There's Sometimes a Buggy: Irresponsible Opinions About Classic Film
Join Dave and Elise every week for a buggy-ride of cinematic exploration. A bilingual Montreal native and a Prairies hayseed gravitate to Toronto for the film culture, meet on OK Cupid, and spur on each other's movie-love, culminating in this podcast. Expect in-depth discussion of our old favourites (mostly studio-era Hollywood) and our latest frontiers. We like to bring attention to neglected figures and dig into little-known corners of film history and popular culture, and we hope that we can also bring new perspectives to the familiar. The podcast will be comprised of several potentially never-ending series: - Fear & Moviegoing in Toronto: Our Perspectives on Choice Local Retrospectives (PAUSED BY PANDEMIC) - Hollywood Studios – Year by Year: Deep-cut dishing on Paramount, MGM, Warner Brothers, RKO, Fox, and Universal items from 1930 to 1948. - Acteurist oeuvre-views/spotlights on worthy on-camera creatives, beginning with Jennifer Jones and Setsuko Hara. - And a big parade of special subjects hand-chosen by whichever of your hosts happens to have a handle on this buggy that week.
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Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 7:AN IDEAL HUSBAND (1947) and THE FEMININE TOUCH (1956)
04/25/2025
Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 7:AN IDEAL HUSBAND (1947) and THE FEMININE TOUCH (1956)
Our final Diana Wynyard episode has arrived all too soon! We look at her two final key roles, in Alexander Korda's film of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband (1947) and The Feminine Touch (1956), a nurse drama that's better than its silly title. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, we cover the 2025 Toronto Silent Film Festival, focusing on three films built around miraculous performances, Victor Sjostrom's The Wind (1928), starring Lillian Gish, Victor Fleming's Mantrap (1926), starring Clara Bow, and Josef von Sternberg's The Last Command (1928), starring Emil Jannings (ably supported by Evelyn Brent), before turning our attention to a film that was entirely new to us, the blatantly anti-capitalist The Johnstown Flood (1926), featuring Janet Gaynor in her first major role. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: AN IDEAL HUSBAND (1947) [dir. Alexander Korda] 0h 23m 27s: THE FEMININE TOUCH (1956) [dir. Pat Jackson] 0h 41m 54s: Diana Wynyard – The Summing Up 0h 48m 01s: FEAR & MOVIEGOING IN TORONTO: Toronto Silent Film Festival 2025 at The Revue Cinema [The Wind, Mantrap, The Last Command, The Johnstown Flood, Leap Year, Assistant Wives] and Easter Parade (1948) at TIFF Lightbox. +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Retro Re-issue [August 23, 2019] - Ethan Mordden’s The Hollywood Studios (1989) - Now With No Introductory Song!
04/19/2025
Retro Re-issue [August 23, 2019] - Ethan Mordden’s The Hollywood Studios (1989) - Now With No Introductory Song!
**** [Retro Re-issue Alert!] **** Turns out it wasn't such a great idea to use Le Tigre's "What's Yr Take on Cassavetes?" as our podcast's theme song in 2019 and 2020! Anyway, Spotify (and presumably Le Tigre) don't seem to think so. Accordingly, please find the attached re-issue of one of our foundational episodes, minus the intro music + a couple of words of greeting from Elise. Consider it a fragment shored against our (Julie) Ruin. First issued: August 23, 2019 This week’s episode serves as both a prolegomenon to our imminent Hollywood Studios Year By Year series and as a wistful look back to Dave’s teen years, when he picked up Ethan Mordden’s freewheeling speed date with Old Hollywood History and discovered a new way to split the difference between Adornian culture industry theory and auteurist ontology. Journey back to a time when oligopoly really meant something and most entertainment companies weren’t somehow beholden to Disney. We quote from and quibble with Mordden’s characterizations of the quintessential qualities of Paramount, MGM, Warner Brothers, Fox, RKO, and Universal (Dave gets particularly riled up about yet another slight to the sacred memory of Carl Laemmle Jr.). What’s your favourite Golden Age Studio? We want to know! Time Codes: 0h 0m 00s: The Hollywood Studios 2h 14m 43s Listener Mail with +++ *Read Elise’s Writing at , , and .* Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected]
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Special Subject - Farrow vs. Allen – Part 2: THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1985); HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986) & RADIO DAYS (1987)
04/18/2025
Special Subject - Farrow vs. Allen – Part 2: THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1985); HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986) & RADIO DAYS (1987)
