Cold War Cinema

Cold War Cinema is a podcast about the shifting cultural, political, and aesthetic currents running through movies made during the Cold War.

Bonus: Getting to Know Your Hosts 08/01/2026

Bonus: Robert Kramer's Radical Cinema w/ guest Whitney Strub 07/01/2026

Bonus: Robert Kramer's Radical Cinema w/ guest Whitney Strub In this bonus episode, Jason interviews the historian Whitney Strub about his scholarship and his new book , just published by University of Chicago Press. The book examines the New Left and its underground cinema through the life and films of one its most important participants, Robert Kramer (1939-1999). Whitney Strub is associate professor of History at Rutgers University–Newark. He is the author of Perversion for Profit: The Politics of Pornography and the Rise of the New Right (Columbia University Press, 2011) and Obscenity Rules: Roth v. United States and the Long Struggle over Sexual Expression (University Press of Kansas, 2013), co-editor of ReFocus: The Films of Roberta Findlay (Edinburgh University Press, 2023), and editor of Queer Newark: Stories of Resistance, Love, and Community (Rutgers University Press, 2024). His work has also appeared in Radical History Review, Journal of the History of Sexuality, The Nation, and Temple of Schlock, among other venues. He is a longtime member and former chair of North New Jersey Democratic Socialists of America. _____________________ We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Whitney recommends Roberta Findlay’s 1975 adult film Anyone But My Husband and the new book by Mary Rizzo Jason recommends the book , co-edited by Andrew Nette and Samm Deighan. Check out our from 2024. _____________________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky or on X at . For more from your hosts: Follow Whitney on X at . Follow Jason on Bluesky at , on X at , on Letterboxed at . Jason also writes an infrequent newletter on left-wing cinema at . Follow Anthony on Bluesky at , on X at or on Letterboxed at . Follow Paul on Bluesky at , or on Letterboxed at . Paul also writes about movies at _____________________ Logo by Jason Christian Theme music by (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt). Happy listening! /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/41920660

S2 Ep. 14: Fail Safe (1964, Sidney Lumet) 06/24/2026

S2 Ep. 14: Fail Safe (1964, Sidney Lumet) The Cold War Cinema team returns to discuss Sidney Lumet's 1964 film Fail Safe, a powerful (and bold) independent Hollywood production that paints a horrific picture of a potential nuclear war. The film was released the same year as Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove and has remained in its shadow, unfairly, ever since. In this episode we discuss: Sidney Lumut's fascinating and underrated cinematic career The political and historical context of Fail Safe (1964), a film that captures the paranoia of nuclear proliferation The film's critique of war technology and how that maps onto our current era of AI-assisted warfare. The limits of Hollywood storrytelling for a truly radical critique of US imperialism _____________________ We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Jason recommends the 1992 book Signatures of the Visible by Fredric Jameson. Paul recommends the novel Advise and Consent by Allen Drury and Otto Preminger's 1962 film adaptiion Avise & Consent. Tony recommends the book Raymond Chandler: The Detections of Totality by Fredric Jameson and W.E.B. Du Bois's book Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil. _____________________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky or on X at . For more from your hosts: Follow Jason on Bluesky at , on X at , on Letterboxed at . Jason also writes an infrequent newletter on left-wing cinema at . Follow Anthony on Bluesky at , on X at or on Letterboxed at . Follow Paul on Bluesky at , or on Letterboxed at . Paul also writes about movies at _____________________ Logo by Jason Christian Theme music by (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt). Happy listening! /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/41797810

S2 Ep. 13: Ivan's Childhood (1962, Andrei Tarkovsky) w/ guest Taylor R. Genovese 05/30/2026

