"Flipped" with Madeline Carroll and Callan McAuliffe (2010)

If you have ever been a hopelessly love besotted teenager then this movie will strike a chord with you. It is a film about missed opportunities and words unspoken. Bryce; played by Callan McAuliffe; moves in next door to Juli; played by Madeline Carroll. They are both about 7 years old. Juli falls for Bryce immediately; a passion not shared by Bryce. This sets them both up for about 6 years of beating around the bush before the inevitable comes to pass.

Juli is relentless in her pursuit of Bryce, to his utter dismay. This quirky girl is involved in things beyond his limited imagination. For instance, she sees the beauty of the old cypress tree which sits at their school bus stop. When it is slated to be torn down, she does something about it. She climbs the tree and refuses to come down until her father is called to get her. Bryce could have lent his support but doesn’t, giving in to some peer pressure regarding Juli’s being different.

When Bryce’s grandfather Chet, played by John Mahoney, gets involved in helping Juli to repair her family’s run down garden, Bryce begins to see a different side of her. But he is still too immature to understand his feelings about Juli, so he doesn’t act upon them.

The movie is told from the perspective of both Juli and Bryce; with each one recounting their version of the same events, all of which lead up to a beautiful ending. This is a film about love, families, and pre-conceived notions and above all, taking chances. Sometimes the very thing you want is so close that you cannot see it.  Rob Reiner has given us another perfect film.

"The General Died at Dawn" with Gary Cooper, Madeline Carroll and Akim Tamiroff (1936)

See William Frawley as you’ve never seen him before in this film which takes place in the years between the two world wars. At the time of this story, by writers Charles G. Booth and Clifford Odets, China was undergoing tremendous change as it was struggling to overthrow the warlord system of government which had ruled the land for thousands of years. The choice was between a nationalist, Western styled government; or the radical changes evoked by the Communist Party. In it, he plays one of several mercenaries looking to profit from the turmoil which reigned in China at the time. Don’t look for a hint of Fred Metz in his portrayal of Brighton, a booze besotted man whose only concern is the buck he might make at the expense of others.  His greed will prove his undoing.

Gary Cooper plays a man known as O’Hara, an American mercenary who finds himself in care of the money to purchase arms for the local militia. Acting against his instructions to avoid traveling by train, O’Hara takes the rail to Shanghai, losing the money along the way, along with a piece of his heart. Judy Pierre, played by Madeline Carroll, is the temptress who causes him to lose the money to the ruthless warlord General Yang, played by Akim Tamiroff.  Judy’s father has conspired with the General to steal the money from O’Hara, and although Judy is in love with the American, she allows herself to be used in the conspiracy to rob him. She soon comes to regret her actions, as it becomes plain that the man she has fallen in love with now holds her in contempt.

Sparks fly as O’Hara attempts to recover the money, as well as his honor in this adventure. As an added attraction, there is much to be learned about Chinese history and the opposing factions vying for power in the decades between the First, and Second, World Wars. These were the years when she was struggling to reform herself from a backward country, isolated from the rest of the world, into a viable nation which would command respect abroad, as well as at home. The wars in China were as much about the foreigners being allowed to carve the country up for profit, as they were about national unity. They don’t make them like this anymore.