WATER FOR ELEPHANTS * MANHATTAN MELODRAMA * THE INVISIBLE CIRCUS

Water for Elephants - This movie was wonderful. I'd loved the book, and wanted to wait until the details were fuzzy before seeing the movie so that I could enjoy the movie as its own story. It's an old fashioned depression and circus tale. I'd recommend it to anyone. It's the kind of movie I would have watched on TV on Saturday Night at the Movies or Rita Bell when I was a little girl watching movies with my grandmother on her red velvet sofa. I was tearful at the end in not wanting it to end, but happy to have an ending and to know the ending, and then went back to watch the beginning once again. Same as with the book.

Manhattan Melodrama - Last week, TCM (Turner Classic Movies) was better than ever. I have a whole line-up of old movies all recorded and ready to watch. I don't know how they can get better than Manhattan Melodrama, though. Clark Gable, William Powell and Myrna Loy. Clark Gable and William Powell were boyhood friends who suffered one tragedy after another. Clark is Blackie, a precocious kid always out to make a quick bit of change. William Powell is Jim, a studious boy who studies hard in school and takes it seriously. As adults, wealthy suave Blackie runs a speakeasy, and Jim becomes the prosecuting attorney. Myrna Loy loves them both. Take it from there. I'm not going to tell you one more thing, except that Mickey Rooney plays the young Blackie. By the way, who thought that encasing classic movies in bright yellow screaming packaging would entice anyone? Unfortunately, this would entice me NOT to watch or buy the movie. Here's Blackie...

The Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan - She's the author of A Visit From the Goon Squad which I loved. The Invisible Circus is another great title, and the story and 1960s and 70s imagery are good. But somehow there is too much thought and creative writing in this one. If it could be edited more like Goon Squad, I'd have liked it much better. You don't really have to read this one. But if you do and love it, let me know. Now I've just discovered that there is a movie of this book, and I'm tempted. And, on the Jennifer Egan website, there is a recording of the pauses in rock songs. So that's a good thing about The Invisible Circus for me. I LOVE this title! Just think about it.