Live HistoricSee what matters.

Film · RKO · 1941

Pass it on

Ball of Fire

44Leave it.

Sweet professors, and the gangsters are only there so she can stay and talk.

Take controlThis scores 44. Ball of Fire cannot be blocked by name on this shelf. The lock is the phone. Block it

The review

I put it on when the house was finally quiet. A professor writing an encyclopedia of slang has never heard how people talk. A nightclub singer, hiding from gangsters, lands with him and seven other scholars. Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck. A house can watch it. Nobody is asked to be brave.

The scholars learn speech from a living woman. That is the piece I kept. The gangsters are the device that holds her there, not a plot I believed. I smiled at the fuss and would not sell it as more than a light night. Bookish men get corrected by a person who speaks. Then you can sleep.

Journal

Keep Ball of Fire in the record.

No house has filed a sentence for this yet.

Live Historic number 44. Yours can differ.

The glance

Household and Piety and Courage and Republic are the thin ones.

Is a marriage, a parent, or a child a real life here, or just a prop?

This phone is set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

Consider this

The Quiet Man

58 instead of 44

The Quiet Man is still a comedy film, and it scores 58 instead of 44. What you gain is republic: A village with its own law.

The eight

7
Industry
He is writing a slang encyclopedia and has never heard people talk.
3
Household
Seven scholars share a roof, not a marriage or a child.
3
Piety
Hiding out never asks anyone's conscience to call a halt.
4
Courage
She hides with the scholars because gangsters are after her.
2
Republic
The gangsters are a plot device, not a duty to a town.
5
Temperance
Nightclub talk enters a bookish house and nobody is wrecked.
6
Truth
The encyclopedia stays wrong until a living speaker corrects it.
5
Stewardship
They leave with a better ear for how people actually speak.

Where to watch

Finding the page.

Live Historic · Ball of Fire · 44IMDb

Live HistoricSee what matters.

Film · Prime Video · 1951

Pass it on

Alice in Wonderland

44Leave it.

Nonsense is funny until it is a government. She comes back. Good.

Take controlThis scores 44. If you do not want Alice in Wonderland in the house, the steps are on Prime Video. Block it

The review

Wonderland is a place where authority is a temper: a queen who executes, a tea party that never ends, a caterpillar who sneers. Alice is polite and then she is done. The film's best moment is her refusal to take the queen's court as a real court. Curiosity brought her in. Judgment takes her out.

A child can enjoy the jokes. Say that the jokes are not a model of how a house or a school should run. A world that changes the rules to watch you stumble is not a wonder. It is a bully with a teapot.

Journal

Keep Alice in Wonderland in the record.

No house has filed a sentence for this yet.

Live Historic number 44. Yours can differ.

The glance

Industry and Household and Piety and Republic are the thin ones.

Does anyone here do a real job, and does that job matter?

This phone is set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

Consider this

Peter Pan

56 instead of 44

Peter Pan is still a animation film, and it scores 56 instead of 44. What you gain is household: The ending is a return to parents, and her own future as a mother.