THE SOUL OF WIT

In a world where we suffer from communications overloaded, there’s a lot to be said for keeping stuff short and sweet.

I fondly remember a four-word review penned by The Observer film critic C A Lejeune. The picture in question was the 1947 bio-pic of composer Joe Howard and took its title from one of his songs...

I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now

I couldn’t care less!

On the subject of film, I’ve always enjoyed snappy movie summaries and a favourite has to be the brilliant and oft-quoted one-sentence plot summary for The Wizard of Oz offered by Rick Polito of the Marin Independent Journal:

"Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again."

So, with that as inspiration I’m launching a new two-part competition!

Part One: DESCRIBE THAT MOVIE!
You are invited to submit your own one-sentence plot summary (maximum 25 words - that’s one more word than Rick Polito used!) of a reasonably well-known movie, with the answer. No more than three entries from any one contestant.* Closing date for entries Friday 16th February.

Part Two: NAME THOSE MOVIES!
The winning submission and those of all runners-up will appear on the Sibley blog so that readers can then attempt to identify the films described.

* NOTE: Mr David Weeks will not be entering this competition following charges of nepotism (utterly unfounded, I might add) resulting from his having won the recent caption competition! Mr Weeks will, therefore on this occasion, join me in judging the winners.


[Image: The killer's first victim (above) by Ryan Gray!]