**Spoiler Reflections** On Family Themes

What do The Magnificent Seven and The Man Who Knew Too Much have in common? What do Dragonwyck and Marple: The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side have in common? The first two are pro-family stories. The latter two are not.

The Magnificent Seven makes it quite clear that it is better (and harder) to be a good family man than it is to be a hired gun. Out of seven gunmen, none are truly happy with the lonely, dangerous life they have chosen. Only Chico is excited about being a gun-for-hire - and he's so young and inexperienced he doesn't know any better. In the end he chooses to settle down and become a farmer instead of riding off into the sunset with Chris Adams and Vin. Elsewhere in the movie, Bernardo O'Reilly practically adopts three Mexican boys when they follow him around, convinced he's braver than their own fathers. But O'Reilly eventually makes it quite clear to them that it takes much more bravery to be a husband, father, and farmer than someone who makes his living shooting people.

The Man Who Knew Too Much is about the McKennas, a married couple who mount a desperate search for their kidnapped son. Ben determinedly searches for their son, while he also serves as an anchor for his understandably upset wife. Jo shines before little Hank is captured - she was once a singer on stage, but has given up her career to live in Indianapolis with her physician husband. She wants to move to New York so she can partly revive her career, but it isn't paramount to her. That becomes obvious when she asks Ben when they're going to have another baby.

Dragonwyck, however, is not as family-centered. Nicholas Van Ryn wants a male heir so badly he murders his wife so he can marry a younger woman. Granted, he claims he has feelings for Miranda, but he treats her so roughly that he either doesn't know what true love is or his only reason for marrying her was so she could produce a son. (Incidentally, I can't figure out why he wants a son so much.) He already has a daughter by his first wife, but he completely neglects her. Eventually he becomes addicted to drugs. Miranda, terrified, goes to a local doctor for help - and falls in love with him! The "love" that existed between Nicholas and Miranda before his wife was murdered is portrayed as wrong and has deadly consequences. But the feelings between Dr. Turner and Miranda have no consequences. True, she pretty much refuses to have anything to do with him (except when she lets him kiss her...), but there is no clear condemnation of their attachment.

Marple: The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side also contains a character with little regard for marriage and an unhealthy desire for a child. Marina Gregg, on her third husband, wanted a child so badly she adopted two of them - and essentially abandoned them when she discovered she was pregnant. But her child, Robert, was born with a severe mental disability. Marina's selfish desire for a child couldn't withstand such a severe "disappointment." She suffered a nervous breakdown and left Hollywood for over a decade, eventually bringing her husband total up to five. Now, all these things are looked upon by Miss Marple as being evidence of Marina's fragility. The actress is not portrayed as being right - merely unhinged enough to vengefully commit murder. In defense of the move, however, I must say I was pleased when the filmmakers included a scene with Robert. He was reduced to a vague idea - a motive for murder - in the book, but seeing him included in a scene in the movie rather "humanized" him. He became a person instead of a "wretched little creature."

Few books or movies have truly pro-family themes nowadays. Very few characters have intact families, and those that do are often ashamed of them - and, the authors or filmmakers want us to believe, with good reason. Idiot fathers, annoying siblings, and distracted mothers seem to be the norm. Unfortunately, Dragonwyck and Marple: The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side rather follow this trend (though neither is technically a recent story; Marple is based on a book that was written at least fifty years ago), as they both contain characters with unhealthy views on marriage and children. At the same time, The Magnificent Seven and The Man Who Knew Too Much are filled with themes that show family life and a strong marriage to be very good things.

Pertaining To Dragonwyck

Anya Seton's Dragonwyck is the story of Miranda Wells, a farm girl who has always dreamed of being a fine lady. Her dreams seem about to come true when she receives an invitation to spend some time nannying a rich relative's daughter. Little does she know how much suffering this invitation will cause.

