Watching Classic Movies

My guest is Kristina Dijan, writer of the longtime blog Speakeasy and a senior writer at the Dark Pages film noir newsletter. Kristina and I met at the TCM Classic Film Festival over a decade ago, where we quickly discovered a shared lovefor cult and genre films. In the years since we have shared hundreds of film suggestions with each other. This episode we decided to put down our phones and discuss our favorite underseen Giallos face-to-face.   We had so many ideas for follow-up episodes, that Kristina suggested we start our own podcast, where we could share ourconversation with fans of cult and genre films. Get ready for Psychotronic Sisters coming soon wherever you subscribe to podcasts. Stay tuned at the end of the show to learn more!   More about Kristina: https://hqofk.wordpress.com/ https://www.allthatnoir.com/newsletter/    Films Discussed: Short Night of Glass Dolls (1971) Possessed (1965) The Strangler (1970) In The Eye of the Hurricane/Fox with a Velvet Tail (1971) Queens of Evil (1970) Blazing Magnum/Shadows in an Empty Room (1976) The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972)

My guest is Caroline Young, author of Single & Psycho: How Pop Culture Created the Unstable Single Woman. We talked about the many ways unmarried women are represented in movies and television and how they are often vilified. From Fatal Attraction and its fascinating inspiration Diversion to Gone Girl and the singletons of Bridget Jones and Sex and the City, we covered a lot of ground.   More about Caroline:   Instagram https://www.instagram.com/carolinejillyoung/ [https://www.instagram.com/carolinejillyoung/]   Official Site www.carolinejyoung.com   Titles discussed: Diversion (1979) Fatal Attraction (1987) Thelma and Louise (1991) Basic Instinct (1992) The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) Sex and the City (TV, 1998) Obsession (2023) Fatal Attraction (TV, 2023) The Girl on the Train (2016) Gone Girl (2014) Promising Young Woman (2020) The Boy Next Door (2015) The Real Fatal Attraction (2025) Baby Reindeer (2024)

Though he has appeared in over two hundred films and television shows for generations of fans, Cesar Romero will always be theJoker. While his series of guest appearances in the 1960s Batman show is undeniably memorable, there’s a lot more to both Romero the man and the actor. My guest is SamuelGarza Bernstein, author of Cesar Romero: The Joker Is Wild. We discussed themost fascinating performances of this elegant, underrated talent who always maintainedthe heights of his stardom and lived life to the fullest with remarkable kindness and positivity.   More about Samuel: https://samuelgarzabernstein.com/SAM-Work.html https://www.instagram.com/starringsamuelgarzabernstein/ [https://www.instagram.com/starringsamuelgarzabernstein/]   Samuel’s Recommendations: Deep Waters (1948) Oceans Eleven (1966) The Little Princess (1939) Wee Willie Winkie (1937)   Other Films Discussed: The Devil is a Woman (1935) Two on a Guillotine (1965) Batman (1966) The Haunted Mouth (1977) Latitude Zero (1969) The Timber Tramps (1973) Simple Justice (1989) Midas Run (1969)

One of the best decisions I ever made was to attend the TCM Classic Film Festival and I’ve done that for several years. There are thousandsof movie fans who feel the same way. This one-of-a-kind event is as much about the community it draws as it is its films, panels, guests, and welcoming TCM hosts. I have spent many hours at the festival with my guests Aurora Bugallo,who writes the Once Upon A Screen blog  and who is active on social media as CitizenScreen and Karen Burroughs Hannsberry who writes the Shadows and Satin blog, iseditor of the bi-monthly film noir publication the Dark Pages Newsletter and is author of Femme Noir: Bad Girls of Film and Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. We had a lot of laughs and even got a bit emotional reminiscing about the manyways our days together in Hollywood were memorable, heartwarming, and even lifechanging. More about Aurora: https://citizenscreen.tumblr.com/ [https://citizenscreen.tumblr.com/] https://www.instagram.com/citizenscreen [https://www.instagram.com/citizenscreen] https://aurorasginjoint.com/ [https://aurorasginjoint.com/](Once Upon a Screen)    More about Karen: https://shadowsandsatin.wordpress.com/ [https://shadowsandsatin.wordpress.com/] https://www.allthatnoir.com/ [https://www.allthatnoir.com/]     Maureen O’Hara at TCMFF 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b30uO1dHjo&list=PLA2C9D52AB7280FC5&index=15

My guest is Christopher S. Connelly, author of Helen Morgan: The Original Torch Singer and Ziegfeld’s Last Star. Morgan was a hugely popular singer and actress who set the template for musical theater performance style. We talked about Morgan’s big heart, her deeply emotional connection with audiences, and how her approach to life was more Auntie Mame than as the downtrodden songstress she has been typically rumored to be.   Learn more about the book and where to buy it here: https://www.kentuckypress.com/9781985900592/helen-morgan/   The show is available on— Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, PocketCasts, Google, and Radio Public   Like the podcast? Subscriptions are as low as 99 cents a month: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/k-cruver/support   You can also support my work on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/watchingclassicmovies