Movies about Librarians or Books

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Movies about Librarians or Books

1Katissima
Abr 21, 2008, 2:13 pm

We are thinking of having a brown bag lunch movie series at our library--showing movies about librarians, libraries or books. I'm wondering if I've missed anything good--documentaries would be particularly interesting if anyone knows of any. I've included below the list I've come up with in case people are interested.

DESK SET

THE MUMMY

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW (2004).

POSSESSION (2002).

NAME OF THE ROSE (1986).

QUIET PLEASE, MURDER (1942). Nazis and art thieves cause a high death rate in a public library. Lynne Roberts, the librarian, is the de-facto heroine of the film. She helps private eye Richard Denning nab the forgers who are trying to loot the rare books room. Byron Foulger is the head librarian, a mousy little fellow who does an about-face when the air-raid sirens go off -- he is also an air-raid warden and in that capacity is as fearless as he is cowardly while wearing his "bookworm" hat. Frank O'Connor is a library guard.

READ OR DIE (R.O.D.) (2001). This animated film from Japan consists of three episodes of a wildly popular series about a superhero who has power over all things paper. She can shape loose pieces into an impenetrable shield, throw them like daggers and even fashion a parachute. Attached to the Royal British Library's Division of Special Operations (the bookworm's equivalent of James Bond's M5 outfit) she is a young woman who is a bit clumsy, wears glasses and is dedicated to books, but she also helps save the world from evil. Says a reviewer, “It’s weird, cool and thrilling.” A sequel titled Read or Dream follows the adventures of three new paper users.

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994). Tim Robbins plays a young, successful banker convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. While incarcerated he takes over and greatly expands the prison library. It becomes a key location in the film, used for high-school equivalency education, among other things. The film presents a positive image of a prison library.

SHOOTING THE PAST (1999, made-for-TV). A British photographic library of 10 million items, run by a small staff of librarians, is threatened with closure. The building has been sold and the head librarian has one week to find a buyer for the collection or it will be destroyed. To persuade the new owner that it is worth saving, the librarians assemble a series of stories linked to various photographs in the collection -- sort of a librarian's Scheherazade. It offers a fine portrayal of librarians as extremely resourceful, able to find virtually anything in a non-computerized collection and very creative at putting together information. The theme of library closure is also a powerful one, and the hard-fought battle is inspiring.

TWILIGHT ZONE, "The Obsolete Man": Rumney Wordsworth is a librarian who has been deemed obsolete (since there are no books there is no need for librarians). He is an older man with gray hair who wears a cardigan vest. He is nervous but strong minded, standing up to the State in the face of death. According to him his profession stands for freedom, intellect, and dignity. He has lived in the same room for twenty years and it is stacked high with books on furniture he made.

***Movies about Books***

ALEX AND EMMA: Alex is an author whose writer's block and gambling debts have landed him in a jam. In order get loan sharks off his back, he must finish his novel in 30 days or wind up dead. To help him complete his manuscript he hires stenographer Emma. As Alex begins to dictate his tale of a romantic love triangle to the charming yet somewhat opinionated stenographer, Emma challenges his ideas at every turn. Her unsolicited yet intriguing input begins to inadvertently influence Alex and his story and soon real life begins to imitate art.

84 CHARING CROSS RD.: When a humorous script-reader in her New York apartment sees an ad in the Saturday Review of Literature for a bookstore in London that does mail order, she begins a very special correspondence and friendship with Frank Doel, the bookseller who works at Marks & Co., 84 Charing Cross Road.

2jjwilson61
Abr 21, 2008, 4:16 pm

The Shining: An author agrees to be the Winter guardian for a remote hotel with his family so he can find the time to write his novel. ("All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. All wirj and ...).

3lilithcat
Abr 21, 2008, 4:38 pm

Don't forget The Music Man!

I love Peter Greenaway's film, Prospero's Books, his interpretation of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

4Scratch
Abr 22, 2008, 8:12 am

Party Girl, in which Parker Posey plays a reluctant library assistant. It's very funny.