S2 Ep. 13: Ivan's Childhood (1962, Andrei Tarkovsky) w/ guest Taylor R. Genovese “I want to underline my own belief that art must carry man's craving for the ideal, must be an expression of his reaching out towards it; that art must give man hope and faith. And the more hopeless the world in the artist's version, the more clearly perhaps must we see the ideal that stands in opposition to it—otherwise life would become impossible! Art symbolises the meaning of our existence.” ― Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time (1986) The Cold War Cinema team is joined by guest Taylor R. Genovese to discuss Andrei Tarkovsky’s debut feature film, Ivan’s Childhood (1962), a Soviet masterpiece about the Great Patriotic War and prime example of Thaw–era cinema. Taylor R. Genovese is an assistant professor of philosophy at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, New York. He has also been a filmmaker and photographer for over a decade. His multimodal and transdisciplinary research focuses on Marxism, historical memory, and borderlands. He is also an editor and board member at Iskra Books, a nonprofit scholarly publisher that releases original works of revolutionary theory, history, ecology, and art. In this episode we discuss: Andrei Tarkovsky’s life and career The historical and political context of Ivan’s Childhood Tarkovsky’s aesthetic vision and theological concerns How the concept of “toska” shapes the sensibilities of the literary and cinematic arts in the Slavic world, including in Tarkovsky’s films. The moving image representation of trauma and transcendence in Ivan’s Childhood. The poetry of Andrei’s father, Arseny Tarkovsky, and its influence on the filmmaker. The Soviet astethetics of Alexander Bogdanov (1873–1928), as articulated in his book Art and the Working Class, which Genovese translated from the Russian in 2022. To purchase the book (or download a free PDF), click this . _____________________ We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Taylor recommends the films Come and See (1985, dir. Elem Klimov) and Dead Man’s Letters (1986, dir. Konstantin Lopushanskiy). Paul recommends a film and a record: Sergei Eisenstein’s Strike (1925) and U2’s War (1983). Tony recommends the book Freudianism: A Marxist Critique, by Valentin Voloshinov, and the new essay by our guest Taylor R. Genovese. Jason recommends the film Kes (1969, dir. Ken Loach) _____________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky or on X at . For more from your hosts: Follow Taylor uses the handle @trgenovese on X, Instagram, and Letterboxd. Information on his scholarship and visual art can be found on his website at . Follow Jason on Bluesky at , on X at , or on Letterboxed at . Follow Anthony on Bluesky at , on X at . Follow Paul on Bluesky at , or on Letterboxed at . Paul also writes about movies at _____________________ Logo by Jason Christian Theme music by (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt). Happy listening! /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/41472025

Bonus: New German Cinema and the Red Army Faction w/ guest Ryan Ruby 04/27/2026

Bonus: New German Cinema and the Red Army Faction w/ guest Ryan Ruby In this bonus episode, cohosts Jason Christian and Anthony Ballas speak with the literary critic Ryan Ruby about New German Cinema, particularly the directors Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Alexander Kluge, and the film movement’s fascination with the Red Army Faction (Rote Armee Fraktion) A.K.A. the Baader–Meinhof Gang, an ultra-left militant group in West Germany that existed in various forms from 1970 to 1998. Ryan Ruby is the author of Context Collapse: A Poem Containing a History of Poetry (Seven Stories Press, 2024) and The Zero and the One: A Novel (Twelve Books, 2017). For his essays and reviews, which have recently appeared in such venues as Harper's, Bookforum, and the New Left Review, he has received the Silvers Prize in Literary Criticism. He lives in Berlin, where he is working on a book of creative nonfiction about the city's mass transit system, tentatively titled Ringbahn: On Berlin Time, which will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in late 2027. _____________________ Ryan Ruby’s forthcoming book on the cultural history of Berlin, with particular interest in the music scene and cinema of the 1970s The films Germany in Autumn (1978) and The Third Generation (1979) The Red Army Faction and 1960s/’70s militancy The political climate in Berlin today V.I. Lenin's critique of "adventurism" _____________________ We love to give recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Tony recommends the two-volume book The Magic of Robert-Houdin An Artist's Life The Watchmaker, Mechanician and Conjurer by Christian Fechner Ryan recommends the books Baader-Meinhof: The Inside Story of the R.A.F. by Stefan Aust and Fassbinder: Thousands of Mirrors by Ian Penman Jason recommends Bruce LaBruce’s 2004 satirical RAF film The Raspberry Reich. [Warning: the film contains explicit sex scenes] _____________________ Find past guest Andrew Nette’s Letterboxd list of films inspired by or about the Red Army Faction . Check out our interview with Nette . Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at . To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky @ or on X at . For more from your hosts and guest: Find Ryan Ruby’s work at Follow Jason on Bluesky , on X , or on Letterboxed at . Jason also writes an occasional newsletter called . Follow Anthony on Bluesky , on X , or on Letterboxed . Follow Paul on Bluesky @, or on Letterboxed . Paul also writes about movies at Logo by Jason Christian Theme music by DYAD (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt). Happy listening! /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/41035295

