There's Sometimes a Buggy

Special Subject – Max Ophuls in Italy and the Netherlands – LA SIGNORA DI TUTTI (1934) and KOMEDIE OM GELD (1936)

For this Special Subject episode, we looked at a couple of interventions in European national cinemas by Max Ophüls, La signora di tutti (1934), made in Italy, and Komedie om geld (1936), made in the Netherlands. Although not generally associated with radical politics, or politics at all, in these two early, lesser-known films Ophüls uses melodrama and comedy respectively to explore commodification, reification, and commodity fetishism. But don't worry, there's also a five-star melodrama staircase death and a con artist with a cute dog. And in our So This Is Sarris segment, we're moved to ask Why So Sarri(ou)s, Andrew? Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: Brief Ophuls Opener 0h 03m 50s: LA SIGNORA DI TUTTI (1934) [dir. Max Ophuls] 0h 41m 13s: KOMEDIE OM GELD (1936) {dir. Max Ophuls] 0h 59m 34s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – Jacques Tourneur +++ * Previous Max Ophuls discussions * Duels in Max Ophuls -Liebelei, Letter From an Unknown Woman & The Earrings of Madame De… [https://timetravel.libsyn.com/july-special-subject-duels-in-max-ophls-liebelei-1933-letter-from-an-unkown-woman-1948-and-the-earrings-of-madame-de-1953] * Acteur/Auteur Special Subject– Max Ophuls & Edwige Feuillère – SANS LENDEMAIN (1939) & DE MAYERLING A SARAJEVO (1940) [https://timetravel.libsyn.com/acteurauteur-special-subject-max-ophuls-edwige-feuillre-sans-lendemain-1939-de-mayerling-a-sarajevo-1940] Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project [https://anchor.fm/criterionproject?utm_source=listennotes.com&utm_campaign=Listen+Notes&utm_medium=website] – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s [https://timetravel.libsyn.com/complete-viewing-schedule-the-2020s] * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/1926-USA-Archives-1926-10-15-Jean-Goldkette-Orch-v-Keller-Sisters-Sunday]) * Read Elise's piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again" [https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2020/02/18/gangs-of-new-york-2002/] * 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 [https://twitter.com/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!

Acteurist Spotlight – Sandra Dee – Part 1: THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE (1958) and THE RESTLESS YEARS (1958)

For our inaugural Sandra Dee Acteurist Spotlight we examined two pairings with John Saxon from 1958, The Reluctant Debutante (directed by Vincente Minnelli), with Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall displaying their talents for farce, and The Restless Years (directed by Helmut Käutner), in which Dee gets to display her talent for psychological drama. Whether contending with aggressive peers and neurotic parents or making the first move with Saxon, Dee proves that there's much more to her screen persona than ammo for Stockard Channing to use against Olivia Newton-John. Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: Brief Introduction – Sandra Dee 0h 03m 53s: THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE (1958) [dir. Vincente Minnelli] 0h 27m 32s: THE RESTLESS YEARS (1958) [dir. Helmut Kautner] 0h 47m 12s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – Preston Sturges +++ * Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project [https://anchor.fm/criterionproject?utm_source=listennotes.com&utm_campaign=Listen+Notes&utm_medium=website] – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s [https://timetravel.libsyn.com/complete-viewing-schedule-the-2020s] * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/1926-USA-Archives-1926-10-15-Jean-Goldkette-Orch-v-Keller-Sisters-Sunday]) * Read Elise's piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again" [https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2020/02/18/gangs-of-new-york-2002/] * 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 [https://twitter.com/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!

Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Warner Brothers – 1935: THE RIGHT TO LIVE & I FOUND STELLA PARISH

For this Warner Bros. 1935 episode we watched a couple of melodramas that show a side of the studio's 1930s output less familiar than its fast-talking gangster and proletarian dramas: The Right to Live (directed by William Keighley), a love triangle story set among the rich and ableist, starring Josephine Hutchinson and Colin Clive; and I Found Stella Parish, a spin on the Stella Dallas maternal sacrifice theme starring Kay Francis and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. We learn about the importance of Stella Parish to Warner Bros. and Francis, right before the relationship between studio and star was about to go sour, and argue that Francis deserves her place alongside Davis, Cagney, Muni and Robinson in discussions of Warner Bros. in the 1930s. (Although the conversation about Francis seems to be changing.) Time Codes: * 0h 00m 20s: 1935 & Warner Brothers * 0h 06m 37s: THE RIGHT TO LIVE (1935) [dir. William Keighley] * 0h 27m 59s: I FOUND STELLA PARISH (1935) [dir. Mervyn Leroy] * 1h 04m 08s: So This is Sarris (from Andrew Sarris' The American Cinema) – Gregory La Cava +++ Studio Film Capsules provided by The Warner Brothers Story by Clive Hirschhorn Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler 1935 Information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s [https://timetravel.libsyn.com/complete-viewing-schedule-the-2020s] * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/1926-USA-Archives-1926-10-15-Jean-Goldkette-Orch-v-Keller-Sisters-Sunday]) * Read Elise's latest film piece [https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2021/06/24/of-axes-oxes-turkeys-and-scapegoats/] 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 [https://twitter.com/therebuggy] Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com [therebuggy@gmail.com] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!

Acteurist Spotlight – Jennifer Jason Leigh – Part 3: GEORGIA (1995) and BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA (1996)

We say farewell to Jennifer Jason Leigh for now with two more harrowing works: Georgia (1995), written by Leigh's mother, Barbara Turner, and directed by Ulu Grosbard, and Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), directed by Anjelica Huston and based on the semi-autobiographical novel by CSA survivor Dorothy Allison. We talk about the endless ambiguities of Georgia, a rare gripping dramatic work concerned with clashing ideas about art, and Bastard's queer perspective on patriarchal dynamics. Leigh again shows her talent for playing paradoxically resilient, self-destructive women. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto we got to see the brand-new 4K restoration of Letty Lynton, which has not been seen in theatres or by any legal means in the nearly 100 years since the copyright ruling against it. This batshit Clarence Brown melodrama, brimming with sexual psychosis, surely must have gone a long way toward establishing the highly unique Joan Crawford sound-era screen persona. Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: GEORGIA (1995) [dir. Ulu Grosbard] 0h 30m 37s: BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA (1996) [dir. Angelica Huston] 0h 51m 30s: Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto – Clarence Brown's Letty Lynton (1932) at Revue Cinema (Designing the Movies) 0h 59m 43s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – Clarence Brown +++ * Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project [https://anchor.fm/criterionproject?utm_source=listennotes.com&utm_campaign=Listen+Notes&utm_medium=website] – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s [https://timetravel.libsyn.com/complete-viewing-schedule-the-2020s] * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/1926-USA-Archives-1926-10-15-Jean-Goldkette-Orch-v-Keller-Sisters-Sunday]) * Read Elise's piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again" [https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2020/02/18/gangs-of-new-york-2002/] * 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 [https://twitter.com/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!

Special Subject - Elise's Family Freak-Outs – Part 3 - LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (1962) and WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (1974)

Elise's final Family Freak-Out, as promised, is the peak of the climb: two emotional marathons totalling 316 minutes and featuring some of the finest acting in the history of American cinema, Sidney Lumet's adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962), starring Katharine Hepburn as Mary Tyrone, and John Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence (1974), starring Gena Rowlands as Mabel Longhetti. We examine these two films focused on what happens to the family when the mother, its centre, collapses, and ask what is at the heart of the North American family nightmare. Whatever it is, it's productive of some great drama, melodrama, and psychodrama, onscreen and off! Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (1962) [dir. Sidney Lumet] 0h 43m 53s: A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (1974) [dir. John Cassavetes] 1h 28m 34s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – Victor Fleming +++ * Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project [https://anchor.fm/criterionproject?utm_source=listennotes.com&utm_campaign=Listen+Notes&utm_medium=website] – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s [https://timetravel.libsyn.com/complete-viewing-schedule-the-2020s] * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/1926-USA-Archives-1926-10-15-Jean-Goldkette-Orch-v-Keller-Sisters-Sunday]) * Read Elise's piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again" [https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2020/02/18/gangs-of-new-york-2002/] * 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 [https://twitter.com/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!