In this Farrow vs. Allen Special Subject episode we dig into a strong set of films, The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and Radio Days (1987), united by their examination of art, popular culture, and fantasy, the possibilities they offer for transcendence, and the conditions of that transcendence. We also, of course, particularly examine Mia Farrow's role in these films, from Allen avatar to intimidating enigma, wistful waif to materfamilias. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1985) [dir. Woody Allen] 0h 31m 01s: HANNAH & HER SISTERS (1986) [dir. Woody Allen] 0h 54m 18s: RADIO DAYS (1987) [dir. Woody Allen] ++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Universal – 1930: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT & OUTSIDE THE LAW
04/11/2025
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Universal – 1930: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT & OUTSIDE THE LAW
We complete our second round of 1930 on Studios Year by Year with Universal. This time around we've got two auteur entries, Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front, and a much deeper cut, Tod Browning's eccentric crime drama Outside the Law. We discuss All Quiet as emblematic of the Laemmele Jr. era before turning to Browning's tense, messy melodrama, with a powerhouse performance by the scandal-plagued Mary Nolan. A fine finale to another trip through 1930 with the Hollywood Studios! Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: Universal Recap 0h 15m 58s: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT [dir. Lewis Milestone] 0h 53m 51s: OUTSIDE THE LAW [dir. Tod Browning] +++ Studio Film Capsules provided by The Universal Story by Clive Hirschhorn Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler Additional 1930 information from: Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating. * Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 6: THE PRIME MINISTER (1941) and KIPPS (1941)
04/04/2025
Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 6: THE PRIME MINISTER (1941) and KIPPS (1941)
In our penultimate Diana Wynyard Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode, our acteur supports two of the greats of her age, John Gielgud as Benjamin Disraeli in Thorold Dickinson's The Prime Minister and Michael Redgrave as the titular innocent of Carol Reed's Kipps, based on the novel by H.G. Wells. We discuss 19th century British politics (enfranchisement vs. empire), Wells' hope and despair for humanity, and the qualities that suit Wynyard to play women who are motivated to improve their partners. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, we wrap up March's TIFF Lightbox retrospectives with a viewing of Binka Zhelyazkova's The Tied-Up Balloon. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: THE PRIME MINISTER (1941) [dir. Thorold Dickinson] 0h 32m 44s: KIPPS (1941) [dir. Carol Reed] 0h 48m 27s: FEAR & MOVIEGOING IN TORONTO: The Tied-Up Balloon (1967) by Binka Zhelyazkova +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – RKO – 1930: FRAMED & THE RUNAWAY BRIDE
03/28/2025
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – RKO – 1930: FRAMED & THE RUNAWAY BRIDE
In this week's RKO Studios Year by Year episode, we discuss our favourite movies from our first round with the studio and how that round shaped our impression of RKO, and then turn to two new 1930 movies: Framed (directed by George Archainbaud), a gangster movie focused on Evelyn Brent's tough/tender mixed-up moll, and The Runaway Bride (directed by Donald Crisp), a shaggy showcase for Mary Astor's affability. But wait, there's more! In Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, we debate the meanings and merits of two daring films by Mai Zetterling, Amorosa (1986) and Night Games (1966), and dissect the post-WWII ennui of two by Binka Zhelyazkova, Life Flows Quietly By... (1957) and The Big Night Bathe (1980). Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: RKO Recap 0h 14m 54s: FRAMED [dir. George Archainbaud] 0h 31m 49s: THE RUNAWAY BRIDE [dir. Donald Crisp] 0h 52m 06s: FEAR & MOVIEGOING IN TORONTO: Mai Zetterling’s Night Games (1966) & Amorosa (1986) + Binka Zhelyazkova’s Life Flows Quietly By (1957) & The Big Night Bathe (1980) +++ Studio Film Capsules provided by The RKO Story Story by Richard B. Jewell & Vernon Harbin Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler Additional 1930 information from: Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating. * Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Special Subject – Stanning for Anna Sten: NANA (1934), WE LIVE AGAIN (1934), THE WEDDING NIGHT (1935), & LET’S LIVE A LITTLE (1948)
03/21/2025
Special Subject – Stanning for Anna Sten: NANA (1934), WE LIVE AGAIN (1934), THE WEDDING NIGHT (1935), & LET’S LIVE A LITTLE (1948)
