Thursday, November 10, 2011

Classic Drivers Ed Safety Training Films on DVD: Safe Driving School Lessons

  • (1) Driving Tips (1958) (2) Chance To Lose (1930s)
  • (3) Live And Let Live (1947) (4) Formations (1936)
  • (5) On The Run (1956) (6) The Other Fellow (1937)
  • (7) Safe Roads (1935) (8) Seeing Green (1937)
  • (9) Tomorrow's Drivers (1954) (10) We Drivers (1935) (11) When You're A Pedestrian (1948)
Oscar® nominee Laura Linney (Kinsey) stars as Laura Marshall, an overzealous, evangelical Christian do-gooder who fills her home with down-and-out boarders, including a senile, cross-dressing murderous mute. Desperate to expand his horizons, Laura’s shy teenage son Ben (Rupert Grint, of Harry Potter fame) lands a job tending to self-proclaimed "Dame" Evie Walton (Oscar® nominee Julie Walters, Billy Elliot), an over-the-hill actress with the mouth of a drunken sailer and an insatiable lust for life. The battle for Ben’s soul begins as Evie shanghais Ben away! from his repressive roots and takes him on an adventure that transforms him from boy to man. A winning entry at the 2006 Moscow International Film Festival, Driving Lessons is an experience Stephen Farber of Movieline calls "a delightful coming-of-age story."More down-to-earth than Auntie Mame, Driving Lessons imparts the same simple, but enduring messageâ€"be yourself. In the directorial debut from screenwriter Jeremy Brock (Mrs. Brown), 17-year-old Ben (Harry Potter's Rupert Grint, sluggish yet sympathetic) lives with his vicar father, Robert (Nicholas Farrell), and pious mother, Laura (Laura Linney doing a passable, but inconsistent British accent), in a tree-shaded London suburb. Soft-spoken Ben writes poems and looks forward to passing his driver's test. When his mother encourages him to get a job, he becomes an assistant to retired actress Evie Walton (Billy Elliot's Julie Walters, hunched up to look elderly). He finds her overbeari! ng at first. Still, Evie is preferable to Laura, who may do vo! lunteer work with her husband's parishioners, including bizarre boarder Mr. Fincham (Jim Norton), but also cheats on him with Reverend Peter (Oliver Milburn) and engages her resentful son in the subterfuge. Then Evie tricks Ben into driving her to Edinburgh for a poetry reading, where he learns to assert himself and she learns to put the dramatics on holdâ€"at least for a few minutes. Ben also loses his virginity to a woman he just met, sending a secondary message some parents might not appreciate (the film's sprinklings of profanity earned it a PG-13). Driving Lessons itself seems stranded between coming-of-age story and character study. Ironically, Farrell gives the most convincing performance as Ben's bird-loving father. Engaging if uneven, this parable about hypocrisy and self-expression might have been more interesting if presented from his perspective. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Stills from Driving! Lessons (click for larger image)




Beyond Driving Lessons at Amazon.com


More Films about Co! ming of Age

The Films of Julie Walters

Learn to Drive

They share the same birth month, so the orphanage calls them December Boys. But these teens â€" Maps, Spit, Spark and Misty â€" have much more in common. With no hopes of ever joining a family, they form their own familial bonds. Then the unexpected news comes that a young couple may adopt one of them, and the long-time pals suddenly share something else: a rivalry to be the chosen one.Take dead aim at action-packed laughs with this killer comedy featuring an all-star cast. Emily Blunt steals the show as Rose, a free-spirited thief who finds herself in the cross hairs of a world-class assassin named Victor (Bill Nighy). But when Victor spares Rose’s life, the lonely hearted hitman sets off an! outrageous chain of events that turn both their worlds upside down. Joined by a gun-toting apprentice (Rupert Grint), the unlikely trio teams up to thwart the murderous intentions of Victor’s unhappy client. GARBAGE Stupid Girl (1996 US 3-track CD single including Tees Radio Mix & LP Version plus Driving Lesson picture sleeve AMSDS-89004)Have you ever seen video clips from classic driver education films? These were the somewhat corny, old time movies shown in driver ed and driving school to teach former American generations about defensive driving training, driver safety and all the important rules of the road. They may have even been showing these vintage videos when you went through driving school or driver ed. Now is your chance to see all these classic movies on DVD! We have assembled the premiere collection of driver safety training and defensive driving films, digitized and placed on DVD format with full menus for your viewing pleasure. These eleven movies spanni! ng from 1930 to 1958 are the cream of the crop driver educatio! n videos available. Driver education is something we can all relate to (assuming you drive a car) because everyone is required to go through driver safety training, whether through a high school program or an independent agency. While the rules of defensive driving and driver safety have not fundamentally changed over the last 50 years, the manner in which these rules are presented has changed drastically. These films were best designed to appeal to the young drivers of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, so the approach seems hilariously outdated. This quality gives these movies an entertaining timelessness and value that makes them a must-see for future generations. (1) Driving Tips (1958) (2) Chance To Lose (1930s) (3) Live And Let Live (1947)(4) Formations (1936) (5) On The Run (1956) (6) The Other Fellow (1937) (7) Safe Roads (1935) (8) Seeing Green (1937) (9) Tomorrow's Drivers (1954) (10) We Drivers (1935) (11) When You're A Pedestrian (1948)

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