Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972)

by Evan Hunter

When I decided to read this creased, worn paperback, which came out of a box in a friend's garage, little did I realize that I was about to begin one of the most enjoyable, fiercely funny little novels that I'dread in quite a while. Author Evan Hunter (AKA Ed McBain) is well-known as a quality writer, but he was also very prolific. No doubt many of his titles have fallen out of print. I wonder how many treasures like this exist only on the shelves of used book stores these days.

A frustrated intellectual kidnaps a boy, not realizing that it is the son of a major crime boss who is overseas on vacation. When the panic stricken nanny asks a low-level hood to help her get the boy back before her boss returns, a series of comic misunderstandings and misguided attempts to profit from the situation ensues, drawing in a number of eccentric characters. If you can get your hands on this book, read it. You'll enjoy it.

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

Direction: Ang Lee

Screenplay: Emma Thompson

The Dashwood sisters (Emma Thompson, Kate Winslett, Emilie Francois) and their mother (Gemma Jones) are left in a precarious position when Mr. Dashwood (Tom Wilkinson) dies and the bulk of his estate goes to his son from a previous marriage (James Fleet), who allows them a very small stipend on which to live. In a society where women are denied autonomy, they must rely on the kindness of in-laws and pray for advantageous marriages. Nevertheless, Elinor and Marianne hold on to the hope that they will marry for love and not merely economic gain.

This engaging and moving film, brilliantly acted, functions for much of its length as a scathing indictment of a time when the circumstances of talented and intelligent women were almost entirely dependent on the men in their lives. However, it becomes complicit in this unfortunate social institution with its ending, in which the sisters achieve happiness by marrying the right men. Nevertheless, I had become so invested in the characters that I wanted them to have their happy ending and didn't much mind that the form it took actually undercut a major theme of the film.