We've got a big one for you this week: four main movies plus four Fear and Moviegoing viewings. Our main feature is Stanning for Sten: Anna Sten's three movies for Samuel Goldwyn, Nana (1934), based on (more like inspired by) the Zola novel, We Live Again (1934), with a Tolstoy source, and The Wedding Night (1935), plus a glimpse at one of her later supporting roles in Let's Live a Little (1948), a Robert Cummings comedy vehicle. Goldwyn infamously brought Sten to Hollywood with the intention of creating his own Dietrich-Garbo hybrid and lavished the most prestigious Hollywood talent (Arzner, Mamoulian, Vidor, Gregg Toland, and co-stars like Frederic March and Gary Cooper) and literary source material on her, only to have the public reject her; but we argue that Goldwyn's care didn't go to waste. And in Fear and Moviegoing, we look at the career of actress/director Mai Zetterling, discussing two movies directed by her, and two early films in which she appears (one directed by Ingmar Bergman, the other written by him). Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: A Few Words About Sten and Goldwyn 0h 08m 02s: NANA (1934) [dir. Dorothy Arzner] 0h 28m 11s: WE LIVE AGAIN (1934) [dir. Rouben Mamoulian] 0h 58m 08s: THE WEDDING NIGHT (1935) [dir. King Vidor] 1h 27m 28s: LET’S LIVE A LITTLE (1948) [dir. Richard Wallace] 1h 39m 20s: FEAR & MOVIEGOING IN TORONTO: Mai Zetterling’s Loving Couples (1964) & Scrubbers (1982); Ingmar Bergman’s Music in Darkness (1948); Alf Sjoberg’s Torment (1944) +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 5: GASLIGHT (1940) and FREEDOM RADIO (1940)
03/14/2025
Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 5: GASLIGHT (1940) and FREEDOM RADIO (1940)
In this Diana Wynyard Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode, we look at probably her best-known film, Gaslight (directed by Thorold Dickinson), and consider its pros and cons relative to the Cukor/Selznick Hollywood version of a few years later, as well as the question of how "gaslighting" became an internet meme and how well the source fits the popular meaning. Then we turn to an oddball film with an anti-nationalism message, Freedom Radio (Anthony Asquith), set in Nazi Germany but with a broader application, and consider how Wynyard's screen persona informs her tricky role. Then, in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, we battle it out over Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (cluttered or perfect screenplay by Charlie Kaufman?) and find accord on John Cassavetes' revealing potboiler, Gloria (love story between a tiny man and a deadly goddess). Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: GASLIGHT (1940) [dir. Thorold Dickinson] 0h 29m 52s: FREEDOM RADIO (1940) [dir. Anthony Asquith] 0h 48m 27s: FEAR & MOVIEGOING IN TORONTO: Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) & John Cassavetes’ Gloria (1980) +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Fox Film Corporation – 1930: CITY GIRL and JUST IMAGINE
03/07/2025
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Fox Film Corporation – 1930: CITY GIRL and JUST IMAGINE
The first episode of our second Studios Year by Year round with Fox, the "Rube" according to Ethan Mordden, is a real ridiculous/sublime contrast: the sci-fi musical comedy Just Imagine (directed by David Butler), a vehicle for vaudevillian El Brendel, in whom Dave may have found his comedy bête noir; and the F. W. Murnau masterpiece City Girl, which reworks Sunrise with (we speculate) a Borzagean twist. Come for the idiotic, stay for the profound? Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: Fox Recap 0h 12m 41s: CITY GIRL [dir. F.W. Murnau] 0h 48m 02: JUST IMAGINE [dir. David Butler] Studio Film Capsules provided by The Fox Film Corporation, 1915-1935: A History and Filmography by Aubrey Solomon Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating. * Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 4: ONE MORE RIVER (1934) and ON THE NIGHT OF THE FIRE (1940)
02/28/2025
Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 4: ONE MORE RIVER (1934) and ON THE NIGHT OF THE FIRE (1940)
In this Diana Wynyard Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode we finally come to the source, James Whale's One More River (1934), the movie that inspired Dave to schedule this series, and don't worry, we still think it's a masterpiece. We recap how we've watched the Wynyard onscreen persona evolve and how Whale's new context for it gives it an unforgettable impact. And then we watch Wynyard discard that persona in On the Night of the Fire (1939), playing the supportive but stymied wife of Ralph Richardson's beleaguered Everyman in this ultra-despairing British noir. Two must-watches! Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: ONE MORE RIVER (1934) [dir. James Whale] 0h 54m 37s: ON THE NIGHT OF THE FIRE (1940) [dir. Brian Desmond Hurst] +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Warner Brothers – 1930: A NOTORIOUS AFFAIR & THE DOORWAY TO HELL
02/21/2025
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Warner Brothers – 1930: A NOTORIOUS AFFAIR & THE DOORWAY TO HELL
