Reviews

Woody Allen's love affair with France, which goes back decades, finds its finality with "Midnight in Paris," the latest of Allen's Parisian brochures, which recently opened at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday. The good news is that Allen seems to be paying attention in a way he hasn't always done in recent films, and has found a way to channel his often-caustic misanthropy, half-comic fear of death and anti-American bitterness into agreeable comic whimsy. The nominal point of "Midnight in Paris" is that we've all got to make the best of life in our own time while longing for a past that probably never existed. If anything, Allen seems to be rebuking himself, ever so mildly, for his compulsive romanticism, his obsession with the past and his disconnection from contemporary American life. Allen has baked us a sweet, airy Parisian dessert with just a sense of sentimental substance in the finish. One of his better films in his latter years.

I have fond memories of this show, which starred Paul Tripp and his wife who played various roles with other actors making guest appearances. This was one of the earliest anthology-type shows on TV. The show was geared to children in grade school and each week they would make a trip to a different part of history or the world with the appropriate historical figures being encountered. They began each trip on a small improvised train. By today's standards it would be crude, but back then it was entertaining even in B&W and was somewhat educational to boot. The show opened with a jingle about Mr. I. Magination and for kids it was enchanting. Too much time has passed and I can't recall any of the episodes, but if anyone knows whether this show is available on DVD or VHS, please leave a message. I know they made kinescopes back in those days, but whether they were preserved is another question.