The Mormon Church Explains It All To You The first film made by the Mormon Church that I had ever saw knocked me over. It was called "For Time or Eternity". It was so skillfully made and had such wacky ideas. It was a film like no other I had seen. See notes Program List
You Make The Difference (1967) The first film made by the Mormon Church that I had ever saw knocked me over. It was called "For Time or Eternity". It was so skillfully made and had such wacky ideas. It was a film like no other I had seen. It starts in heaven, where one young woman is begging for a glimpse of what her life on earth will be like. She sees she will have a boyfriend who pressures her to get married. Since he doesn't want to get married in the temple, she turns him down. She then sees him running around with a cute blonde, and relents. They drive to Las Vegas to get married in an all night chapel. At the last minute she sees the error of her ways, and walks out. We see her again in heaven. She wails "Does it have to be like this!!!!" I wanted to see more. The next one I saw was "How Do I Love Thee". It is about Jan. Jan's new boyfriend, Brad, gets advice from a frat brother who looks just like young Bill Clinton. Young Bill tells Brad that the physical act is the only proof of real love. Jan asks her roommate Penny for advice. Penny tells her to put out. Jan asks "What about my self respect?" Penny answers "Self respect doesn’t matter when you’re in love." Jan sticks to her guns. Finally Brad breaks down and takes Jan back. They go to the big dance, where Jan recites "How Do I Love Thee" to him. They realize they can wait and their love is forever. I liked it even more than the first one. Both "Time Or Eternity" and "How Do I Love Thee" were made by Wetzel Whitaker. He was the genius behind dozens of short films made by the Mormon Church starting in the late 1950s. Cinematographer Reed Smoot also has extensive Mormon film credits. He has gone on to be the head cinematographer on Imax films with dozens of credits including ULTIMATE X THE MOVIE and SHACKLETON'S ANTARTIC ADVENTURE. I was hooked. I wanted to see more. I was lucky to find Mormon films for sale. I was able to buy them cheap; most people sneer at religious films. This keeps their prices down. When I had a ninety minute program, I advertised it as "Films That Could Change Your Life...But Why Bother?" It ran for two weeks at the Pike Street in 1994 to awestruck audiences. A film critic wrote she never thought a film could change her life, but that was before she saw "How Do I Love Thee". I took the program on the road, and showed it in San Francisco, Portland, and New York City. I got a letter from a theater in Salt Lake City asking me to take it down there, but I refused. I thought it was a trap. I thought the films would be confiscated from me. The last time I was in Seattle showing silent films, a man came to a show and asked me "Won’t you come back and show the Mormon films!" |