For the first episode of our second round of Warner Brothers 1930, we've got a thoughtful, ambitious gangster movie from the mind of little-known auteur Rowland Brown, The Doorway to Hell (directed by Archie Mayo), and a truly dismal melodrama, A Notorious Affair (directed by Lloyd Bacon), rescued from total worthlessness by Kay Francis's turn as a maneating countess. (Doorway to Hell is also notable for a very early appearance by another rising star, James Cagney, who, however, doesn't steal his movie as effectively as Francis does.) Plus, we give our lists of favourite Warner Brothers movies from Round One and offer our thoughts about the studio as auteur going into Round Two. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: Warner Brothers Recap 0h 28m 05s: A NOTORIOUS AFFAIR [dir. Lloyd Bacon] 0h 43m 50s: THE DOORWAY TO HELL [dir. Archie Mayo] Year in Film information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer Studio Film Capsules provided by The Warner Brothers Story by Clive Hirschhorn Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating. * Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Valentine’s Day 2025 – My Conceptual Valentine - HER (2013) and I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS (2020)
02/14/2025
Valentine’s Day 2025 – My Conceptual Valentine - HER (2013) and I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS (2020)
For our Valentine's Day 2025 episode, we plunge deep into the nature of relationships by discussing two films whose romantic pairings are arguably not relationships at all: Spike Jonze's Her (2013) and his sometime collaborator, Charlie Kaufman's I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020). Isolation, loss, misogyny, male fantasies, hope and despair: we've got all of the Valentine's goodness for you. And it continues with our Fear and Moviegoing discussion of Mike Leigh's Hard Truths (2024). Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: HER (2013) [dir. Spike Jonze] 0h 54m 53s: I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS (2020) [dir. Charlie Kaufman] 1h 30m 24s: Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto: Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths (2024) Related content: · · +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year - MGM – 1930: THE FLORODORA GIRL & MADAM SATAN
02/07/2025
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year - MGM – 1930: THE FLORODORA GIRL & MADAM SATAN
We start off our second round of MGM Studio Year by Year episodes with these 1930 films: the Marion Davies comedy vehicle The Florodora Girl (directed by Harry Beaumount) and Cecil B. DeMille's Madam Satan, which Elise decides is something like Eyes Wide Shut if it was made by James Cameron (but, alas, not as interesting as that sounds). (It's still pretty interesting, though, if only for the Art Deco Lightning Dancers. Yes, you read that right.) Plus, we give our impressions of MGM based on our first round of viewings and draw attention to some of the highlights from it. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: MGM Recap 0h 28m 41s: THE FLORODORA GIRL [dir. Harry Beaumont] 0h 45m 29s: MADAM SATAN [dir. Cecil B. DeMille] Year in Film information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer Studio Film Capsules provided by The MGM Story by John Douglas Eames Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating. * Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 3 WHERE SINNERS MEET (1934) and THE MARRIAGE SYMPHONY (1934)
01/31/2025
Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 3 WHERE SINNERS MEET (1934) and THE MARRIAGE SYMPHONY (1934)
For this episode of our Diana Wynyard Acteurist Oeuvre-view series, our featured acteur plays a disillusioned modern woman in two 1934 movies, Where Sinners Meet and Let's Try Again, that are cynical about marriage in a way that (we argue) screwball comedy would soon render archaic. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto we give our impressions of three more Marco Bellocchio films, Devil in the Flesh, Vincere, and the especially enigmatic Blood of My Blood. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: Where Sinners Meet (1934) [dir. J. Walter Ruben] 0h 18m 20s: The Marriage Symphony (1934) [dir. Worthington Miner] 0h 43m 00s: Fear & Moviegoing in Toronto – Marco Bellocchio retrospective at TIFF – part 2: Devil in the Flesh (1986), China is Near (1967), Vincere (2009) and Blood of My Blood (2015) +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Special Subject - Farrow vs. Allen – Part 1: MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S SEX COMEDY (1982); ZELIG (1983); BROADWAY DANNY ROSE (1984)
01/24/2025
Special Subject - Farrow vs. Allen – Part 1: MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S SEX COMEDY (1982); ZELIG (1983); BROADWAY DANNY ROSE (1984)