Bonus: Interview w/ Dr. Alice Lovejoy 03/24/2026

Bonus: Interview w/ Dr. Alice Lovejoy In this bonus episode, cohosts Jason Christian and Paul T. Klein interview the film historian about her scholarship and her new book, . The book examines the long and storied histories of the film manufacturing giants Kodak and Agfa and provides a materailst analysis of their involved in US and Germany imperialism around the world. Alice Lovejoy is a media and cultural historian and comparatist whose research examines governmental and institutional media, and media technologies, in transnational perspective. Her book Tales of Militant Chemistry: The Film Factory in a Century of War (University of California Press, August 2025) is a history of film and the factories where it was made. Shifting focus between the United States, Germany, the Belgian Congo, and the Soviet Union, the book considers the military, colonial, and environmental implications of film’s entanglement with the chemical industry. Lovejoy's first book, Army Film and the Avant Garde: Cinema and Experiment in the Czechoslovak Military (Indiana University Press, 2015), was named co-winner of the Modern Language Association’s 2018 Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Studies in Slavic Languages and Literatures. It was also awarded Honorable Mention for the 2016 University of Southern California Book Prize in Literary and Cultural Studies (ASEEES) and the 2017 Czechoslovak Studies Association Book Prize, and longlisted for the 2016 Kraszna-Krausz Moving Image Book Award. This book traces the emergence of an experimental film culture in the Czechoslovak Army’s film studio (1929-1969), and includes a DVD of thirteen short films produced by the Czechoslovak Ministry of Defense. Lovejoy is also at work on a project studying the intertwined histories of postwar children’s television and film institutions—among them, Yugoslavia's "Film and Child" Commission, Iran’s Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (Kanoon), East Germany’s National Center for Children’s Film and Television, Czechoslovakia’s Center for Films for Children and Youth, and UNESCO’s International Centre for Films for Children and Young People. With Mari Pajala, she co-edited Remapping Cold War Media: Institutions, Infrastructures, Translations (Indiana University Press, 2022), and she has published widely on East European, particularly Czech and Slovak, film and literature. Lovejoy has worked as a film critic, curator, and filmmaker, including as an editor at Film Comment magazine. _____________________ We love to give recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Alice recommends the Norwegian television series Occupied (2015–2020), created by Jo Nesbø Paul recommends the 2016 documentary Dawson City: Frozen Time, directed by Bill Morrison Jason recommends Walter Rodney’s 1972 book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa _____________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at . To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky @ or on X at @Cold_War_Cinema. For more from your hosts and guest: Follow Alice on Instagram @alice__lovejoy, or on Bluesky @alicelovejoy.bsky.social, Follow Jason on Bluesky @JasonAChristian.bsky.social, or on Letterboxed at @exilemagic. Follow Anthony on Bluesky @tonyjballas.bsky.social, on X @tonyjballas, or on Letterboxed @tonyjballas. Follow Paul on Bluesky @, or on Letterboxed @ptklein. Paul also writes about movies at Logo by Jason Christian Theme music by DYAD (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt). Happy listening! /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/40578050