Pros: I thought the characters were pretty well formed. Miranda is something of a cliche, but I find that most heroines are. I really liked the doctor, Jeffrey Turner. Except for that one scene.

Cons: Miranda falls in love with a married man and then falls in love with another man after she gets married. The former is portrayed as wrong, but the latter is not. There's a little ghost story, but not enough to make the whole book a spooky tale - only enough to make it odd. Nothing explicit is described, but we see the effects of the abuse Miranda suffers at the hands of her husband. About halfway through the book I just wanted to skip ahead and read the part where Miranda's husband is dead (I had no doubt he would die eventually) and she can marry the other man.

My Rating: MT (thematic elements, physical and sexual abuse - nothing explicit described)

Concerning Marple: The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side

In Marple: The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side, American movie star Marina Gregg (Lindsay Duncan) has just made a brilliant comeback after her nervous breakdown. She moves into a manor house near Saint Mary Mead with her boyish husband, Jason Rudd (Nigel Harman). But when a woman drops dead at a charity event held in Marina's house, only Miss Marple (Julia McKenzie) can connect the dots and find the killer.

Pros: In my opinion, this is one of Agatha Christie's best whodunits. The solution seems so very obvious, but somehow is exceedingly difficult to figure out. I won't say another word!

Cons: There's one character who is really annoying. She, uh, wears pretty low-cut dresses in two scenes. There's also evidence of Agatha Christie's questionable views on "death is better than being tried and hanged". Marina has been married five times. She also has a child who has a severe mental disability. He isn't quite discussed like he's actually a person - one character goes so far as to call him a "wretched little creature."

My Rating: T (immodesty, murder mystery)

The Lord of the Rings and Catholicism

Here's a fascinating blog post on Catholic analogies found in The Lord of the Rings (both books and movies).

On The Man Who Knew Too Much

One of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpieces, The Man Who Knew Too Much follows Dr. and Mrs. McKenna (James Stewart and Doris Day), an American couple on holiday in Africa. While there, they make the acquaintance of a man who is later murdered. However, he whispers something in Dr. McKenna's ear just before he dies and almost instantly turns their world upside down.

Pros: Alfred Hitchcock's movies, generally speaking, are either really good or really bad. This is one of the good ones. The acting, writing, and story are all very good. The McKennas are very likeable and have a strong marriage.

Cons: Like any other Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Man Who Knew Too Much can be a little too dramatic. The evil people are also fairly easy to spot (can anyone say "sinister looking"?).

My Rating: OK (a child is kidnapped)

Pertaining To The Magnificent Seven

"They were seven - And they fought like seven hundred!" One of the best western films of all time, The Magnificent Seven is about a small farming village in Mexico. Terrorized by a robber and his band, the villagers hire seven gunmen to defend them.

Pros: There are western cliches, but somehow they all seem to work. For instance, instead of a man with a past riding into town and freeing it from a tyrant, The Magnificent Seven features seven such men. Some of these men, Chris Adams (Yul Brynner) and Vin (Steve McQueen) in particular, are very honorable, while one could make a case that they all are. It's nice to see a movie with true heroes. Chico (Horst Buchholz) is an amusingly hotheaded guy. The soundtrack is one of the greatest I have ever heard.

Cons: Some of the Mexicans have "wandering" accents that fade in and out. I find the girl, who has only a very small part in the movie, to be really annoying.

My Rating: OK (violence, mild sexual reference)

Picture from hippomovies.com

In Relation To Little Dorrit

Based on Charles Dickens' book of the same name, Little Dorrit is about young woman named Amy Dorrit (Claire Foy). The first child ever to be born in the Marshalsea, a London debtors prison, Amy has grown into a young woman who has never known any other home. She spends her time caring for her father (Tom Courtenay) and secretly earning money as a needleworker- until Arthur Clennam (Matthew Macfadyen) returns from China. Convinced his family is responsible for her father's debts, Arthur sets out to help the Dorrit family and changes their lives forever.

