At the Movies: 5 Iconic Library-Based Flicks for Summer Viewing

Ah, the dog days of summer — that time of year when school is out and many of us find ourselves recovering from our fun in the sun by retreating into the safe confines of our home movie theatres, revisiting some of the classics.

Libraries, by their nature of being accessible, are community spaces and often historical landmarks that lend themselves naturally as film backdrops. Here are a few recommended summer viewing films that take place inside a library — either fictional or real — that sparked my imagination as a child and into adulthood. Can’t find them streaming, but have a DVD player? Use your library card to borrow them!

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1. The Pagemaster (1994) 

The Pagemaster, a favorite film of my youth starring Macaulay Culkin and Christopher Lloyd, was, ironically, NOT shot in a library but filmed partially at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (the interior being a soundstage). In retrospect, only seventeen minutes of the film take place in the real world, with the rest occurring in the magical realm of the book genres of Adventure, Fantasy, and Horror.

The iconic vaulted ceiling with the mystical mural that transports Culkin into the literary realm stamped itself permanently on my young mind, despite only being a visual effect. While the animation is a bit dated by today’s standards, and it has scary moments that will frighten younger viewers (take the G rating with a grain of salt, millennial parents — Mr. Hyde is truly the stuff of nightmares), I found myself intrigued from a young age by libraries and the worlds of imagination they could open up as a result of this feature. 

2. The Thomas Crown Affair  (1999)

The Thomas Crown Affair, a slick remake of the 1968 crime thriller with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo, features the stunning New York Public Library foyer — but in secret. In fact, Astor Hall is a stand-in for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, whose staff, according to the New York Post, refused to let director John McTiernan film an art heist within its walls.

In a sense, having the library as a sneaky stand-in for the iconic art museum feels appropriate in a film whose narrative revolves around sleight of hand and trickery. It is also an elegant, romantic film to watch, with many other landmarks of the Big Apple that fit seamlessly into this dashing caper. 

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3. The Mummy  (1999)

Hailed as one of the greatest adventure films of its time, The Mummy continues to be a cult classic — and how could it not be with one of the greatest fictional heroines of the decade being none other than a librarian?

Evelyn “Evie” Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) starts off as a bit clumsy and shy, but soon proves herself to be brave, resourceful, endlessly knowledgeable, and more than a match for her male counterpart, Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser). While the library location of the Cairo Museum of Antiquities exists only on celluloid, this film proves that book sense is a very important skill to have on a historical adventure.

4. National Treasure  (2004) and National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (2007)

While Nicolas Cage may be the main star on the movie posters, the true main character in the National Treasure film franchise is the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. According to From the Catbird Seat: Poetry at the Library of Congress blog, this hallowed literary institution plays a major role in the film plots, with the highly recognizable Main Reading Room prominently featured.

While there are creative liberties taken — for instance, the secret XY section off the Main Reading Room where the Book of Secrets is discovered is the stuff of movie magic — both films are satisfying homages to our country’s rich history. Best of all, heroine Dr. Abigail Chase (played by Diane Kruger) plays an archivist, whose responsibilities at the National Archives overlap closely with those of a real-life librarian — safeguarding information and preserving American cultural heritage.

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5. Desk Set  (1957)

Desk Set is an oldie but a goodie. Featuring real-life lovers Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, the film’s plot revolves around a theme that resonates with today’s audiences perhaps even more strongly than back then — the introduction of an early generation computer to replace the staff at the reference library at the Federal Broadcasting Network in New York City.

Hepburn plays librarian Bunny Watson, whose character was inspired by real-life CBS research librarian Agnes E. Law, who was well known for her knowledge on a wide range of topics. External scenes were filmed on-site at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. Come for the eternal message that no computer circuit can ever come close to the creativity of the human brain, stay for the simmering chemistry that Tracy and Hepburn were so well known for.

BY ELIZABETH ELLIS

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