5bibberly
Abr 22, 2008, 10:30 am

Party Girl is awesome, although I think it is probably not appropriate for all audiences. I love it, though.
How about The Pagemaster with Macaulay Culkin?

6rgurskey
Abr 22, 2008, 2:06 pm

Este mensaje fue borrado por su autor.

7rgurskey
Abr 22, 2008, 2:07 pm

There are the two Noah Wilie tv-movies about "The Librarian".

8Steven_VI
Abr 22, 2008, 3:35 pm

The Ninth Gate - about a book written by Satan himself, featuring Johnny Depp as an antiquarian.

9TomeAddict
Abr 22, 2008, 4:08 pm

Storm Center (1956) with Bette Davis.

Hard to find, but Turner Classic Movies shows it once in a while. Davis plays a librarian who gets accused of being "un-American" and a Communist when she refuses to withdraw a controversial book from her library.

10ejj1955
Abr 23, 2008, 1:41 pm

Have to say that I absolutely love "Shooting the Past," and bought it as soon as I could find it on DVD. Incredibly moving story.

Also will second the mention of the Noah Wylie "Librarian" films, of which IMDB lists three. I think I've only seen the first two, but they are great fun, as his character combines an astonishing (may I say, unbelievable!) level of erudition with some Indiana Jones-like adventures.

There's also "The Big Sleep," in which part of the plot involves rare books (supposedly) and there's a scene in which Humphrey Bogart goes into a bookstore and finds Dorothy Malone as the proprietress--she does that thing with letting her hair down and whipping off her glasses, and presto! For good measure, she pulls out a bottle of whiskey and puts the closed sign in the window . . .

Miss Marple "The Body in the Library" (several versions; I'm a fan of the Joan Hickson series, myself).

IMDB also lists a 1945 documentary called "The Library of Congress" but doesn't give much in the way of details--though it was nominated for an Oscar. There are some others listed, as well, but I can't imagine how you'd get your hands on these.

Another very fun movie that features the Library of Congress is "National Treasure." And, of course, there's a terrific bit with a fantastic overhead shot of the LoC in "All the President's Men."

11librarykitty
mayo 4, 2008, 7:33 am

You might be interested in this - http://www.uwplatt.edu/~snoekbrownj/LibFilm/index.htm . It's a pretty comprehensive listing of librarians in film.

12Katya0133
mayo 5, 2008, 4:41 pm

You could always watch episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. :D

13Teacup_
mayo 5, 2008, 5:37 pm

Ew @ Buffy

14Absurda
mayo 20, 2008, 7:32 pm

I would suggest the Hollywood Librarian; it's a documentary comparing/contrasting the media image and old stereotypes about librarians with what they actually do. It was designed to be screened in libraries, but it looks like they're not accepting any more requests to set up screenings (Drat!). Anyway, there are a number of screenings already set up and if you can find one in your area it's definitely worth going. Here's the website: http://www.hollywoodlibrarian.com/index.html

15beakerjen
Editado: mayo 22, 2008, 1:19 am

The Gun in Betty Lou Handbag is a early 90's movie about a quiet librarian who is tired of being ignored. She finds a murder weapn and then claims the murder so that she gets some attention. Funny movie.

16artcenter
Jun 3, 2008, 1:07 pm

It's A Wonderful Life

During George Bailey's "delusion," Mary turns out to be an old-maid who works at a library.

17Bluebookwyrm
Jun 7, 2008, 4:42 pm

Goldie Hawn is a librarian in Foul Play . . .

18cataylor
Jun 8, 2008, 3:24 pm

The Breakfast Club - have you ever notice Judd Nelson mixing up the cards in the card catalog?

19Thalia
Jun 9, 2008, 7:57 am

>18 cataylor:: Yes! Absolute horror ;-)

20GHTC-KC
Jun 16, 2008, 10:54 am

One of the earliest movies I know of where a starring role is a librarian, played by what would be one of the greatest movie starlets of all time. "The Forbidden" in the early 1930's where Barbara Stanwyck plays a small town librarian. The movie basically centers around how unhappy she is with her life and a seies of adventures and mis-adventures that she has.