Our Special Subject this month is the start of a series on the cinematic collaboration of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen. In this first episode we look at A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982), Zelig (1983), and Broadway Danny Rose (1984), paying particular attention to the relationship between the Allen and Farrow characters and to the question of what each partner in the collaboration brings to the other's career. Both of these areas of inquiry yielded some surprises for us; plus, Dave gets to wax lyrical about Broadway Danny Rose, one of his favourite Allen movies. We also have a revival of Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto thanks to the TIFF Lightbox Cinematheque's Marco Bellocchio retrospective, briefly discussing Good Morning, Night (2003), Dormant Beauty (2012), and My Mother's Smile (2002). Discussion of the latter occasioned many mentions of David Lynch, as often happens on the pod, although we did not know at the time that he would be taking leave of this plane of existence. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: Intro: Farrow v. Allen 0h 06m 53s: A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982) [dir. Woody Allen] 0h 23m 09s: Zelig (1983) [dir. Woody Allen] 0h 31m 58s: Broadway Danny Rose (1984) [dir. Woody Allen] 0h 48m 29s: Fear & Moviegoing in Toronto – Another Year (2010) by Mike Leigh; part 1 of TIFF Cinémathèque’s Marco Bellocchio retrospective: Good Morning, Night (2003), Marx Can Wait (2021), Dormant Beauty (2012) and My Mother’s Smile (2002) +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Paramount – 1930: THE LOVE PARADE & THE VAGABOND KING
01/17/2025
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Paramount – 1930: THE LOVE PARADE & THE VAGABOND KING
It's time for another round of Studios Year by Year, starting over with Paramount 1930! And this time Dave has brought even more nostalgic reading material to give some context for this studio content. We also launch another new series feature: a review of our favourite movies from the previous 1930-1948 round. Turning to the Paramount movies we watched for this episode, we struggle to come to terms with the pointless battle of the sexes in Lubitsch's The Love Parade, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald, who are having a lot of sexy Pre-Code fun until the dictates of storytelling demand conflict; and struggle through a nigh-unwatchable transfer/copy of the sturdy operetta The Vagabond King, starring MacDonald and Dennis King. In both films, the adorable Lillian Roth delights. And finally, as if all of that weren't enough, a New Year's Eve throwback (by the time this is posted) in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto: we watched the beloved When Harry Met Sally and the cult classic 200 Cigarettes at the Revue Cinema. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: 1930 in film + Paramount Recap 0h 21m 10s: THE LOVE PARADE [dir. Ernst Lubitsch] 0h 43m 24s: THE VAGABOND KING [dir. Ludwig Berger] 0h 56m 50s: Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto: When Harry Met Sally (1989) by Rob Reiner & 200 Cigarettes (1999) by Risa Bramon Garcia Year in Film information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer Studio Film Capsules provided by The Paramount Story by John Douglas Eames Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating. * Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 2: MEN MUST FIGHT (1933) and REUNION IN VIENNA (1933)
01/10/2025
Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 2: MEN MUST FIGHT (1933) and REUNION IN VIENNA (1933)
Our second Diana Wynyard Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode brought two real oddball pre-Codes to our attention: Men Must Fight (1933), a hardcore pacifist film that predicts the upcoming world war in certain ways, in which Wynyard more or less reprises her Cavalcade role; and Reunion in Vienna (1933), based on a Robert E. Sherwood play, which could have been the first screwball comedy if Wynyard and John Barrymore had been playing Americans (but then, the movie's entire premise—the psychosexual allure of authoritarianism—would be removed). We make the probably indefensible case (more like an irresponsible opinion) that the latter handles a naughty love triangle in a more interesting way than Lubitsch's Design For Living from the same year. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, we watch a 65th anniversary screening of Sleeping Beauty, the most visually radical animated Disney film, and discuss whether it lives up to our childhood memories. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: Men Must Fight [dir. Edgar Selwyn] 0h 23m 48s: Reunion in Vienna [dir. Sidney Franklin] 0h 45m 10s: Fear & Moviegoing in Toronto – Sleeping Beauty (1959) by Clyde Geronimi +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Universal – 1948: A WOMAN’S VENGEANCE & LARCENY
01/01/2025
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Universal – 1948: A WOMAN’S VENGEANCE & LARCENY
