We take a look at the major role Connecticut has played in Hollywood movies—both as a location and as a state of mind--since the Golden Age of the 1930’s. We discuss a wide array of Connecticut movies from the screwball classic Bringing Up Baby through Gentleman’s Agreement and two different versions of The Stepford Wives and on to such contemporary films as The Ice Storm and Revolutionary Road.

• Week 1 - Connecticut as a state of mind. Many movies were set here but the Nutmeg State was faked in Golden Age Hollywood in everything from Bringing Up Baby and Mr Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse through the season I Love Lucy spent in Greenwich.
• Week 2 – Two films directed by Elia Kazan. The intolerance classic Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) dug into Fairfield County anti-Semitism in the post-WWII era. Boomerang! released the same year, was based on a Connecticut murder case. Kazan insisted on some location filming in Connecticut.
• Week 3 - 1950s-1970s suburbia and the commuting lifestyle. These were represented by several major Connecticut-based films including The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and Loving (the latter was shot almost entirely in Westport)
• Week 4 - Sinister Connecticut. Ira Levin’s time spent living in Westport inspired his 1972 bestseller, The Stepford Wives and two major film adaptations shot in Fairfield County. The novel and films became feminist milestones.
• Week 5 - Location filming and tax breaks. The modern era has included many films shot on location in Connecticut, including The Ice Storm and Revolutionary Road. Connecticut had a film boom when the state decided to give big tax breaks to movies made here.