OUR TOWN (1940) *** This is the airbrushed version of The American Dream that drove millions upon millions to our shining shores. Airbrushed because there's little emphasis on commerce, it's more about what a pleasant environment for families it all is. And there's more than a little bit of truth in that, more than enough to understand why that generation looks back and feels that so much has been lost. It's also very easy to understand how anyone of succeeding generations can look back at it and say "that was a pretty dull dream." I wondered what would have happened to me in that town. Then it dawned on me that that town could have never existed as it was with me in it, and maybe therein lies part of the answer as to why none of them still exist. I wouldn't have been the only one, and many of the others were actually there. Thank you. Mainly, I think. But just as sure as I would have suffered in what that was, many more have suffered in what it's all become. As a writer, Thornton Wilder's never really been my style, but there is an elemental purity and simplicity to his work that I enjoy. When he starts gearing up to make his big statement, in the cemetery scene, I just cringed. Not for a second or two, either. But he just keeps gaining momentum, and he finishes very strong. What's better, to start strong or finish that way, huh? And it's all a grand message, more than fit to benefit me and you and them, and everyone in that silly old town, and everyone is this shiny new one with so much dinginess in the corners.
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