Our first round of Studios Year by Year comes to an end with these Universal 1948 movies: A Woman's Vengeance (directed by Zoltan Korda with a screenplay by Aldous Huxley, based on his short story "The Gioconda Smile") and Larceny (directed by George Sherman). Huxley's philosophical concerns add unexpected dimensions to familiar Gothic tropes and gives great material to Charles Boyer and Ann Blyth, while Cedric Hardwicke deals with Jessica Tandy. In the second half of our double bill, John Payne's con man tries his best to deal with Shelley Winters in honey badger mode (he's the honey and the bees). Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: A WOMAN’S VENGEANCE [dir. Zoltan Korda] 0h 29m 24s: LARCENY [dir. George Sherman] Studio Film Capsules provided by The Universal Story by Clive Hirschhorn Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating. * Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Christmas 2024 - The Festive Bergman – FANNY & ALEXANDER (1982)
12/25/2024
Christmas 2024 - The Festive Bergman – FANNY & ALEXANDER (1982)
Our 2024 Christmas episode is devoted to all 312 minutes of Ingmar Bergman's late masterpiece Fanny and Alexander (1982); a phantasmagorical smorgasbord of genres and summary of the writer-director's obsessions. We explore the film's Keatsian and Kierkegaardian implications, its relationship to the Modernist moment, and its oneiric inquiry into the nature of reality... among the many other topics raised by this dramatically and conceptually rich movie. We hope the holiday season gives you many opportunities to eat, think, and be merry! Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: FANNY & ALEXANDER (1982) [dir. Ingmar Bergman] +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 1: RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS (1932) & CAVALCADE (1933)
12/20/2024
Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 1: RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS (1932) & CAVALCADE (1933)
Our first Diana Wynyard Acteurist Oeuvre-view presents us with a couple of politically reactionary pre-Codes: Wynyard's Hollywood debut, Rasputin and the Empress (1932), which is mostly Rasputin (a very freaky Lionel Barrymore), not much Empress (Ethel B), and almost no Wynyard; and her Hollywood triumph, Cavalcade (1933), Noël Coward's version of the Modernist recoil from the 20th century. We find much to discuss in these movies' tortured relationship with recent history. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: RASPUTIN & THE EMPRESS (1932) [dir. Richard Boleslawski] 0h 29m 03s: CAVALCADE (1933) [dir. Frank Lloyd] +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – RKO - 1948: BERLIN EXPRESS & THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR
12/13/2024
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – RKO - 1948: BERLIN EXPRESS & THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR
In this 1948 Studios Year by Year episode, we look at two artefacts from Dore Schary's brief tenure as Head of Production at RKO, Berlin Express (directed by Jacques Tourneur), an early Cold War curiosity in which Robert Young and Merle Oberon try to save Paul Lukas from the clutches of Nazis in war-torn Frankfurt, and The Boy with Green Hair (directed by Joseph Losey), the pacifist fantasy, starring Dean Stockwell and Pat O'Brien, over which Schary clashed with the Elon Musk of studio-era Hollywood, Howard Hughes. We discuss the films' historical context, as well as the non-political pleasures they have to offer. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: The RKO Story summary of 1948 at Radio-Keith-Orpheum 0h 05m 08s: BERLIN EXPRESS [dir. Jacques Tourneur] 0h 24m 19s: THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR [dir. Joseph Losey] 0h 46m 49s: Listener mail with Amy Studio Film Capsules provided by The RKO Story by Richard B. Jewell & Vernon Harbin Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler Link: +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating. * Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Paul Robeson – Part 6: NATIVE LAND (1942), TALES OF MANHATTAN (1942) and SONG OF THE RIVERS (1954)
12/06/2024
Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Paul Robeson – Part 6: NATIVE LAND (1942), TALES OF MANHATTAN (1942) and SONG OF THE RIVERS (1954)
Sadly, it's time to say goodbye to another acteur after an all-too-short time. For our final Paul Robeson episode, we watched Julien Duvivier's Tales of Manhattan (1942), which notoriously brought an end to Robeson's career as a film actor, and two extraordinary socialist documentaries to which he contributed his voice, Leo Hurwitz's Native Land (1942) and Joris Ivens' The Song of the Rivers (1954). (Note that Robeson's contribution to Song of the Rivers was less than we supposed going in: an introductory song only. But we thought it paired well with Native Land anyway.) We make an argument for the subversive use of tropes in the Robeson Tales of Manhattan segment before moving on to discuss Robeson's involvement in the kind of cinema he wanted to make: independent, socialist, artistically ambitious. And finally, we of course Rank the Robesons, giving our 10 favourite Robeson films in order and summarizing the experience of building a comprehensive picture of this under-theorized body of work. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: TALES OF MANHATTAN (1942) [dir. Julien Duvivier] 0h 21m 54s: NATIVE LAND (1942) [dirs. Leo Hurwitz & Paul Strand] 0h 53m 33s: SONG OF THE RIVERS (1954) [dir. Joris Ivens] 1h 04m 48s: Ranking the Robesons 1h 13m 58s: Listener mail from Andy Episode specific reading: · Musser, Charles. Cinémas, Volume 19, (Number 1), Fall 2008, 147-179. · Klein, Jill and Michael. . Cinéaste vol 6 (number 3), 1974. +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – 20th Century Fox - 1948: ROAD HOUSE & UNFAITHFULLY YOURS
