Top 10... films within films
John Rentoul on movies that give more bang for your buck
After songs within songs, this list was suggested by Tom Harris, who nominated Murder at Midnight, the film the villagers watch at the beginning of The Mirror Crack’d, the 1980 film of the Agatha Christie novel.
1. Flames of Passion, for which Laura and Alec see a trailer and from which they later leave early, in Brief Encounter, 1945. Nominated by Paddy Briggs.
2. The appalling film within the film made by a sleazy blacklisted alcoholic director (played by Denholm Elliott) in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, 1974, which shocks the guests at a bar mitzvah into stunned silence, and then applause. All time favourite of Steven Fogel, who also drew my attention to the inevitable Wikipedia list.
3. See You Next Wednesday, the “adult” movie that appears in An American Werewolf in London, 1981. It was shot especially for the film to get around different censorship laws in the US and UK, according to Mick O’Hare, who said: “I have a genuine excuse for knowing too much about it – I was at university with a bloke whose girlfriend from Bournemouth had auditioned for the part.”
4. It’s a Wonderful Life, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in Gremlins, 1984. Nominated by John Preece and James Irwin. It’s a Wonderful Life is also watched in Cinema Paradiso, 1988, added Marc Oxford.
5. The Immigrant, Charlie Chaplin’s 1917 film, in Louis Malle’s autobiographical Au Revoir les Enfants, 1987. In a spartan boarding school in occupied France, staff and pupils laugh at The Little Tramp’s antics on the boat bound for America – until it sails with its many Jewish passengers past the Statue of Liberty, watched by the few Jewish children among Malle’s school friends. “Two sadly neglected films,” said Richard Troth.
6. Jaws 19 (tagline: “This time it’s really, really personal”) is showing in the cinema in Back to the Future Part II, 1989. Thanks to Emmabella Murray.
7. Angels With Filthy Souls is crucial to the plot of Home Alone, 1990, according to James Strachan, Stephen Wilson and Jimmers, although I can remember nothing about it.
8. An Affair to Remember (with Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant) prompts Annie (Meg Ryan) to write a letter to Sam (Tom Hanks) in Sleepless in Seattle, 1993. Andrew Kitching, Matt Walmsley.
9. Hello, Dolly! A VHS recording features in WALL-E, 2008. “Especially a musical number featuring Michael Crawford, which is key to the revival of the lone robot after his operating system crashed,” said Paul T Horgan.
10. Stolz der Nation [Nation’s Pride] in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, 2009. The premiere in Paris of a Nazi propaganda film was to be attended by Hitler, which gave rise to a successful assassination plot. This premise was so absurd that Paul T Horgan said he threw the DVD away.
Honourable mention for Robert Boston, who nominated Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, 1982, which interweaves scenes from vintage films, including James Cagney in White Heat, Kirk Douglas in I Walk Alone and Ingrid Bergman in Notorious, with new footage in black and white starring Steve Martin.
Next week: Ironic commemorations, such as the Harold Holt swimming centre, named after an Australian prime minister who drowned.
Coming soon: Greatest backings of someone before sacking them, starting with Thomas Cromwell, elevated to Earl and Lord Great Chamberlain by Henry VIII four weeks before he was arrested for treason.