Nick Clooney sets an intriguing challenge for himself in The Movies That Changed Us: Reflections on the Screen - to pinpoint 20 films that made a measurable difference in "the way we live, the way we look at life, the way we define entertainment."

His choices are thoughtful and - as with any subjective ratings - arguable. Is 1932's Love Me Tonight in fact "the most sparkling, witty, vibrant and innovative musical ever made?" Mr. Clooney pins his defense of the rarely-seen gem and its brilliant, temperamental director, Rouben Mamoulian (Queen Christina, Silk Stockings), on testimony from, among others, Arthur Freed. Mr. Freed who produced Singin' in the Rain and other renowned musicals, credited Love Me Tonight as the one film that most influenced his career.

Mr. Clooney approaches each film as a newsman as much as a movie lover, marshaling evidence - much of it admittedly non-scientific - to buttress his points. For instance, he tests his assertion that Saving Private Ryan altered the perception of World War II among teens with a survey of high school teachers, most of whom reported that they had indeed incorporated the movie into their classes. Still, he concedes it is far too early to measure the long-lasting impact of a film that was released only in 1998.

He closes the book with an epilogue on "The Movie That Never Was," about the lack of any film that can be credited with improving race relations in America as much as The Birth of a Nation damaged them in 1915. From Star Wars to Marty to The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, the book proceeds like a well-organized conversation with a friend - impassioned but not didactic, and rich with anecdote. For devoted movie fans, it offers pleasures irresistible as buttered popcorn.

- Margaret A. McGurk

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