Our Warner Bros. 1940 episode this time is a Bette Davis double feature in which Bette plays the Other Woman in two melodramas based on real-life sex-and-murder scandals, but the Wronged Woman in only one. We discuss the combination of sexual repression and critique of colonialism in William Wyler'sThe Letterand Anatole Litvak's study of societal constraints and thwarted romance with the very different setting of the last years of the Orléans monarchy in mid-19th century Paris, All This, and Heaven Too. Then, in a quick and dirty Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto segment, we evaluate David Cronenberg's mind-fuck gaming movie,eXistenZ, from 1999(with spoilers, so skip it if you want your mind to be a virgin for the experience). Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s: THE LETTER [dir. William Wyler] 0h 41m 01s: ALL THIS, AND HEAVEN TOO [dir. Anatole Litvak] 1h 10m 09s: Fear & Moviegoing in Toronto – eXistenZ (1999) by David Cronenberg Studio Film Capsules provided by The Warner Brothers Story by Clive...
In our second Jean Arthur Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode, Arthur moves into her A-picture period at Columbia with John Ford's curious comedy/crime melodrama,The Whole Town's Talking, starring Edward G. Robinson in a dual role, and Erle C. Kenton'sChildren's Hour-reminiscentParty Wire. While we see more of the familiar Arthur comedy persona emerge inThe Whole Town's Talking, she gets to show off her quiet moral authority and perspicacity inParty Wire, playing a woman who becomes the victim of town gossip. We make the case for Party Wire as a small-town satire worthy of standing alongside Stevens'Alice Adams, Sturges'The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, and Billy Wilder'sKiss Me, Stupid, and find more evidence for the secret feminism of Harry Cohn. Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s: THE WHOLE TOWN’S TALKING (1935) [dir. John Ford] 0h 25m 41s: PARTY WIRE (1935) [dir. Erle C. Kenton] 0h 55m 31s: Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto - THE RED DETACHMENT OF WOMEN (1961) [dir. Xie Jin] +++ * Listen to our guest ...
An odd pairing for this MGM 1940 episode: King Vidor'sNorthwest Passage, which is not about finding the Northwest Passage at all but about an attack on an Abenaki village by an independent ranger company attached to the British Army; and Frank Borzage'smysticalprison break movie,Strange Cargo. We make the argument for aStarship Troopersreading ofNorthwest Passagebefore grappling with the many issues ofStrange Cargo, from Borzage's use of Crawford and Gable'sstar personas, to the movie's theodicy, to the many Code-defying topics it deals with. We find a tonal similarity with the poetic realism movement in French cinema of the 1930s, and consider Borzage's treatment of love, salvation and gender. Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s: NORTHWEST PASSAGE [dir. King Vidor] 0h 30m 24s: STRANGE CARGO [dir. Frank Borzage] 1h 17m 11s: Fear & Moviegoing in Toronto – Kinuyo Tanaka’s Love Under the Crucifix (1962) 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 Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy ofThe Internet Archive) * Read Elise’s latest film piece 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@therebuggy Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
This Week's Special Subject is a look at the early silent cinema of Danish master Carl Theodor Dreyer,during the years precedingThe Passion of Joan of Arc. We discussMichael(1924), about the relationship between a famous painter and his male model, andMaster of the House(1925), a comedy about the taming of a tyrannical patriarch. Subjects include Dreyer's unique take on the visionary possibilities of love, which can allow you to transcend ordinary human experience in one way or another; and the interrelationship of patriarchy, matriarchy, and the use of violence and fear in maintaining domestic discipline. And in our Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto segment, we briefly discussCarné's romantic epicChildren of Paradise(1945), generally considered one of the great masterpieces of French cinema, and another Kinuyo Tanaka film,Girls of the Night(1961),about the consequences for sex workers when prostitution was proscribed by law in mid-1950s Japan. Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s: Brief Intro. Carl Theodor Dreyer 0h 10m 29s: MICHAEL (1924) [Dir. Carl Th. Dreyer] 0h 31m 35s: MASTER OF THE HOUSE (1925) [Dir. Carl Th. Dreyer] 0h 49m 19s: Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto – Carné’s ENFANTS DU PARADIS & Tanaka’s GIRLS OF THE NIGHT +++ * Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project (coming next week!) – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy ofThe Internet Archive) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – “Making America Strange Again” * 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@therebuggy Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
In our inaugural Jean Arthur Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode, we join Gladys Georgianna Greene as she signs on at Columbia Pictures, two years before her star-making team-up with Frank Capra. Her first two films for Columbia, WhirlpoolandThe Most Precious Thing in Life, are a couple of curious weepies with missing-parent plots that allow Arthur to play first the daughter, then the mother, but never the love interest. First, Dave gives us an account of why Jean Arthur is so important to him, and Elise explains what it has to do with Shakespeare's Rosalind. Then, in our Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto segment, we briefly discuss the first two Kinuyo Tanaka films where she takes on a real auteur role, Forever a Woman, based on the true story of a poet who died of breast cancer, which we saw as a kind of cross betweenDark VictoryandMy Left Foot, and the political epicThe Wandering Princess, which shows the events of WWII from the perspective of a Japanese noblewoman who marries into the Manchurian puppet dynasty. Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s: Prolegomenon To All Future Jean Arthurs 0h 31m 06s: WHIRLPOOL (1934) [dir. Roy William Neil] 0h 59m 47s: THE MOST PRECIOUS THING IN LIFE (1934) [dir. Lambert Hillyer] 1h 31m 02s: Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto – Kinuyo Tanaka’s FOREVER A WOMAN (1955) & THE WANDERING PRINCESS (1960) +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy ofThe Internet Archive) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – “Making America Strange Again” * 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@therebuggy Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!
