Time Frames

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You're probably tempted to skip right to the list because, frankly, who has the time? Not so fast. These films about the speed-crazed times we live in may not give you all the answers to finding a balanced pace in your life, but at least you'll probably sit down long enough to watch them.

1. The Crowd (King Vidor, 1928). How did time-pressed 1920s urban professionals view the work week? Pretty much the way we do now, just in black and white and with no sound. If Vidor's shot of row upon row of office desks filled by mostly defeated clock-punchers doesn't make you jumpy, then you must be a charter member of Prozac Nation.

2. Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936). The Little Tramp's last and greatest appearance offers a sanguine portrait of mechanized society. When you stop laughing, you'll feel the power of the metaphor of Chaplin being run through the gears of the great modern factory. At the end, he and future ex-wife Paulette Goddard walk down an empty road to an uncertain future, leaving us with the hopeful if not very reassuring, "Buck up. We'll get along."

3. Rope (Alfred Hitchcock, 1948) The film, shot in one continuous take, is the closest a Hollywood movie has ever come to Aristotle's unities of time, space, and action, forcing the watcher to slow way down and experience life--or boredom--at the same pace as the protagonists on the screen. As usual, Hitchcock was way ahead of the crowd.

4. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (H.C. Potter, 1948). Cary Grant and Myrna Loy decide to duck out of the frenzy of New York City by moving to supposedly idyllic Connecticut. A hilarious cautionary tale for those who think they can have it all and are vain enough to try.

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