Pros: I can definitely see the mark of Charles Dickens on this adaptation of his book. There are so many outrageous characters that are hilarious. I love Arthur Clennam! He's clueless (as most men in old books are), but he's very sweet and honorable. I just about puzzled my brains out trying to decipher the ending the first time I watched this movie. Another pro (in my book) is the length. It's upwards of seven hours!

Cons: The bad guy (played wonderfully by Andy Serkis) gets a bit much sometimes. There's an uncomfortable couple of scenes involving him and a woman at an inn near the beginning of the movie. I still haven't quite reconciled the entire plot, either.

My Rating: T (thematic elements, obscene hand gesture, moderate sexual content involving bad guy)

Regarding Cybele's Secret

In Juliet Marillier's amusing companion novel to Wildwood Dancing, Paula accompanies her merchant father to Istanbul on a business trip. Their object is to acquire a highly sought-after pagan artifact called "Cybele's Gift" that is reputed to hold a wise goddess's last message to her worshipers.

Pros: I found Paula's banter with swashbuckling pirate Duarte da Costa Aguiar to be clever and very amusing. Paula's bodyguard, Stoyan, is an altogether honorable, sweet young man. The love story is somewhat typical, but beautiful all the same.

Cons: I guessed the antagonist almost immediately. Paula spends an uncomfortable amount of time nude in a Turkish bath with other nude women. Marillier seems to have gotten off the "true" fairy tale track. Instead of focusing on a myriad of topics like responsibility, fairies, incantation-less witches, and hatred like Wildwood Dancing, Cybele's Secret is mostly about greed- and the wisdom of a goddess. While Cybele is generally mentioned in reference to her artifact throughout most of the book, I find her exalted title of "goddess" exceedingly annoying. **Spoiler Warning** Plus, I disagree with Cybele's secret- that living in harmony with her (translation: nature) is ultimately the key to a happy life.

My Rating: OK (nudity)

Concerning National Treasure

National Treasure is a rather enjoyable movie with a simple plotline: Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) is obssessed with finding the lost treasure of the Knights Templar. The only clue he has is a single sentence given to his great-grandfather by one of the men who originally hid the treasure: The secret lies with Charlotte.

Pros: Gates' techy sidekick, Riley Poole (Justin Bartha), is very funny. The music is simply wonderful. Gates' love interest, Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), is a good actress, while the villain, Ian Howe (Sean Bean), is a good actor.

Cons: The casting of Nicolas Cage as Ben Gates is one of the worst casting jobs I've ever seen. No offense to Mr. Cage, but why pick a bad actor with a dumb expression on his face to play someone brilliant? I always find myself wishing Abigail became Riley's girlfriend instead of Gates'. I can handle the lost treasure of the Knights Templar aspect, but many other things in this movie (the entire caper scene for one) are very unreal. Also, Freemasons are shown as heroes. For more info on Freemasons, click here (long and detailed) or here (basics).

My Rating: OK (scary situations, mild innuendo that will probably be misunderstood by kids.)

Picture from impawards.com

On Wildwood Dancing

Wildwood Dancing, written by Juliet Marillier, is an interesting and thoroughly enjoyable version of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The story is told through the eyes of Jena, the second oldest and the leader of a group of five sisters. The girls have a secret portal to the Other Kingdom that opens every full moon. Once in the Other Kingdom, they spend the night dancing, talking with scholars and sages, or playing games.

Pros: This is a true fairy tale! The authoress went to Transylvania and learned about Transylvanian folklore as it was before Dracula came onto the scene. Jena is a commendable person, as are (most of) her siblings. And both love stories are quite sweet, if a little over-dramatized.

Cons: I was disappointed with the predictability of a key plot point- I guessed Gogu's true identity almost immediately. Another problem I had was with one character's despair. I find it very difficult to like a character who gives up and dies because she can't have the one thing she wants most in the world.

My Rating: T (for mild sexual content)

Picture from goodreads.com