Yes, Deceive and Entrap Me

If I'd realized what a great story "Great Expectations" was, I might have read it before now.

Seeing it in movie form for the first time today, I'm inclined to think it's a book I should finally pick up.

We saw David Lean's 1946 British version and while it got a bit theatrical-looking at times, overall the acting was excellent and the sets believable, especially for a movie almost devoid of location shooting.

The story of a blacksmith's apprentice rising in social class and standing wasn't nearly as compelling to me as the story of a rich, old woman jilted at the altar tears ago and raising her adopted daughter to be heartless and eventually break men's hearts.

Naturally the daughter is the one our hero falls for, but she stays aloof from him, allowing other men to shower her with attention.

When he challenges her on that, she responds, "Do you want me to deceive and entrap you?"

She may have been a heartless bitch, but she was a straightforward  one.

Besides, he was in love with her so he probably would have said yes to that anyway.

Turnout for today's screening was down from last week's "Film for Lunch" series at the library, but it was the perfect opportunity to catch up on some local theater rumblings with the James River Film Society fellow geeks.

I was glad to hear that they're planning to start a public conversation about the proposed demise of the Westhampton Theater.

Word on the street is that the chain theaters are going to stop even showing 35 mm films altogether and then where will we be able to see true film (and not digital) versions?

It's about time we had a non-profit theater in which to show the kinds of obscure first run and repertory art films that have such a hard time finding a place to be played here.

As it is, I'm at the Grace Street Theater, the Byrd or UR almost weekly to catch the stuff that plays once in RVA.

Come on, let's make it more efficient for film lovers like me. I need time to be out there deceiving and entrapping if I'm ever going to get a love life.

Don't spread it around, but I have great expectations.