21WKM
Jun 18, 2008, 1:39 am

There's Miranda with John Simm playing a librarian in a library that's closing who falls for a stange woman played by Christina Ricci. And there's an episode of Andromeda where we learn that librarian's of the future will have whole libraries downloaded directly into their brains.

22brainella
Jun 18, 2008, 10:16 am

Ghostbusters had that scene in the NY Public Library...

23lovelytoreadyou
Jun 25, 2008, 11:53 pm

Queen of the Damned - Lestat's line... "clever little librarian.."

24lovelytoreadyou
Jun 25, 2008, 11:55 pm

Day After Tomorrow - they're stuck in the NY Public Library and start burning books for warmth! Tax law, no less LOL

25ismoon.maria
Jul 31, 2008, 11:40 pm

I was just told about this today by a library assistant that used to work as an elementary school librarian: a scene from "UHF," starring Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic..."Conan the Librarian." I guess she showed it to the students, who hadn't had a functioning school library for years, and asked "Any Questions?"

26saxhorn
Ago 1, 2008, 11:29 am

Well, there's Saul (Edward G. Robinson) in "Soylent Green" who researches in the old unused NYC library.

27streamsong
Ago 1, 2008, 11:53 am

Another classic Twilight Zone is "Time Enough at Last". Finally, all the time in the world to read all the wonderful books in the library......

Farenheit 451

"The Music Man" has 'Marian the Librarian" as the love interest.

"The Secret Window" another great Johnny Depp/ Stephen King movie with Johnny as a writer.

What a great list from everyone! I've bookmarked the thread--I'm not a librarian but netflix here I come!

28saxhorn
Ago 1, 2008, 3:08 pm

Star Trek Episode with Mr. Atoz (A to Z) the librarian that sends McCoy, Spock and Kirk back into the planet's history through a time portal.

29Musereader
Ago 1, 2008, 3:20 pm

Saw one the other day The Librarian:Return to King Solomons Mines, with Noah Wyle as the Librarian. Turns out it was the second one, one was Quest for the Spear and three was Curse of the Judas Chalice http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=the+librarian&x=0&y=0

30inkdrinker
Ago 1, 2008, 4:53 pm

Something Wicked this Way Comes - The main character's father is a librarian. There's a great scene in the town's library where Mr. Nightshade (the owner of the carnival and probably the devil) comes searching for the two boys... "By the pithing of my thumb, something wicked this way comes"

31library_mistress
Ago 1, 2008, 5:04 pm

Dear Katissima, you'll find loads of inspiration on http://www.filmlibrarian.info/, maintained by Steven J. Schmidt! Myself, I collect books and films showing librarians and libraries on http://library-mistress.net/berufsbild/berufsbild-belletristik.html. Wish you a pleasant and funny event!

32leengyselinck
Ago 3, 2008, 10:03 am

>31 library_mistress:: wunderbar! Danke schön, library mistress.

33gaialover
Ago 4, 2008, 4:30 pm

>30 inkdrinker:

Maybe the movie's different, but in the book the dad is the janitor, not a librarian.

34amark1
Ago 26, 2008, 11:18 pm

Along with all the other mentions in this post, I think of the movie "You've Got Mail," where Meg Ryan plays a struggling small-time bookstore owner competing with Tom Hanks' discount book superstore.

35WholeHouseLibrary
Ago 26, 2008, 11:52 pm

If I'm not mistaken, wasn't Barbara Eden's character in 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964) a librarian? I haven't seen that movie in ages!

Off topic, but as librarians, you'll either wax nostalgic or be appalled by this: MrsHouseLibrary and I were in east Texas this weekend for her mother's interment in the family cemetery. When we arrived in town, we stopped in at the school, where her cousin is the Registrar, and where my late father-in-law went to school, and where he began his career as a teacher -- a VERY old school. Of course, we had to visit the school's library. There's one computer. It uses a modem (9600 baud) to connect to the Internet via a phone line. They don't use it much -- it's a toll call. They still use a ~real~ card catalog, each card is typed in a manual typewriter. The library contains less than 2,000 books, which averages 10 books per student. Oh yeah, the school covers K-12, and the gym (60+ years old) finally got air conditioning just last year.

