This Theatre and You

This Theatre and You (1948)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The Academy Film Project produced this rather sickening look at what a theatre means to people in their small communities. I used the word sickening because you can't help but laugh and roll your eyes when your hear the narrator trying to explain the importance of theaters. There's no question that this short was made to try and make the theater owners look a lot better than they probably were and I couldn't help but laugh when we see these owners talking with movie fans about what was good or bad about the business today. Even funnier was a sequence where we're told why movies are so important and one of the reasons is that history movies can tell kids what happened in the past. Really? How many historical films can you name where you'd want someone to learn the facts about something? Most bio-pics are full of false stuff so when this film tries to tell you to use them for study that should tell you all you need to know. At just 8-minutes the film is helpless enough but there's really no point in wasting your time with this thing unless you're a film buff you must try and watch everything out there.