This was the first film I ever saw. I remember watching this on wet saturday on VHS in 1987 when I was 4 years old. I still have the VHS tape and it still plays! Ahh sweet memories... The weird thing is that to this day I have no idea who bought the tape. My parents weren't huge movie fans so the origins of the tape have always been a mystery. This has become a family classic by stealth. Absolutely wonderful.
shareAnd now, if that tape does wear out, you can get it on the nice new, shiny Criterion DVD (Available 27 May 2008, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00152VXUS/papas-20)
Steve
this was the first color film my dad ever saw in the theaters. can you imagine that? must have knocked him on his ass.
wat a coincidence! this is the first movie i ever saw 2. I was 2 years old in 1989. My granddad loved it and he used to play it for me over and over again. I still have the tape and i'm buying the dvd soon. I have so many beautiful memories abt this film!
shareI just watched the Criterion dvd and realized as I watched where my childhood and lifelong fear of spiders took irrevocable hold! I had blotted that part of the film from my memory (but not my subconscious)! My beloved Powell &/or Korda have a lot to answer for. (I have graduated to being able to take the spiders outdoors myself instead of just upending empty drinking glasses over them and leaving them for others to deal with. My version of being a grownup.)
last 2 dvds: Un flic (1972) & Mr. Klein (1976)
...Liked your post mnoe, both very funny and showing we can overcome phobias as we move on in life. These film makers are terrific to be sure. While a very different type of movie, have you tried looking at "A Canterbury Tale"? Some tell me they almost gave up watching the first time, then found themselves compelled to the end. Time after time.....
shareI remember seeing this and being enchanted by it when I was about 11. It ended at 21.45 that night but my extra strict father had always imposed a 21.30 bedtime for me even at that age and the sod made me go to bed before the end!! I have never forgiven him and I am 61 now! Of course I have seen it several times since and still am fascinated by it. its special effects were pretty good then and are still impressive now.
shareMy memory is too vague to remember whether that this was the first film that I ever watched; but it was one of them. I think it was recorded onto Betamax, and all I could remember of the film was the giant spider, and the flying genie.. I couldn't even remember the title or who was in it!
Originally, I thought it was one of the Sinbad films, but today I caught the title of the film in the tv guide, and was compelled to record this today on Film4. The title was strangely familiar, yet I did not know why.. It turns out that it was the very same film I'd been searching for all this time. It only took 25 years :)
Sid woz ere
Your story touched me. It affirms what I have painfully come to understand through trial and error: in factoring the human element, silly rules are meant to be broken. There would have been no harm in allowing you the extra 15 minutes to see the ending; and your joy and gratitude would have been a sweet memory for both of you.
"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." - Winston Churchill
First film I can remember I saw too! 1982 or 83 when I was 2 - 3. On Beta.
shareOn a small black and white television, I might have been eight, and the show was "Million Dollar Movies" they showed one film all week, and sometimes twice a day. This movie was a great adventure. I was already a fan of Sabu, the Elephant boy. I saw all of his films on television too. I have never seen so impressive a Genie. Rex Ingram will never be equaled. Nor have I seen such treacherous villainy as played by Conrad Veidt. I watched the film repeatedly every time it was shown. I did not see a color version of it, until fairly recently, the magic survives. Beautiful score as well. Next on the list, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.
It was certainly one of the first 'old' films I saw as a kid. It was one of those Sunday afternoon films that would enthral me. It remains one of my absolute favourites to this day, one I revisit regularly and which never fails to enchant. A film of unique and incredible beauty, energy and charm.
shareHaha! You youngsters touched me, but... VHS?
It's the first film I remember seeing too, but in a theater!
No, it wasn't the first release in 1940. It must've been about 1952, as I was about 5.
I, to was scared by the spider, and the almost shapeless Octopus (?) below that ate it.
But I remember starting to cry with fear in the theater at a scene before that. When Jaffar summons the bad winds to waylay Ahmad's ship. Upon finding the movie to watch again when I was in my 40s, that close-up still gave me the shivers!
Luckily, Dad brought me back into the theater to watch the end. I was fascinated by so much of that movie. My favorite is, I think, Rex Ingraham's Genie and all his powers... and those curly toenails!
And I still think June Duprez is the most beautiful and charming woman who ever lived.
I first saw Casablanca as a teen in College. When Conrad Veidt appeared on screen, I had a wonderful flashback to his role as Jaffar in this movie.
Gee, these IMDB boards are fun and educational!