Films with: Barnes, Peter

Contra connections two celebrated documentaries by David Millstone about traditional and contemporary contra dancing /

"Paid to eat ice cream" is a documentary on New England contra dancing and its music, mainly as seen through the eyes of Bob McQuillen, a dancer, musician, and composer. Most of the discussion focuses on music and musicians (among them Ralph Page, Duke Miller, and Dudley Laufman, as well as McQuillen himself), but examples of contra dancing are seen in archival and contemporary footage. "What's not to like?" is a documentary about Northern Spy, a contra dance band based in the Upper Connecticut River Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire.

DVD 4340

Enchanted April

London, the 1920s. Lottie and Rose are two married women who share the misery of empty marriages and decide to rent an Italian castle for the spring to get away. In order to save money, they advertise for two other women to join them. Mrs. Fisher is an elderly widow is struggling with a lonely and regimented existence. She jumps at the chance to join the vacation. Lady Caroline Dester is a gorgeous flapper who has been grabbed one too many times and believes that she is sick of men. They arrive in San Salvatore. The seaside italian castle is drenched in wisteria and sunshine. The women find themselves in a transformative beauty so enchanting that they experience changes in themselves they never thought possible.

DVD 6706

Ruling class

A member of the House of Lords dies in a shockingly silly way, leaving his estate to his son. Unfortunately, his son is insane: he thinks he is Jesus Christ. He is "cured" of that affliction, only to become Jack the Ripper incarnate, blood thirsty Tory who is therefore sane and eminently acceptable to the House of Lords. An irreverant look at Britain's class system, that peers behind the closed doors of the aristocracy.

DVD 1204