36timnog
Ago 27, 2008, 1:41 pm

Henry, one of the two protagonists of The Time Traveler's Wife is a librarian. Several scenes in the novel take place in the chicago institution he works in....name escapes me though.

37gaialover
Ago 27, 2008, 3:06 pm

Let's not forget Evelyn in The Mummy.

Evelyn: Look, I... I may not be an explorer, or an adventurer, or a treasure-seeker, or a gunfighter, Mr. O'Connell, but I am proud of what I am.
Rick: And what is that?
Evelyn: I... am a librarian.

38gaialover
Ago 27, 2008, 3:07 pm

Oh oops, my bad, it was in the original list (dammed find feature didn't find it).
But I'm leaving that up cause that's an awesome quote. :-)

39kmaziarz
Ago 27, 2008, 3:39 pm

@ # 36: The male protagonist of "The Time Traveler's Wife" (you know, the Time Traveler himself, ha) worked at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

40missylc
Editado: Ago 28, 2008, 4:09 pm

ALA included a link to a blog post on this topic in it's weekly email yesterday: http://shelftalk.spl.org/2008/08/21/fantastic_librarians/

ETA: actually, I guess it's more about books about librarians, but the comments at the end also discuss movies.

41Samlarlyckan
Ago 29, 2008, 5:21 pm

Have you mentioned The Time Machine (2002)...? A movie where one of the characters is an "artificial" (hologram) librarian. The character is played by Orlando Jones.

42irva
Oct 6, 2008, 11:43 am

Someone at a library conference just mentioned a Peter Sellers film in which his character works on a bookmobile. Not sure what it's called, though.

43BlondeBibliophile
Oct 6, 2008, 11:59 am

#35

"you'll either wax nostalgic or be appalled"......

Wow. Mark me down for appalled. That is crazy.

44ShannonMDE
Oct 15, 2008, 12:24 pm

Found another book with a librarian as a main character, The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School. I'm reading it now, and it is hilarious. The author sets up various Aesop fables and then plays out the story in the setting of the school using a cast of student.

As an example, the librarian sends the kids on a Dewey Decimal scavenger hunt when they don't want to learn the system during library time, but they do want to look at pictures of people in "International Geographic". First she shelves them in with culture, then architecture, then travel, etc.. the moral of that story is that: Necessity is the mother of invention.

Anyway, recommended.. it has been making me giggle.

45rockinrhombus
Oct 15, 2008, 3:16 pm

"Desk Set" with Tracy and Hepburn. Never more valid than today. Great movie, library romance.

46Steven_VI
Oct 16, 2008, 3:30 pm

There's the marvelous library scene in Breakfast at Tiffany's

47TheWorldHatesPaul
Oct 30, 2008, 4:43 pm

www.stonereader.net is my favorite movie about a book.

48ignaciomancini
Mar 27, 2009, 11:35 pm

If I may intrude with an independent film in BAFICI 2009 (International Festival of Independent Films of Buenos Aires) a student of LIS at the University of Buenos Aires is performing as a librarian in the film Pez Elefante. It begins with a scene at a school library when he says "all books at these library are reserved". It´s hillarious...
If by any chance one of you is in Buenos Aires next thursday is on the festival again, here is the link:
http://www.bafici.gov.ar/home09/es/films/info/$id/421.html

49ponyboycurtis
Mar 30, 2009, 2:13 pm

Este mensaje fue borrado por su autor.

50Katya0133
Mar 30, 2009, 2:45 pm

>This involves a trip to the Library of Congress and a dewey number where the book should be, but is missing.

Whoa, is it actually a Dewey call number? ('Cause there's a glaring inaccuracy right there. ;) )

51theretiredlibrarian
Mar 30, 2009, 9:53 pm

no kidding...doesn't the Library of Congress use Library of Congress cataloging?? I need to rewatch the movie, because I totally did not catch that mistake!