S2 Ep. 12: Seconds (1966, John Frankenheimer) w/ guest Adam McKay 02/19/2026

S2 Ep. 12: Seconds (1966, John Frankenheimer) w/ guest Adam McKay On this episode, the Cold War Cinema crew is joined by director, writer, and producer Adam McKay to discuss John Frankenheimer’s paranoid, psychological thriller Seconds (1966). McKay has written and directed many celebrated feature films such as Anchorman (2004), Talladega Nights (2006), Step Brothers (2008), The Big Short (2015), Vice (2018), Don't Look Up (2021), and numerous others. Prior to this, McKay was a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade in the early 1990s, and head writer for Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 2001. In 2019, McKay founded Hyperobject Industries, and has served as the executive producer of HBO’s Succession (2019–2023), Game Theory with Bomani Jones (2022–2023), and, most recently, The Chair Company (2025) starring Tim Robinson. Synopsis of the film: Middle-aged banker Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph) feels trapped in a life that has calcified into routine and regret. When he receives a phone call from an old friend who he thought was long dead, and a shadowy organization known simply as “the Company” offers him the ultimate second chance, he fakes his death, and undergoes radical surgery to assume a new identity. Reborn as artist Tony Wilson (Rock Hudson), he’s given youth, wealth, and access to a new bohemian lifestyle on a seaside in Malibu. While his transformation at first feels intoxicating, the promise of freedom begins to fray and ultimately fracture. As Tony struggles to inhabit his new self, paranoia creeps in and the illusion of choice gives way to something far more unsettling. Shot in stark black-and-white with disorienting lenses and claustrophobic compositions, Seconds is less a sci-fi fantasy than an existential nightmare—an unsettling meditation on identity, conformity, and the seductive lie that starting over can save us from who we are. On this episode we discuss: McKay's work as a comedian, comedy writer, and filmmaker, his political and cinematic influences, the paranoid style of filmmaking in the 1960s, satire, the looming specter of climate apocalypse, why the world needs a Ho Chi Minh biopic, and much more. _____________________ We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Adam: Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident (2025) and Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan (2014) Paul: A Little Solitaire: John Frankenheimer and American Film by Murray Pomerance and R. Barton Palmer Anthony Ballas: The Black Race by Ho Chi Minh by Dai Trang Nguyen and "Ho Chi Minh and Black Liberation" by Gerald Horne and Anthony Ballas. Jason: John Frankenheimer’s Seven Days in May (1964). _____________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at . To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky @ or on X at @Cold_War_Cinema. For more from your hosts and guest: Follow Adam on Instagram @mr.ghostpanther, or on Bluesky @ghostpanther.bsky.social, Follow Jason on Bluesky @JasonAChristian.bsky.social, or on Letterboxed at @exilemagic. Follow Anthony on Bluesky @tonyjballas.bsky.social, on X @tonyjballas, or on Letterboxed @tonyjballas. Follow Paul on Bluesky @, or on Letterboxed @ptklein. Paul also writes about movies at Logo by Jason Christian Theme music by DYAD (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt). Happy listening! /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/40159965

S2 Ep. 11: Letter Never Sent (1959, Mikhail Kalatozov) 02/12/2026

S2 Ep. 11: Letter Never Sent (1959, Mikhail Kalatozov) The Cold War Cinema team, Jason Christian, Anthony Ballas, and Paul T. Klein, return to discuss Mikhail Kalatozov’s 1959 drama Letter Never Sent. Synopsis of the film: Four geologists descend on the Siberian Taiga. Over the course of a backbreaking summer sifting minerals in the icy, rushing waters of boreal rivers, the group–the experienced guide, Konstantin, a young couple, Andrei and Tanya, and the brooding Sergei–search for diamond deposits to enrich themselves and their country. Throughout, Konstanin writes an extended letter home to his wife Vera. Sergei, too, writes a letter, though never meant to be read, expressing his jealousy and Andrei and love for Tanya. When a massive forest fire breaks out, however, the group must work together to survive, not only the blaze, but the ravages of the elements and the fast-approaching and deadly Siberian winter… On this episode we discuss: The unbelievable production of a film shot on location in the USSR taiga. How the film reflects the tenents of socialist realism in complex and creative ways. How the film shares many of the sensibilites of the western genre and pairs nicely with John Ford's The Searchers in this regard. The basic theoretical aspects of scientific socialism and how the filmmaker uses them to shape the film's narrative and themes. The allegorical use of a diamond in the Soviet context versus the same in the capitalist West. _____________________ We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Paul: Two "Northwesterns": Bend of the River (Anthony Mann, 1952) and River of No Return (Otto Preminger, 1954) Tony: by Vincent Brown Jason: Nail in the Boot (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1931) and by Friedrich Engels Also, check out this , who studies the Indigenous peoples of the northern regions of the Soviet Union (and present-day Russia) and their connection to the diamond mines that are imagined in the film. _____________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky or on X at . For more from your hosts and guest: Follow Aspen on Letterboxed at . Follow Jason on Bluesky at , on X at , or on Letterboxed at . Follow Anthony on Bluesky at , on X at , or on Letterboxed at . Follow Paul on Bluesky at , or on Letterboxed at . Paul also writes about movies at _____________________ Logo by Jason Christian Theme music by (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt). Happy listening! /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/40080695

