The Princess Diaries(2001)

Despite the populist trappings of our culture, many young girls still fantasize about being born of royal blood. The Princess Diaries turns Meg Cabot's novel on the subject into a female-empowerment fairy tale that cleverly dissects some of the components of this dream. But director Gary Marshall (Pretty Woman) and screenwriter Gina Wendkos emphasize laughs rather than social commentary. The curly-haired, coltishly awkward 15-year-old Mia Thermapoulos (Anne Hathaway) is a child of divorce. She's been raised by her non-conforming artist mother, Helen (Caroline Goodall), and has never known her father. But his sudden death makes this very Americanized teen-ager the heir to the throne of the independent, Monaco-like principality of Genovia.

Mia's grandmother, the Queen Dowager (Julie Andrews), supervises her royal training. This formal, elderly woman becomes a female authority figure who gently provides the girl with a kind of interior moral structure previously lacking. Mia learns that inner changes mean more than outer ones and that serving others is more important than popularity.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

The Crusades were once perceived to be a time of great heroism, and the virtues of its leaders were thought to have inspired the citizens of Christian nations to demand equivalent justice at home. The Adventures of Robin Hood is an exhilarating, old-fashioned swashbuckling yarn that quietly preaches that message. When the much-admired Norman warrior King Richard the Lion-Hearted (Ian Hunter) returns from the Crusades, he's kidnapped by the Austrians and held for ransom. In his absence, the evil Prince John (Claude Rains), also a Norman, proclaims himself ruler of England and organizes the Norman lords to exploit the Saxon peasants.

Sir Robin of Locksley, a Saxon nobleman nicknamed Robin Hood (Errol Flynn), still holds to Richard's ideals and resists Norman oppression. He's driven into Sherwood Forest, where he and his followers rob rich Normans to feed the Saxon poor and raise money for Richard's ransom. The movie features such colorful characters as Friar Tuck (Eugene Pallette), Little John (Alan Hale) and the lovely Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland).

Lawrence of Arabia(1962)

Much Islamic fundamentalism springs from the warring tribes of the Arabian peninsula, home to Osama bin Laden. Lawrence of Arabia provides a crash course in some of the region's history and politics. Director David Lean (The Bridge on the River Kwai) and screenwriters Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson craft an epic character study of the eccentric British hero who united the Arab tribes in a successful revolt against the Ottoman Turkish Empire during World War I.

Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) feels out of place in Edwardian England and reinvents himself as a desert warrior. His victories serve Britain's wartime purposes. But that nation also has its own colonial ambitions, and they force him to break his promises to his allies (Sir Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif) about Arab independence. While emphasizing Lawrence's charisma and military leadership, the filmmakers also explore his dark side.