For this 1940 Paramount episode, an Akim Tamiroff (and Muriel Angelus) double feature in which we unlock the secrets of Preston Sturges' inspiration. First, we look atThe Way of All Flesh(directed by Louis King), a little-known proto-noir Christmas movie that seems to have taken its inspiration from Nathaniel Hawthorne, as filtered through the sensibilities of top screenwriters Lenore Coffee and Jules Furthman. Then we move on to the first movie directed by dynamo screenwriter-turned-sui generis-director Preston Sturges,The Great McGinty, whichdirectly references the plot ofThe Way of All Fleshin its prologue. We make our case for the evolution ofThe Miracle of Morgan's Creekout of both movies and talk Sturges, artificial families, and lost fathers. Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s: THE WAY OF ALL FLESH [dir. Lewis King] 0h 36m 26s: THE GREAT MCGINTY [dir. Preston Sturges] 1h 06m 00s: Fear & Moviegoing in Toronto – Kinuyo Tanaka’s Love Letter (1953) and The Moon Has Risen (1955) Studio Film...
In our final Daniel Day-Lewis Acteurist Oeuvreview episode, we look at a commercial and critical flop, Rob Marshall'sNine(2009), a musical based on Fellini's celebrated semi-autobiographical film8 1/2, and a commercial and critical triumph, Steven Spielberg'sLincoln(2012), covering the final four monthsof Abraham Lincoln's life and especially the process of passing the Thirteenth Amendment. We consider how these roles relate to Day-Lewis's screen persona, then launch into a discussion of his entire career as we eachgive our Top 10 Daniel Day-Lewis performances. Has Day-Lewis been "typecast" by critics? And how do his best roles serve his unique qualities as an actor and personality? Find out what we think (and feel free to tell us what you think)! Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s: NINE (2009) [dir. Rob Marshall] 0h 22m 37s: LINCOLN (2012) [dir. Steven Spielberg] 0h 50m 04s: Daniel Day-Lewis Wrap-Up & Top 10s +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s *...
Join your hosts as they race the clock to adumbrate the myriad merits of French Golden Age Master, Jacques Becker! We key in on the director’s ingenious use of diverse genres to drop diegetic depth charges into the abyss of gendered subjectivity at midcentury. From the nerve-wracking rom-complications of Antoine et Antoinette to the Bert n’ Ernie gangster pyjama party of Touchez pas au grisbi, no four films have ever done a better (or more rapturously entertaining) job of laying bare the unbecoming banality of being under Patriarchy. Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s: ANTOINE ET ANTOINETTE (1947) [dir. Jacques Becker] 0h 36m 27s: RENDEZ-VOUS DE JUILLET (1949) [dir. Jacques Becker] 0h 56m 15s: CASQUE D’OR (1952) [dir. Jacques Becker] 1h 21m 51s: TOUCHEZ PAS AU GRISBI (1954) [dir. Jacques Becker] +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy ofThe Internet Archive) * Re...
Universal, 1939: we continuethe saga of John Stahl's final years with the banker regime withWhen Tomorrow Comes, a frankly pro-labour romance, full of eccentric charm, that rewrites the fate of Irene Dunne'sBack Streetcharacter while reuniting the actress with Charles Boyer after their success inLove Affair. Then we turn to the studio's B mode with Joe May's intermittently audacious, but consistently funny, murder/haunting mysteryThe House of Fear, about an ill-fated stage production. Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s: WHEN TOMORROW COMES [dir. John M. Stahl] 0h 51m 32s: THE HOUSE OF FEAR [dir. Joe May] 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 Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy ofThe Internet Archive) * Read Elise’s latest film piece on Preston Sturges, U...
At last we come to the Daniel Day-Lewis perhaps best known to cinephiles: the over-the-top monstrous patriarchs of Martin Scorsese'sGangs of New York(2002) and Paul Thomas Anderson'sThereWill Be Blood(2007). Working from a couple of the best viewings we've personally had of these movies, we discuss how Bill the Butcher and Daniel Plainview build upon the Day-Lewis persona, how they radically depart from it, and how they set the stage for future developments. If you've ever been embarrassed by your dad's inability to socially interact like a normal human being, this episode is for you. Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s: GANGS OF NEW YORK (2002) [dir. Martin Scorsese] 0h 58m 20s: THERE WILL BE BLOOD (2007) [dir. Paul Thomas Anderson] +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy ofThe Internet Archive) * Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – “Making America Strange ...