11/29/2024
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – 20th Century Fox - 1948: ROAD HOUSE & UNFAITHFULLY YOURS
This 1948 20th Century Fox Studios Year by Year episode is a doozy, a doubleheader of psychotic lovelorn men with bad ideas in their heads. First, in Jean Negulesco's rural noir Road House, Richard Widmark's spoiled road house owner selects Ida Lupino's unlikely and unforgettable femme fatale as his reluctant assassin, and then, in Preston Sturges' black comedy Unfaithfully Yours, Rex Harrison's celebrated symphony conductor spins murderous melodramatic fantasies and faces a recalcitrant slapstick reality when he suspects his much younger wife (Linda Darnell) of cheating on him. We unpack the practically infinite riches of these colossi of studio-era filmmaking, one with and one without an auteur at the helm. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: ROAD HOUSE [dir. Jean Negulesco] 0h 50m 02s: UNFAITHFULLY YOURS [dir. Preston Sturges] Studio Film Capsules provided by The Films of Twentieth Century-Fox by Tony Thomas & Aubrey Solomon Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joe W. Finler +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating. * Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Special Subject - Supported By Oscar Levant – the 1940s - RHAPSODY IN BLUE (1945); HUMORESQUE (1946); ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS (1948) and THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY (1949)
11/22/2024
Special Subject - Supported By Oscar Levant – the 1940s - RHAPSODY IN BLUE (1945); HUMORESQUE (1946); ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS (1948) and THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY (1949)
Part 1 of our Oscar Levant Special Subject sees us explain our very personal relationship with this singular figure of 1940s/50s Hollywood in preparation to discuss Gershwin biopic Rhapsody in Blue (1945), great Warner Bros. woman's picture/noir Humoresque (1946), Doris Day debut Romance on the High Seas (1948), and accidental Fred and Ginger reunion pic The Barkleys of Broadway (1949). Just a warning: if you're looking for an in-depth discussion for the latter two, this probably isn't the podcast episode you want. But if you're more interested in the relationship between Rhapsody in Blue and Humoresque (thanks to the contributions of screenwriter Clifford Odets), you've come to the right place. Levant adds his unique texture and authenticity to these stories of the cost of genius—for both the genius and those around them. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: Scraping the Surface of Oscar Levant 0h 11m 58s: RHAPSODY IN BLUE (1945) [dir. Irving Rapper] 0h 36m 43s: HUMORESQUE (1946) [dir. Jean Negulesco] 0h 57m 57s: ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS (1948) [dir. Michael Curtiz] 1h 11m 14s: THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY (1949) [dir. Charles Walters] +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Paul Robeson – Part 5: JERICHO (1937) and THE PROUD VALLEY (1940)
11/15/2024
Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Paul Robeson – Part 5: JERICHO (1937) and THE PROUD VALLEY (1940)
For our penultimate Paul Robeson Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode we watched Thornton Freeland's Jericho (1937), in which Robeson plays a court-martialed WWI officer who takes up a new life as the leader of a group of Saharan herders and traders, and Pen Tennyson's The Proud Valley (1940), often cited as the film Robeson was proudest of, about the struggles of a community of Welsh miners. As in our last Robeson episode, he really makes his auteur presence felt in these films, although in almost opposite ways, taking centre stage in Jericho and acting as the presiding genius of The Proud Valley, which we discuss as both Robeson's vision of socialism and a mining horror movie. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: JERICHO (1937) [dir. Thornton Freeland] 0h 28m 48s: THE PROUD VALLEY (1940) [dir. Pen Tennyson] +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Warner Brothers - 1948: THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE & JOHNNY BELINDA
11/08/2024
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Warner Brothers - 1948: THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE & JOHNNY BELINDA
