The Fabulous Ice Age

When I was a kid -- and I'm old -- big ice-skating shows used to barnstorm through my metro area every year: Ice Capades, Holiday on Ice, Ice Follies. I never went, and I never knew what they were like. But this movie shows you: huge, crazy spectacles of massed skaters in brilliant costumes, special effects, inspired ice-dancing. It was like a two-hour production number from one of those crazy MGM musicals from the '40s -- only done live. On ice.

Kids who were good skaters, and wanted to badly enough, barnstormed the world with these companies, performing in South America, Europe, Mexico, even Russia. What was it like to be one of these kids? That's what the movie tells you, through interviews with people who were there and who describe their time as a twenty- or thirty-year party with their best friends.

I can't recommend this movie highly enough. It describes a form of pop culture that was once as huge as rock concerts and is now almost forgotten. And it makes you sorry the big shows are gone, while it describes why they had to go. All in all, a great trip.