Aug 28, 2020
This episode of our Acteurist Oeuvre-view of Setsuko Hara (with English subs) features our first Naruse, REPAST (1951), and the movie generally considered “Ozu's masterpiece” (as if there were only one), TOKYO STORY (1953). We debate whether REPAST is housewife propaganda or the STARSHIP TROOPERS of domestic reunion...
Aug 21, 2020
Fox, 1933: we watch a couple of movies that complicate Ethan Mordden's characterization of Fox as “The Rube,” Henry King's State Fair and William (billed as Wilhelm) Dieterle's The Devil's in Love (both beautifully shot by Hal Mohr). The first is a sophisticated movie about simple people that doesn't make fun...
Aug 14, 2020
Our August Special Subject is one of Dave's favourite film books, Elizabeth Kendall's The Runaway Bride: Hollywood Romantic Comedy of the 1930s. We discuss Kendall's vision of romantic comedy from this era (it's powered by an auteur/acteur synergy between erstwhile “gag man” directors and a new type of female star)...
Aug 7, 2020
Prepare for Pre-Code shenanigans galore! In our Warner Bros. 1933 Studios Year-By-Year episode, the socialist studio shows us capitalism at its nastiest and sexiest. In Baby Face and Employees' Entrance, Barbara Stanwyck and Warren William, respectively, “crush” and “smash” in the name of surviving and...