S2 Ep. 10: The Searchers (1956, John Ford) w/ guest Aspen Ballas 01/15/2026

S2 Ep. 10: The Searchers (1956, John Ford) w/ guest Aspen Ballas The Cold War Cinema team returns with special guest Aspen Ballas to discuss John Ford’s 1956 western The Searchers. Aspen is a PhD student of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research primarily focuses on aesthetics of race and class, and the relation between genre, medium, and politics. Synopsis of the film: Texas, 1868. A lone figure approaches a windswept homestead, against a dusty blue sky and flaming red buttes and cathedral-like mesas. Returning from the fight for the Confederacy, Ethan Edwards arrives home to his brother Aaron, Aaron’s wife Martha, and to their children Ben, Lucy, little Debbie, and their adopted son Martin Pawley. But this is rough country, and a Comanche raid leaves the Edwards family torn asunder–Aaron, Martha, and Ben dead, and Lucy and Debbie taken captive. For seven years, Ethan and Martin search the vast wilderness, motivated not only by family bonds, but in Ethan’s case, bloodlust and wild, racist hatred–a search not only to find Lucy and Debbie, but to enforce racial and sexual purity and to define Americanness itself… On this episode we discuss: The American mythmaking in The Searchers and in westerns generally. John Ford’s attempt to critique anti-Indigenous racism, and the limitations of such a critique in the context of Hollywood filmmaking of this era. Militant Liberty, a top-secret psychological warfare program created by the Pentagon to promote anti-communist themes in Hollywood movies during the Cold War. John Ford was an eager participant in the program. The broader US imperialist context of the film’s release and the historical background of the setting. _____________________ We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Aspen: The Face on Film by Noa Steimatsky; Raoul Peck’s docuseries Exterminate all the Brutes (2021) Paul: The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend by Glenn Frankel Tony: Unsettled Borders: The Militarized Science of Surveillance on Sacred Indigenous Land by Felicity Amaya Schaeffer Jason: Versions of Hollywood Crime Cinema: Studies in Ford, Wilder, Coppola, Scorsese, and Others by Carl Freedman _____________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky or on X at . For more from your hosts and guest: Follow Aspen on Letterboxed at . Follow Jason on Bluesky at , on X at , or on Letterboxed at . Follow Anthony on Bluesky at , on X at , or on Letterboxed at . Follow Paul on Bluesky at , or on Letterboxed at . Paul also writes about movies at _____________________ Logo by Jason Christian Theme music by (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt). Happy listening! /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/39734290

S2 Ep. 9: Ballad of a Soldier (1959, Grigory Chukhray) 12/26/2025

S2 Ep. 9: Ballad of a Soldier (1959, Grigory Chukhray) The Cold War Cinema team returns to discuss Grigory Chukhray's 1959 war drama Ballad of a Soldier. Alyhosha is 19-years-old private on the Eastern Front during the Great Patriotic War (A.K.A. World War II). After destroying two German tanks, Alyosha, played by Vladimir Ivashov, is rewarded with a short leave to return home to see his mother and repair her roof. Over the next six days, the young soldier travels home across the countryside, often crossing paths with his countrymen in both mundane and profound ways: A one-legged soldier running from his wife, the wife of another private, found living with another man, and a tender vagabond girl, Shura (Zhanna Prokhorenko), who he meets while hiding out in a rail car. Throughout his quiet picaresque, Alyhosha learns about the sacrifices and tenderness of a nation torn apart by war. Join hosts Jason Christian, Tony Ballas, and Paul T. Klein as we discuss: The film's treatment of individualism versus collective responsibility. The train as a metaphor in both the Soviet and US contexts. The Soviet romance versus Hollywood romances. The Soviet treatment of nature and rural spaces in this film and others. _____________________ We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Paul recommends the film The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, William A. Wyler) and the book The Foreign Film Renaissance on American Screens 1946–1973 by Tony Balio. Tony recommends the book Peasants and Capital: Dominica in the World Economy by Michel-Rolph Trouillot Jason recommends the film The Forty-First (1956, Grigory Chukhray). _____________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky or on X at . For more from your hosts: Follow Jason on Bluesky at , on X at , or on Letterboxed at . Follow Anthony on Bluesky at , on X at . Follow Paul on Bluesky at , or on Letterboxed at . Paul also writes about movies at _____________________ Logo by Jason Christian Theme music by (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt). Happy listening! /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/39538490