52Katya0133
Mar 30, 2009, 10:40 pm

>doesn't the Library of Congress use Library of Congress cataloging??

Exactly! (And I double checked their catalog just to be sure, but couldn't easily find anything cataloged in Dewey.)

53bettyfiver
Mar 31, 2009, 5:54 am

In Star Wars Episode II there's the floating librarian that helps out Obi Wan when he's looking for that star system or something: ""If it doesn't appear in our records, it does not exist."

54Foxhunter
Mar 31, 2009, 6:47 am

Este mensaje fue borrado por su autor.

55jillianmarie
Mar 31, 2009, 11:30 am

'It's a Wonderful Life' when Clarence shows George the alternative future where Mary horror of horrors is a librarian!!

56sweetiegherkin
Abr 1, 2009, 2:56 pm

Not a movie or book, but in the third season of Veronica Mars, Veronica works at the information desk at her college library and a number of scenes take place in the library.

57CliffordDorset
Editado: Abr 2, 2009, 6:15 am

There's a library 'in joke' in Michael Caine's 'The Ipcress File', lasting all of five seconds. It concerns the old buildings of ithe Imperial College of Science and Technology in Kensington (just behind the Royal Albert Hall). Caine, in pursuit of the bad guy he finds outside the RAH, runs up the steps opposite it, into the front door of the Royal School Of Mines. He is then observed running through the (now demolished and replaced) Science Library, a magnificent Victorian structure with books from floor to ceiling. In actuality, this would entail a leap of 100m between the two buildings.

58manatree
Abr 2, 2009, 1:47 pm

just three off the top o my head

Where the Heart Is: James Frain's character runs the town library

With Honors: Joe Pesci's character lives in the boiler room of one of Harvard's Libraries

Three Days of the Condor: not a library, but Robert Redford's character works with a group of government employees who read books looking for possible hidden codes, messages, etc.

59janoorani24
Abr 3, 2009, 12:00 am

I just got "The Reading Room" with James Earl Jones for my birthday. It looks pretty good.

60aviddiva
Abr 3, 2009, 12:22 am

How about the Hogwarts library? There are key scenes there in at least the first two Harry Potter films.

61theretiredlibrarian
Abr 3, 2009, 10:13 am

I'm racking my brains...there was a movie a few years ago about an abandoned pregnant girl who lives in Walmart and gives birth in the store--the man she falls in love with works at the library. In actuality his sister is supposed to be the librarian, but she's mentally unstable & he is taking care of her & running the library. I watched it on tv, but I'm not sure it was a made for tv movie. I know it had Stockard Channing in it, and the girl named the baby Americus or something like that. Does anyone remember this movie?

63theretiredlibrarian
Abr 3, 2009, 10:57 am

ok, I saw that it an earlier post, but it didn't register it was the same movie. I found it channel surfing and missed the name of it, or it just didn't stick or something :)

64Katya0133
Abr 3, 2009, 11:14 am

Oh, I didn't see it there either, I just took your description as a fun reference query and ran with it!

65theretiredlibrarian
Abr 3, 2009, 4:00 pm

*see me blushing* What kind of librarian am I? I should have done the research myself! I'm like one of those patrons who come in and describe the book ("I read it when I was in school and it was blue...")

lol

66kmaziarz
Abr 3, 2009, 10:44 pm

Regarding the movie "National Treasure: Book of Secrets:" I'm watching it right now. They're in the Library of Congress looking for the Presidents' book...and they are NOT looking for a Dewey number, but an LC number. So there's no overt error. :-)

67kaffles
Abr 4, 2009, 1:04 am

Stranger than Fiction is an interesting book-related one - a bloke wakes up one morning to discover that he's become a character in someone's story, with constant narration going on in his head. Not for children, though. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420223/

68theretiredlibrarian
Abr 4, 2009, 4:20 pm

Inkheart has been released I think. Loved the book; almost afraid to go see the movie, considering the debacle that was The Dark is Rising and Cheaper By the Dozen. However, it does star Brenden Fraser, & I do think he is a cutie.

