I've been thoroughly enjoying my time at Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School this year. And I'm actually not supposed to be here right now but my good buddy Andy Fish needed me to fill in for his film class and I was very happy to help.
Which reminds me, I have to give Andy back the DVD's he loaned me for the class.
Today is my last day there till next Fall. Since the snow days extended the school year I had to dig through my own collection for a few extra. Today I've decided to go out with a laugh and show the students the Road to Morocco. The "Road Movies" as they have been referred to are not the most brilliant films ever made. But they are fun to watch. The last couple weeks I've been focusing on different types of comedies. I started showing an earlier Charlie Chaplin film with the Kid and a later one with Modern Times so the students could compare and contrast between the films. Even though there were a lot of similaries, there were many differences. And Chaplin was very clever in Modern Times the way he used sound while keeping it technically a silent film.
Although a couple of the students thought The Kid was the worst film of all time!! WHEW!! Tough crowd!! But in their defense, I think a lot of it is to due with the fact I feel a silent film is very hard to follow. Especially since I don't know if many kids have seen a great deal of silent films.
But I have appreciated the way they have stuck with it and despite not completely Mclovin' the films I've shown, they've given them a fair shake.
The week following I showed them the Ladykillers with Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers. Just to show how British Comedy is different from American Comedy. Especially this film which is basically a dark comedy.
Well, after today I have a little downtime before I have to head back to the Art Museum for Summer Classes. Even though I'm not a morning person, I haven't minded getting out of bed early for these classes. I'm getting to do something I really love. And that is watch old movies!!
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