BONUS: Tribute to Peter Watkins (1935–2025) 11/19/2025

BONUS: Tribute to Peter Watkins (1935–2025) In this bonus episode of Cold War Cinema, Jason Christian is joined by the independent filmmakers Eric Marsh and Christopher Jason Bell, to discuss the films and legacy of the British filmmaker and media theorist Peter Watkins, who died on October 30, 2025, one day after his nintieth birthday. Watkins stands apart in film history for his bold cinematic vision, his innovations of the pseudo-documentary, and for his unflinching cinematic attacks on the mass media and authoritarian states. For these reasons and others, he has never been given his due in the academy or in popular culture. We discuss why this radical filmmaker is so important to us personally, and why his legacy should—and probably will—continue to grow. _____________________ We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Eric recommends the film Bisbee '17 (2018, Robert Greene). Christopher recommends the film Revolution Selfie (2017, Steven de Castro). Jason recommends the book Future Revolutions: New Perspectives on Peter Watkins (2018, various authors). _____________________ Find Eric Marsh's films . Find Christopher Jason Bell's work . Find our previous interview with Christopher Jason Bell . Jason's essay on Punishment Park (1971) is found . And his short piece on Privilege (1967) is . (Scroll down.) _____________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky or on X at . And for more from your hosts: Follow Jason on Bluesky at , on X at , or on Letterboxed at . Follow Anthony on Bluesky at , on X at . Follow Paul on Bluesky at , or on Letterboxed at . Paul also writes about movies at _____________________ Logo by Jason Christian Theme music by (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt). Happy listening! /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/39103105

S2 Ep. 8: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, Don Siegel) 11/17/2025

S2 Ep. 8: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, Don Siegel) “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!” The Cold War Cinema team returns to discuss the 1956 sci-fi classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Something is off in the sleepy little town of Santa Mira, California. As residents begin worrying that their family and friends no longer seem to be who they say they are, Dr. Miles Bennell and his former flame Becky Driscoll slowly uncover an alien plot to replace every person on earth with otherworldly duplicates. Directed by Don Siegel (Riot on Cell Block 11, Dirty Harry, Escape from Alcatraz) and written by Daneil Mainwaring (Out of the Past), and with uncredited work by blacklisted screenwriter Richard Collins (Song of Russia), Invasion explores myriad maladies in midcentury American culture. Join hosts Jason Christian, Tony Ballas, and Paul T. Klein as we discuss: The many complicated—and often contradictory—political allegories often read into the film from both the left and the right, including anti-communist and anti-conformist messages. The political and discursive handwringing done by Invasion’s creative team to distance themselves and the film from its most potent politics. Invasion’s other formal and narrative critiques of psychoanalysis, middle-class nuclear family values, professional expertise, and the Hollywood studio system. Why movies are not riddles to be solved. _____________________ We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Paul recommends Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982, Tommy Lee Wallace). Tony recommends, The Burbs (1989, Joe Dante). Jason recommends No Down Payment (1957, Martin Ritt). _____________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky or on X at . For more from your hosts: Follow Jason on Bluesky at , on X at , or on Letterboxed at . Follow Anthony on Bluesky at , on X at . Follow Paul on Bluesky at , or on Letterboxed at . Paul also writes about movies at _____________________ Logo by Jason Christian Theme music by (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt). Happy listening! /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/39052280

S2 Ep. 7: Poet (1956, Boris Barnet) 10/27/2025

S2 Ep. 6: Pickup on South Street (1953, Samuel Fuller) w/ guest Stephen Gillespie 09/04/2025

