LOUIS MARKOS (PhD, University of Michigan), Professor of English and Scholar in Residence at Houston Christian University, holds the Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities. His 25 books include On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis, C. S. Lewis for Beginners, Tolkien for Beginners, Literature: A Student's Guide, The Myth Made Fact, From Plato to Christ, and Ancient Voices: An Insider's Guide to the Early Church.

If I had never seen Casablanca or Citizen Kane, The Grapes of Wrath or Wuthering Heights, It's a Wonderful Life or Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Maltese Falcon or The Wizard of Oz, I would be a different person. Films like these, the "kind they don't make any more," have formed much of my character, shaping my perceptions, dreams, and desires in a thousand subtle ways.