69SusiLibrarian
Abr 8, 2009, 3:38 pm

Robert Downey Jr. works at the university library at the beginning of "Chances Are." He is flirting with the costar Mare Winningham, and to distract his boss the librarian, he says "They're fooling with the folios!"

70SusiLibrarian
Abr 8, 2009, 3:43 pm

AND---Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Indy and his son take a motorcycle shortcut through the library fleeing the bad guys. A student asks the Professor a question and he replies "If you want to learn archeology you've got to get out of the library!"

71veronica1989
Abr 9, 2009, 5:16 pm

>34 amark1:

I love "You've got mail"! :D

72mlfhlibrarian
Abr 11, 2009, 3:30 pm

In All the President's Men, Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman have to go to Library of Congress to find out how many books one of the suspects in the White House has borrowed...and the librarian hands them stacks and stacks of library cards they have to check through to find the answer... There's a wonderful shot of the interior of the library from above.

73fleurdiabolique
Abr 18, 2009, 12:24 am

Someone recently posted this link to "Librarians in the movies: An annotated filmography" on Publib:
http://emp.byui.edu/raishm/films/introduction.html

74pagz4u
Abr 20, 2009, 2:55 pm

Three Days of the Condor (Redford as CIA researcher) and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (Burton posing as cataloger undercover)

75SusiLibrarian
Oct 19, 2021, 11:36 am

I watched the first episode of the Foundation series (by Isaac Asimov) on Apple TV and the role of the "Imperial Library" is portrayed by the Long Room of the Trinity College Library in Dublin. How wonderful! My daughter and I visited a couple of years ago. It truly is spectacular.

76genesisdiem
Oct 19, 2021, 1:25 pm

There were a couple of episodes of the more recent Dr. Who- Silence in the library

77Cynfelyn
Oct 19, 2021, 4:28 pm

>75 SusiLibrarian: I visited Trinity College Library, Dublin, some time in the 1990s. Now, that's my idea of a reading room. Although, hot air rising and all that, the upper galleries probably don't do the books any favours.

A film not yet mentioned is Y llyfrgell by Euros Lyn (2016), based on Fflur Dafydd's 2009 book of the same name, and sub-titled into English as The library suicides. The story is set, and was filmed in, the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, only about 100 miles in a straight line from Trinity College, Dublin.

Not to be confused with the intriguing-sounding In the Suicide's Library: A Book Lover's Journey.

78Cynfelyn
Oct 19, 2021, 4:37 pm

>76 genesisdiem: That was filmed in the round library of the Swansea College of Art in their Alex building. It was mentioned (several times) during an open day we attended earlier this month.

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d83090_13f30d5921774e129079e2c9ea0aa4f6~mv2.j...

79CGHogan
Dic 7, 2021, 1:44 pm

80CGHogan
Editado: Dic 7, 2021, 1:48 pm

In 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' there's a very small appearance by the librarian of the library in Venice where they go looking for the knight's tomb. I absolutely love this moment.
https://indianajones.fandom.com/wiki/Librarian

On the other side, there's the very snooty chief librarian at the jedi archives in 'Star Wars: Attack of the Clones' that tells Obi-Wan Kenobi "If an item does not appear in our records, it does not exist!"
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Jocasta_Nu

81conceptDawg
Dic 7, 2021, 5:33 pm

Just saw one this week: Ode to Joy with Martin Freeman and Morena Baccarin. Quirky rom-com where he's a librarian who passes out when he feels strong feelings of joy.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3009772

82cataylor
Feb 13, 2022, 10:27 am

"The Breakfast Club" is set in the school library and when Judd Nelson's character starts shuffling those cards in the card catalog you will cringe if not cry out!

83LibrarianLawrence
Editado: Feb 25, 2022, 9:11 pm

"This Beautiful Fantastic" (Jessica Brown Findlay, Tom Wilkinson) is basically British Amélie (in that it involves a bit of charming magical realism and similar archetypal characters). Main protagonist is library assistant who aspires to be a children's book author. Also has a stereotypical "shushing" librarian character in it.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4560008/