Reader poll: Choose your next adventure, Spring 2015

It’s been over 6 months since my last reader poll, when I asked readers to vote for a film for me to analyze. If you’re a regular reader, then you’ll know that the overall mission of this website is to explore portrayals of librarians in film and what these reel librarians represent. I do that on a weekly basis through various kinds of posts, including film analyses. It’s a lifelong research quest to review and analyze librarians film on my Master List, and I have selected 5 more films for you to vote on.

Choose your next adventure!

The following titles are from my personal collection, and I’ve tried to select a range of genres for you to choose from.

• Matilda (1996) — children’s movie (comedy)
  • Super-smart Matilda (Mara Wilson) is misunderstood and mistreated by her parents (Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman). She teaches herself to read, and walks to the library to check out some classic titles.
• Return to Peyton Place (1961) — drama
  • The school principal (Robert Sterling) is fired when he refuses to remove his stepdaughter’s revealing and scandalous novel from the school library. (Sounds similar to the plot of Rome Adventure, which came out the following year, in 1962!) The sequel to the 1957 classic Peyton Place.
• Strike Up the Band (1940) — musical
  • High schooler Jimmy Connors (Mickey Rooney) wants to start a dance orchestra band to compete in a national radio contest. Best gal pal Mary (Judy Garland) sings along for the ride. We learn later in the film that Mary works part-time at the local library, and she sings a song while working at the library.
• Wonder Man (1945) — comedy/musical
  • Nightclub singer Buster Dingle (Danny Kaye) gets killed by a mob boss, and his spirit enters his identical twin, Edwin (also played by Kaye). Edwin, a bookworm writing a history book, gets involved with a young and attractive librarian (Virginia Mayo).
• You Can’t Get Away with Murder (1939) — prison drama
  • When a young man goes to prison, he becomes friends with the old timer who runs the prison library.

What should I watch next? You decide!

The poll will stay open through this week, and I will reveal the winner next week. Click here if you’d like an insider’s look at what goes into a film analysis post. Interested in the winners of past reader polls I’ve done? Click here and here.