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My Best Girl is Mary Pickford's last silent film...the last big go around for America's Sweetheart. In this film, she goes back to her roots...she plays someone her own age. Unlike the gothic Sparrows, or the poor low class lady in Suds, Mary comes off as striking and fills the screen with her beauty and charm. She plays a stock girl in a large department store, who falls in love with the owner's son, which at first she doesn't realize. She has to deal with her strange family, where they all look to her for leadership. The owner's son (Buddy Rogers, whom Mary later really marries) must deal with his parents and other girlfriend when he too returns her love. What's charming about this picture, is when I watched it late at night recently, is to notice how much the world has really changed since 1927. Remember when a family actually owned a department store instead of faceless boards of directors and changing CEOs? And how the cash registers rang up 5 cents for a total purchase? How the department stores has sales people every few feet to help you? How the street was filled with cars that now can only be found in museums? How innocent the dating was reflected in film...kissing was like...going all the way! It is also interesting to notice how the rich were shown on film in the 1920s. I'll bet most people in the audience could only dream of homes like those shown. And that all the actors and actresses you see are now gone, their image lives on in film..which is a moment captured in time forever.

This film has beautiful scenery and a story of an evil ruler and his dwarf son. It is so interesting because it is not told from a Hollywood style point of view. It is hard to explain except that the dwarf son doesn't want to marry the most beautiful girl in the village...he wants to marry her mother! But she's already married. So the ruler must get rid of her husband by banishing him. Then the ruler wants to marry the daughter, that he originally wanted for his son. The husband of the woman gets an army of others to try to topple the evil tyrant. Interesting..... a great film for the production location, the manner in which the story is told, etc. (Hollywood would have jammed it with a loud booming soundtrack, and had more blood and violence.) Rent it. You won't be sorry. But you may have to watch it twice to catch everything.

Jit tells the story of a young boy who seems to have fallen in love for the first time. The girl is from a richer family than he is from, so he spends an enormous amount of time and energy trying to convince both her and her father that he is worthy. She is already has a boyfriend, another man who has a shady reputation, but he has lots of money. It also goes against the stereotype most Americans have of Africa. You don't see any of Africa's wildlife...the city looks like any city in a third world country. What interesting is the influences of Britain (since Zimbabwe was once part of the British empire), and cultural influences of the U.S. world market. The star of the film happily sips a drink with a Coca-cola loga in the background for example. The film is in English. And we can't forget the music! The soundtrack is loaded with Africa's modern tunes, not tribal rants and drum beats. A great film. But it is hard to find. If you see it, grab it.