S2 Ep. 6: Pickup on South Street (1953, Samuel Fuller) w/ guest Stephen Gillespie “Are you waving the flag at me?” The Cold War Cinema team returns to look at Samuel Fuller’s 1954 noir masterpiece, Pickup on South Street, with special guest Stephen Gillespie, film critic and cohost of The STACKS and I’m Thinking of Spoiling Things. When small-time thief Skip McCoy picks the wrong pocket on a busy subway car, he quickly becomes the most popular lowlife in town, trailed by crooked cops, the feds, and a Communist spy ring. Join Stephen and hosts Jason Christian and Paul T. Klein as they discuss: Why J. Edgar Hoover hated this movie. How the film makes sense of Cold War paranoia through its critique of American ideological systems Pickup on South Street’s depiction of the down-and-out and three-time losers that populate America’s urban landscapes, and how the film suggests they got there. Writer-director Samuel Fuller’s provocative and ultimately idealist politics _____________________ Each episode features book and film recommendations for further exploration. On this episode: Stephen recommends Samuel Fuller’s film Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (1972) and Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret (2011). Paul recommends Samuel Fuller’s film I Shot Jesse James (1949) and Peter Brooks’ book The Melodramatic Imagination: Balzac, Henry James, Melodrama, and the Mode of Excess. Jason recommends Samuel Fuller’s film Shock Corridor (1963) and J. Hoberman’s book An Army of Phantoms: American Movies and the Making of the Cold War. Check out Stephen Gillespie’s two podcasts, I’m Thinking of Spoiling Things and The STACKS, and read his reviews of films and video games at Step Printed (). Find him on Letterboxd at . _____________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky or on X at . For more from your hosts: Follow Jason on Bluesky at , on X at , or on Letterboxed at . Follow Anthony on Bluesky at , on X at . Follow Paul on Bluesky at , or on Letterboxed at . Paul also writes about movies at _____________________ Logo by Jason Christian Theme music by (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt). Happy listening! /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/38038370

BONUS: Interview w/ Christopher Jason Bell 08/28/2025

S2 Ep. 5: Silvery Dust (1953, Abram Room & Pavel Armand) 08/14/2025

S2 Ep. 5: Silvery Dust (1953, Abram Room & Pavel Armand) This week on Cold War Cinema, we discuss the 1953 Soviet science-fiction drama, Silvery Dust, directed by Abram Room and Pavel Armand, a film once again set in the United States. The film concerns an American scientist who has developed a powerful new weapon of mass destruction designed to wipe out populations within a large area while leaving no harmful radioactive residues or traces. In the film, the scientist colludes with a Nazi colleague and various private interests, who all conspire with the government to use innocent Black men as test subjects, without their knowledge or consent. Join hosts Jason Christian, Anthony Ballas, and Paul T. Klein as we consider: The historical legacy of , a secret government program in which the US brought some 1,600 scientists, engineers, and technicians from former Nazi Germany to the US for government employment after the end of World War II. The numerous government experiments conducted on minorities without their knowledge or consent, such as the Untreated Syphilis Study at Tuskegee (1932-1972) The contradiction, in the film, of critiquing racism in America while using white Russian actors in “black face.” Comparisons between American and Soviet propanda styles in the 1950s. _____________________ We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Paul recommends the book, Building a Better Race: Gender, Sexuality, and Eugenics from the Turn of the Century to the Baby Boom by Wendy Kline Tony recommends the book, The Selected Works of Ho Chi Hinh by Ho Chi Minh Jason recommends the book, Deterring Democracy by Noam Chomsky. _____________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky or on X at . /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/37804475

