Trouble In Paradise
Have You Ever Seen
Easter probably called for a chat about the silent version of either The Ten Commandments or Ben-Hur, but no. I'm talking about a 1932 Ernst Lubitsch rom-com that's excellent with the rom, yet only smile-inducing with the com. Covering Trouble In Paradise also gets Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis and Herbert Marshall on Have you Ever Seen for the first time. They're all well-served by the infamous Lubitsch Touch. Here a rich, pampered, unworthy fail-daughter (Francis) is set up to be ripped off by clever thieves (Hopkins and Marshall). But they're all likable, the romance(s) work great and you...
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Sergeant York
Have You Ever Seen
While America is yet again fighting a war in the Middle East, I end Oscar Month by getting into the doin's of a legit WWI hero in Howard Hawks' Sergeant York. Gary Cooper plays the real-life hero, a dirt-poor man from the Tennessee mountains who's forced the join the army (mother), even though he's ag'in killin'. But when the chips are down, he's courageous and talented enough to kill a lot of Germans! America’s entry into WWII helped make this the #1 hit of 1941. It also led to an Oscar for Super Duper Cooper, even though he often comes across as fake when talking like the real Alvin...
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Dodsworth & Disraeli
Have You Ever Seen
Dodsworth is the feature attraction in this 728th talk on Have You Ever Seen, but then there was an unexpected 2nd review in this episode. I spent 10 or 12 minutes on the George Arliss 1929 Oscar-winner, Disraeli…the one about the late-1800s British Prime Minister’s quest to buy the Suez Canel. As for Dodsworth, we've got another winner from William Wyler, who directs Walter Huston & Ruth Chatterton as a middle-aged couple who just aren't clicking anymore. He retires and they vacation in Europe, but that love just might be gone. So ditch Zenith for exotic European locales (or maybe...
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In The Line Of Fire & Cimarron
Have You Ever Seen
In what will become a trend for at least the next little while, I've got 2 reviews in one episode here in podcast #727. First, I detail my favourite moments, lines and scenes in Wolfgang Petersen's In The Line Of Fire. John Malkovich has rarely been in better form as the villain and Clint Eastwood has never been funnier or more charming as the hero. Malkovich wants to assassinate the president and Secret Service man Clint is determined to stop him. Then Best Picture winner of 1931, Wesley Ruggles' Cimarron, gets more of my usual beat-by-beat analysis. It's a western about a successful...
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Oscars Post-View 2026
Have You Ever Seen
Sinners and One Battle After Another finally got to lock up on the biggest awards stage there is...and they both got plenty of gold. PTA won 3 trophies and his One Battle got the top Oscars (Picture and Director, plus 4 others), but the record-breaking Sinners (nominees-wise, at least) saw Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan honoured for writing and acting. This 726th edition of Have You Ever Seen breaks down every single winner of every single award, has a few thoughts about the night's politics (it was a LITTLE more finger-pointing than it has been in other recent years) and we had that long,...
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A Beautiful Mind
Have You Ever Seen
One day after the 2026 Academy Awards and right smack in the middle of Oscar Month is the one that won its own 4 trophies 25 years ago. A Beautiful Mind is a touching love story about a real-life paranoid schizophrenic: Nobel-Prize winner John Nash (and his put-upon wife Alicia). Ron Howard & his team play fast and very loose with the facts, including how Nash’s condition manifested AND casting Jennifer Connelly as Nash’s Hispanic wife. Still, though, Russell Crowe is dynamite as our main man and the supporting performances by Ed Harris, Paul Bettany & Christopher Plummer are...
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Oscars Preview 2026
Have You Ever Seen
The 98th Academy Awards are finally less than a week away, so I've got an in-depth analysis of the major nominees. It's more wide open than it's been in a very long time, with seemingly only PTA (Best Director), Jessie Buckley (Best Actress) and a few of the technical awards feeling like they're locks. And maybe THEY aren't either! It wasn't an incredible year at the movies, yet these are mostly good candidates. Although much like last year, the Academy seemed to nominate just 6 or 8 movies in nearly every category! In any case, the race between One Battle After Another and Sinners (with its...
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Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Have You Ever Seen
Here Comes Mr. Jordan is Movie #2 in this 11th Annual Oscar Month. It's the rare film that won awards for the screenplay AND the story. Alexander Hall does a pretty good job directing his cast through a creative, body-jumping fantasy about the afterlife, angels and soul reincarnation. This is the first time Robert Montgomery has been featured on Have You Ever Seen...and him playing a goofy palooka was not his usual assignment. He's effective though. Claude Rains gets to play ethereal...which is appropriate for a "seen it all" angel. Evelyn Keyes is Montgomery's love interest and James Gleason...
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Around The World In Eighty Days
Have You Ever Seen
Betting on everything is common these days, yet somehow Around The World In Eighty Days isn't on everyone's lips in 2026. And...it shouldn't be. You really feel that 3 hours. Michael Anderson's adventure comedy has posh David Niven circumnavigating the globe with his man-of-action valet, Cantinflas, and they have to do it in the title deadline...while being pursued by a man from Scotland Yard, who thinks he robbed a bank to fund this trip. Producer Mike Todd seemed to will this film into being finished...and then turned it into an award-winning blockbuster, helped immensely by a staggering...
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Porgy And Bess
Have You Ever Seen
The final podcast on Have You Ever Seen in Black History Month talks for the 4th time about a movie with a primarily black cast. Otto Preminger often directed Issues Movies and here he's dealing with the Gershwin opera that’s all about murder, rape, drug addiction, fishing and poverty…with some racism thrown in there too. Porgy And Bess is set-bound and melodramatic though. Bad print aside, the story and the execution often feel phony. The actors DO sell the passion better than the script or maybe even the original opera does. Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Brock Peters, Diahann...
info_outlineHere Comes Mr. Jordan is Movie #2 in this 11th Annual Oscar Month. It's the rare film that won awards for the screenplay AND the story. Alexander Hall does a pretty good job directing his cast through a creative, body-jumping fantasy about the afterlife, angels and soul reincarnation. This is the first time Robert Montgomery has been featured on Have You Ever Seen...and him playing a goofy palooka was not his usual assignment. He's effective though. Claude Rains gets to play ethereal...which is appropriate for a "seen it all" angel. Evelyn Keyes is Montgomery's love interest and James Gleason is his put-upon boxing manager, whose protege keeps turning up in new bodies. The concept is clever...and it's even a little touching. It's just not very funny. Anyway, launch into this 723rd podcast as I run my mouth about Here Comes. Mr. Jordan.
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