixote, so this is great news for me. I’ve already put it on my calendar for May 2008. My wife and I are almost done listening to the audiobook of Don Quixote, and we plan to watch the film version of Man of La Mancha when we finish, even though we’ve been told it’s a subpar movie. I’ve never seen it and I’m curious.

Musical theater, The Sound of Music and Don Quixote: these are a few of my favorite things.

1. Ben-Hur – Novel by Lew Wallace
2. The Bridge on the River Kwai – Novel by Pierre Boulle
3. Field of Dreams – Based on Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella
4. The Godfather – Novel by Mario Puzo
5. Gone with the Wind – Novel by Margaret Mitchell
6. The Grapes of Wrath – Novel by John Steinbeck
7. The Lord of the Rings – Novel by J.R.R. Tolkien
8. The Maltese Falcon – Novel by Dashiell Hammet
9. Master and Commander – Novel by Patrick O’Brian
10. The Natural – Novel by Bernard Malamud
11. A Room with a View – Novel by E.M. Forster
12. The Searchers – Novel by Alan Lemay
13. Shane – Novel by Jack Schaefer
14. To Kill a Mockingbird – Novel by Harper Lee
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey – Novel by Arthur C. Clarke

What are your favorite movies based on novels? Leave a comment and let me know.

Burr, the film critic for The Boston Globe, does a great job listing movies from the golden age of cinema that kids of different ages will appreciate. He also has a good approach to introducing children to these movies. He suggests starting with comedies, and I agree with him. In fact, the day I bought the book I came home and put in Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush without telling the kids or inviting them to watch. Like a moth to flame, all four of our kids eventually drifted into the TV room to see what was on, and they all ended up watching most of it.

I like most of Burr’s film suggestions, and his comments on the films are very helpful. He gives little bits of trivia that might interest the kids (the shoe that Chaplin ate was made of licorice) and occasionally guides the reader to the best DVD version to buy.

If you like old movies and want your kids to like them, you need this book. And if you think you don’t like old movies and want to see what all the fuss is about, buy this book for yourself and pretend you’re young again. You won’t be disappointed.

Much Ado About Nothing is funny and romantic with a terrific cast, especially Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. One of the highlights for me, though, is Michael Keaton as Dogberry. Don’t miss this great movie.