BONUS: The Phoenician Scheme (w/ guest Matthew Ellis) 07/29/2025

BONUS: The Phoenician Scheme (w/ guest Matthew Ellis) “Normal people want the basic human rights that accompany citizenship in any sovereign nation. I don't… I don't live anywhere; I'm not a citizen at all. I don't need my human rights.” The Cold War Cinema team is back with special guest Matthew Ellis, a researcher, artist, and cohost of the , for a special bonus episode covering Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme. Recently released on home video and streaming, the film follows the cunning, reprobate industrialist Zsa-zsa Korda (Bencio Del Toro) as he swindles his way into a massive infrastructure deal in the country of Upper Independent Phoenicia. Join Matthew Ellis and hosts Jason Christian, Tony Ballas, and Paul T. Klein as they discuss: The Phoenician Scheme’s connections to the Congress for Cultural Freedom, a CIA-backed cultural operation from 1950 that weaponized writers, artists, and other thinkers for intelligence operations. How Anderson’s film reveals the Cold War origins of the contemporary world in its critiques of capitalism and the neoliberal project. The ways that The Phoenician Scheme breaks Anderson’s hermetically sealed aesthetics and alludes to its formal limitations. _____________________ Each episode features book and film recommendations for further exploration. On this episode: Matthew recommends Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later. Paul recommends Matt Zoller Seitz’s The Wes Anderson Collection and Louis Althusser’s “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses: Notes Towards an Investigation.” Tony recommends Carpenter’s Gothic by William Gaddis. Jason recommends The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World by Vijay Prashad. _____________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky or on X at . For more from your hosts: Follow Jason on Bluesky at , on X at , or on Letterboxed at . Follow Anthony on Bluesky at , on X at . Follow Paul on Bluesky at , or on Letterboxed at . Paul also writes about movies at _____________________ Logo by Jason Christian Theme music by (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt). Happy listening! /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/37586490

S2 Ep. 4: I Married a Communist A.K.A. The Woman on Pier 13 (1949, Robert Stevenson) 07/24/2025

S2 Ep. 4: I Married a Communist A.K.A. The Woman on Pier 13 (1949, Robert Stevenson) This week on Cold War Cinema, we discuss Robert Stevenson’s 1949 drama, I Married a Communist, also known as Woman on Pier 13. This Hollywood production is one of the most storied—and notorious—anti-communist films of the early Cold War era. The movie revolves around a San Francisco shipping executive who worked his way up from the docks, as a stevedore, only to find himself embroiled in a Communist plot to sabotage a labor contract. Join hosts Jason Christian, Tony Ballas, and Paul T. Klein as we consider: How Hollywood colluded with the government to portray Communists as nihilistic, intellectual, unfeeling and yet effeminate organized criminals. The condescension at the heart of anti-Communist propaganda in the US that implies that ordinary Americans are too "dumb" to recognize when they are being duped. The paradoxical role of unions in New Deal liberal ideology as a potential bulwark against Communists. The perennial recycled anti-Communist tropes in American political rhetoric to this day. _____________________ We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Paul recommends Foster Hirsh’s 2023 book Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties: The Collapse of the Studio System, the Thrill of Cinerama, and the Invasion of the Ultimate Body Snatcher—Television. Tony recommends Gerald Horne's 2011 book, Fighting in Paradise: Labor Unions, Racism, and Communists in the Making of Modern Hawai'i. Jason recommends Rebecca Prime's 2013 book, Hollywood Exiles in Europe: The Blacklist and Cold War Film Culture. _____________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky or on X at . /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/37528720

S2 Ep. 3: The Russian Question (1948, Mikhail Romm) 07/03/2025

S2 Ep. 3: The Russian Question (1948, Mikhail Romm) “I used to think there was one America, but there are two. There's no place for me in McPherson's and Hearst's America, but there is in Lincoln's and Roosevelts!” This week on Cold War Cinema, we discuss Mikhaill Romm’s 1948 drama, The Russian Question. In this Soviet production, winner of the 1948 Stalin Prize and based on a play of the same name by Konstantin Siminov, a mendacious newspaper editor sends columnist Harry Smith to the Soviet Union to write a book critical of socialism. But when the principled columnist returns to the United States, he quickly realizes that the American press intends to turn the Russian question—whether the Russians want war—into a statement with dangerous geopolitical ramifications. Join hosts Jason Christian, Tony Ballas, and Paul T. Klein as we consider: The role of editing or montage in the construction of political critiques in aesthetic form Why the President of the Motion Picture Association called this a “sneering, lying attack on the United States” and an “open bid to stir contempt and hatred for America on the part of the Russian audiences,” and why he got it all wrong How a Soviet film about a sensationalist American news media helps us understand our current political moment _____________________ We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Paul recommends Clarence Brown’s 1949 drama Intruder in the Dust. Tony recommends Langston Hughes 1961 collection, Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz. Jason recommends Mikhail Romm’s 1961 drama Nine Days in One Year. _____________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky or on X at . /episode/index/show/f60c2930-18ea-47d8-a71c-91c645d0f028/id/37266790