For this 1948 Warner Bros Studios Year by Year episode, we watched a couple of the studio's most prestigious releases for the year, John Huston's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Jean Negulesco's Johnny Belinda. We explore some extraordinary performances by Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, and Jane Wyman in these tales of capitalist nihilism and rural prejudice. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE [dir. John Huston] 0h 44m 11s: JOHNNY BELINDA [dir. Jean Negulesco] Studio Film Capsules provided by The Warner Brothers Story by Clive Hirschhorn Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joe W. Finler +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating. * Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Halloween 2024 Special Subject: With Mad Love from Peter Lorre - M (1931) and MAD LOVE (1935)
10/31/2024
Halloween 2024 Special Subject: With Mad Love from Peter Lorre - M (1931) and MAD LOVE (1935)
For our 2024 Halloween Special Subject we watched two films in the German Expressionist tradition starring one of the greatest actors to be relegated to Hollywood character actor status, Peter Lorre: Fritz Lang's masterpiece M (1931), through which Lorre came to international recognition playing a child murderer, and Lorre's first Hollywood film, Karl Freund's Mad Love (1935), to which he also brought his special blend of pathos and perversion. We discuss serial killers, scapegoats, sadism, cyberpunk zombies, love, sex, and other topics certain to terrify. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: M (1931) [dir. Fritz Lang] 0h 32m 07s: MAD LOVE (1935) [dir. Karl Freund] +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Paul Robeson – Part 4: BIG FELLA (1937) and KING SOLOMON’S MINES (1937)
10/25/2024
Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Paul Robeson – Part 4: BIG FELLA (1937) and KING SOLOMON’S MINES (1937)
Things are looking up in this week's Paul Robeson Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode, for which we watched Big Fella (directed by J. Elder Willis), in which Robeson is a dockworker who becomes involved in the search for a kidnapped rich kid, and King Solomon's Mines (directed by Robert Stevenson), the first film adaptation of the H. Rider Haggard colonial adventure epic. We make our arguments for Big Fella as an anti-Shirley Temple movie that both accomplishes and subverts its genre goals and for King Solomon's Mines' Verhoevening of its reactionary source material. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: BIG FELLA (1937) [dir. J. Elder Willis] 0h 28m 30s: KING SOLOMON’S MINES [dir. Robert Stevenson] +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – MGM - 1948: SUMMER HOLIDAY and EASTER PARADE
10/18/2024
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – MGM - 1948: SUMMER HOLIDAY and EASTER PARADE
Our MGM 1948 Studios Year by Year episode is a Freed Unit double feature: the great Irving Berlin musical Easter Parade, starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire, and Summer Holiday, a Mickey Rooney coming-of-age story based on a play by Eugene O'Neill, directed by studio-era "art director" Rouben Mamoulian. We discuss Easter Parade as a vehicle for presenting Judy Garland's "problematic" anti-star star persona and Summer Holiday's envelope-pushing leftist politics and middle-class sexual repression plot, wrapped up in cozy turn-of-the-century nostalgia. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: SUMMER HOLIDAY [dir. Rouben Mamoulian] 0h 36m 24s: EASTER PARADE [dir. Charles Walters] Studio Film Capsules provided by The MGM Story by John Douglas Eames Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joe W. Finler +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating. * Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Paul Robeson – Part 3: SHOW BOAT (1936) & SONG OF FREEDOM (1936)
10/11/2024
Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Paul Robeson – Part 3: SHOW BOAT (1936) & SONG OF FREEDOM (1936)
In this episode of our Paul Robeson Acteurist Oeuvre-view series, we consider the ways in which Robeson, as acteur, inscribes himself on James Whale's Show Boat (1936) and J. Elder Wills' Song of Freedom (1936). First, we consider the racial themes of Show Boat, and how both the writing of Robeson's character, and Robeson's playing of him, undermines the stereotype ostensibly being presented; and then we look at the way Song of Freedom struggles to present a progressivism alternative to the racial politics of The Emperor Jones, while we attempt to reconstruct the motivations behind its political confusions. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: SHOW BOAT (1936) [dir. James Whale] 0h 31m 35s: SONG OF FREEDOM (1936) [dir. J. Elder Willis] +++ * Listen to our guest episode on – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of ) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – * Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! Follow us on Twitter at Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
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