TheArchive: Reviewing the Rare, Retro, and Restored

In honor of National Library Week , we wanted to highlight amazing films based on amazing books. Literature has been a major inspiration for film; the 1899 silent film Cinderella , directed by Georges Méliès, is widely considered the first book-to-film adaptation .  And that tradition is very much alive today. Some of the biggest films in recent memory have come straight from the pages of a book. Project Hail Mary , based on Andy Weir's beloved sci-fi novel, stars Ryan Gosling in a beautiful survival story. Hamnet , adapted from Maggie O'Farrell's acclaimed novel, turns a quiet literary meditation on grief and family into a powerful historical drama. Emerald Fennell took on Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights with a bold new vision, and Denis Villeneuve's Dune films have reminded everyone just how epic a literary adaptation can feel. Dune: Part Three is arriving in December 2026.  Book-to-film adaptations are exciting because a novel can let us sit inside a charact...

Autism Awareness Month is a chance to think more deeply about how autism is represented on screen, how often those stories are overlooked and why visibility matters. For a long time, autism in film and television was treated one-dimensionally. Characters were often written to fit a single idea of what autism "looks like," when in reality, autism exists across a wide spectrum of experiences, needs, strengths, and challenges. That is exactly what people mean when they say autism is a spectrum . There is no single way to be autistic. Some people are verbal, some are nonverbal. Some need high levels of daily support, while others live fully independently. Some are highly sensitive to sound, touch, or social environments, and many experience the world in ways that do not fit neatly into how society expects people to think, communicate, or connect. That is part of why representation matters so much . When audiences only ever see one version of autism, it creates misconceptions. It...

Erotic thrillers were once a staple of Hollywood’s adult entertainment . Their bold style and sense of danger gave mainstream movies a rebellious feel. The genre’s popularity took off in the late 1980s after Fatal Attraction became a huge success. Refinery29 reports that the film cost $14 million to make and grossed over $156 million in the U.S., making it a box-office hit. The same source connects the genre to film noir, known for its moral ambiguity, dark visuals, and a blend of desire and danger. Erotic thrillers offered more than just sex; they also played on cultural fears. The genre thrived during times of backlash, conservatism, and anxiety. Refinery29 points out that as society became more conservative, and as new ideas about women’s independence and the HIV/AIDS crisis made on-screen promiscuity seem riskier, these movies gained popularity. In this climate, films like Fatal Attraction portrayed female desire as dangerous.  Punishment is a key reason why looking back at e...