Halloween in Context?
Posted: October 29th, 2014, 8:58 am
Other than genre movies about the supernatural, there are only a few classic films that incorporate Halloween into a more generalized story quite well. Can you think of any other pre-1965 non-horror movies that include Halloween?
Here are three I can think of right now:
1.) "Meet Me in St. Louis" (1944), when Tootie (Margaret O'Brien) fearfully makes her way to the dreaded Mr. Braukoff's house, Vincente Minnelli created one of the most brilliant sequences on film, perfectly capturing the way the world sometimes looks from a child's POV.
2.) "All This and Heaven, Too" (1940) when the Praslin kids (June Lockhart, Virginia Weidler, Ann E. Todd, Richard Nichols) get to visit the country with their Papa (Charles Boyer) and Governess (Bette Davis), escaping the tensions of their Paris household, but with the ominous woodsmoke from the burning leaves and the fog around them making it feel as though they are alone in a dark world, foreshadowing the family's fate.
3.) "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962) when Scout (Mary Badham) and Jem (Phillip Alford) take a shortcut through the woods coming home from the school Halloween pageant. Unfortunately, Scout is still wearing her cumbersome ham costume.
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Two more recent films that used Halloween as an underpinning to the story but really were about familial ties and troubles while growing up were "Mermaids" (1990) with Bob Hoskins, Cher, Wynona Ryder & Christina Ricci and "Jack the Bear" (1993) with Danny DeVito & Gary Sinise. Are there others that use Halloween settings well within the context of a larger story?
Here are three I can think of right now:
1.) "Meet Me in St. Louis" (1944), when Tootie (Margaret O'Brien) fearfully makes her way to the dreaded Mr. Braukoff's house, Vincente Minnelli created one of the most brilliant sequences on film, perfectly capturing the way the world sometimes looks from a child's POV.
2.) "All This and Heaven, Too" (1940) when the Praslin kids (June Lockhart, Virginia Weidler, Ann E. Todd, Richard Nichols) get to visit the country with their Papa (Charles Boyer) and Governess (Bette Davis), escaping the tensions of their Paris household, but with the ominous woodsmoke from the burning leaves and the fog around them making it feel as though they are alone in a dark world, foreshadowing the family's fate.
3.) "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962) when Scout (Mary Badham) and Jem (Phillip Alford) take a shortcut through the woods coming home from the school Halloween pageant. Unfortunately, Scout is still wearing her cumbersome ham costume.
[youtube][/youtube]
Two more recent films that used Halloween as an underpinning to the story but really were about familial ties and troubles while growing up were "Mermaids" (1990) with Bob Hoskins, Cher, Wynona Ryder & Christina Ricci and "Jack the Bear" (1993) with Danny DeVito & Gary Sinise. Are there others that use Halloween settings well within the context of a larger story?