Ladybug Ladybug

I'd like to echo what an earlier reviewer noted: that Ladybug, Ladybug is the sort of movie that can stay with you for a very long time. The one and only time that I saw the movie was likely around 1970, when I was seven years old. I watched quite a few movies on TV when I was that age -- by myself -- and without any kind of preparation or explanation I remember being engrossed by the film.

While I remember the plot,which has already been well-described so far, it's particular images that still stick with me. Someone mentioned refrigerators, and that perhaps is the one moment in the film that terrified me the most. I remember the system of warning lights in the school, a single moment of the teacher leading the kids down a dirt road and, again, the old fridge at the end of the movie.

What is also memorable, from the perspective of a small child, is the sense of unease and dread that permeated the entire film. It also played a small role in shaping my attitudes towards war and conflict at a very early age. Is this reading too much into a childhood memory of a film? Probably, but writing my one and only IMDb entry on a film that I saw once 40 years ago is evidence of its quiet power.

Some years ago, HBO or one of the other pay movie channels was running rarely seen independent films on a fairly regular basis. They had a higher opinion of their viewers then. Anyway, that's where I saw Ladybug, Ladybug, but I saw it only once. I wish I had taped it. It's an extremely well done film in all regards, and I liked the fact that it was filmed in black & white, which added a kind of stark atmosphere, especially in the bright sunlight. To tell the truth, I barely remember the story now, so I've enjoyed reading the other comments from those who have seen it. What I do recall is the favorable impression this little film left me with, and the way I felt after seeing it. I'd love to see it again, and other little-seen films of this and earlier eras, but there is so much garbage being churned out by the film industry today, there's no room on the airwaves, cable, or in the DVD/VHS production studios for good things like Ladybug, Ladybug. More's the pity, there are so many great films that could be shown, it's everyone's loss!

Surely this packed a hell of a punch in its theatrical release. It remains quite penetrating today, if chiefly as a Cold War time capsule, and a fast-fading memory of a gentler, though increasingly tumultuous America in the early stages of multi-directional change.

LADYBUG, LADYBUG is a deftly machinated picture, and clearly a vest-pocket project born of much heart and personal investment(rarely are films of this type made as big boxoffice prospectives). The largely no-name cast does a spectacular job, the children especially so...they are all in top form, with a few in particular providing some of the finest juvenile dramatic performances of that decade. With a methodically weak pulse, LADYBUG imagines the anxiety and dread of a single day when the students and faculty of a public grade school are erroneously led to believe that a nuclear missile attack may be expeditiously imminent. A group of students are chaperoned home on-foot by a teacher...it's a tense walk, and all the while they do their best to keep each other calm, each straining to maintain an abstemious bravado and composure. Particular focus is placed on a girl and boy just entering puberty, and the awkward apprehension of their nascent mutual attraction...those first pangs of romantic/sexual interest in (generally) the opposite sex which are so confusing, so exciting, and so soon forgotten. The denouement is bitterly heartbreaking, and alleged to have foothold in a true-life tragedy.

Uniquely horrifying in a plaintive, almost fragile way, it enjoins in sotto-voce the eternal, immutable call for peace on Earth...a call, as yet, unheeded.

8.5/10...a film to preserve for posterity, as much for its stinging hindsight as its urgent cautionary gravity.

I saw this movie as a child in a theater (1963 or 64). It was played before the feature. It is amazing to me that I still remember the title, and was tickled to come upon this little discussion. The fascination the movie held at that time was that it stopped in the middle, I was horrified. I was never sure whether the movie was over and they stopped here to make it seem like something had really happened or if the tape broke and they couldn't get it repaired to continue. This was very disturbing for me at the time, I related to the terror of the children. I remember coming home for lunch and listening to the radio when Cuba was threatening us. I would have been in the third grade when Ladybug, Ladybug was at the theater. I guess it was the ultimate choose your own ending. I imagined what might have happened and kept the title in the back of my mind all this time. I would probably be surprised at how it plays out now. Everything seems larger in retrospect. I've been waiting 44 years for the spoiler. Do you think I'll ever see the end?

The children, especially the girls, give outstanding performances. Really gives you a sense of the paranoia and dread of the time. Apparently you'll have to keep watching the skies [and TV Guide] for its rare appearances on the small screen, as it has not been released on video. Great movie -- wish it was available!