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There's Sometimes a Buggy

Elise Moore and Dave

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 their old favourites (mostly studio-era Hollywood) and their latest frontiers (courtesy of the TIFF Cinematheque and various Toronto rep houses and festivals).

The podcast will be comprised of several potentially never-ending series:

- Fear & Moviegoing in Toronto: Our Perspectives on Choice Local Retrospectives
- 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 of 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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Yesterday · 1 hr 13 min
Acteurist Spotlight – Danielle Darrieux – Part 2: RETOUR A L'AUBE (1938) and BATTEMENT DE COEUR (1940)
In the second part of our Danielle Darrieux Acteur Spotlight, the Darrieux-Decoin collaboration keeps on giving in Return at Dawn (1938), a tonally unique film that's a little like After Hours with a female protagonist, and Beating Heart (1940), a romantic comedy with a distinctly Hollywood feel about a pickpocket and an ambassador. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, we watched a new restoration of Vidor's The Crowd at the Revue cinema. We discuss that film's wild tonal shifts, and what it means to be a clown. Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: Introductory remarks on Henri Decoin and Danielle Derrieux 0h 08m 57s: RETOUR A L'AUBE (1938) [dir. Henri Decoin] 0h 40m 31s: BATTEMENT DE COEUR (1940) [dir. Henri Decoin] 1h 04m 22s: FEAR & MOVIEGOING IN TORONTO – King Vidor's The Crowd (1928) at The Revue Cinema (Silent Revue series) +++ Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – 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 of The 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!
October 16 · 1 hr
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Paramount – 1936: BIG BROWN EYES (dir. Raoul Walsh) and WEDDING PRESENT (dir. Richard Wallace)
This Paramount 1936 Studios Year by Year episode is a Joan Bennett and Cary Grant screwball double feature, Big Brown Eyes (directed by Raoul Walsh) and Wedding Present (directed by Richard Wallace). If the cool people used to say that Hepburn and Grant were a better pairing than Hepburn and Tracy, now they're saying that Grant and Bennett are an even better pairing than Grant and Hepburn. Or they should be, so let them know. Plus the Grant/William Demarest drunk scene in Wedding Present gives Grant and Jimmy Stewart's duet in The Philadelphia Story a run for its money. Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: 1936 & Paramount 0h 08m 38s: BIG BROWN EYES [dir. Raoul Walsh] 0h 29m 10s: WEDDING PRESENT [dir. Richard Wallace] 0h 53m 25s: So This is Sarris – From The American Cinema – Frank Tashlin +++ Studio Film Capsules provided by The Paramount Story by John Douglas Eames Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler 1936 Information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The 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!
October 9 · 1 hr 1 min
Acteurist Spotlight – Danielle Darrieux – Part 1: MAYERLING (1936) and ABUS DE CONFIANCE (1937)
We begin our Danielle Darrieux Acteur Spotlight with the movie that made her internationally famous, Anatole Litvak's gorgeously morbid romantic drama Mayerling (1936), co-starring Charles Boyer; and Abus de confiance (1938), our intriguing introduction to Darrieux's collaboration with director Henri Decoin, her husband at the time. From doomed lover to starving law student, the very young Darrieux is already being presented with meaty parts that demonstrate the force of her screen presence. Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: Very Brief Introduction to Danielle Darrieux 0h 02m 20s: MAYERLING (1936) [dir. Anatole Litvak] 0h 36m 47s: ABUS DE CONFIANCE (1937) [dir. Henri Decoin] 0h 54m 09s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – Luis Bunuel +++ Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – 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 of The 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!
October 2 · 1 hr 13 min
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Universal – 1935: LIFE RETURNS and MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION
This Universal 1935 Studios Year by Year episode features some very curious medical ambitions: first, there's Eugene Frenke's wacky Life Returns, loosely based on the true story of scientist Robert E. Cornish and his canine Lazari; an act that could only be followed by John Stahl's Magnificent Obsession, starring Robert Taylor as a genius physician who can only realize his potential by becoming the man he killed and curing the woman he blinded. We do our best to isolate what distinguishes Stahl's Obsession from Sirk's (besides the comedic stylings of Charles Butterworth, a.k.a. the inspiration for the voice of Cap'n Crunch). Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: 1935 & Universal 0h 05m 40s: LIFE RETURNS (1935) [dir. Eugene Frenke] 0h 33m 16s: MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1935) [dir. John M. Stahl] 1h 06m 16s: So This is Sarris – From The American Cinema -Robert Aldrich +++ Studio Film Capsules provided by The Universal 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 * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The 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!
September 25 · 52 min
Acteurist Spotlight – Sandra Dee – Part 3: PORTRAIT IN BLACK (1960) and ROMANOFF AND JULIET (1961)
Our final Sandra Dee episode for a while sees us battling out whether the inanities of the Ross Hunter melodrama Portrait in Black (1960), based on a play by the writing duo behind White Heat, are fun or just dumb, after which we turn to Peter Ustinov's Romanoff and Juliet (1961), the most curiously gentle satire of Cold War superpower misbehaviour it's possible to imagine. We do agree on one thing in this episode: there's not enough Sandra Dee. Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: PORTRAIT IN BLACK (1960) [dir. Michael Gordon] 0h 31m 29s: ROMANOFF & JULIET (1961) [dir. Peter Ustinov] 0h 47m 49s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – Delmer Daves +++ Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – 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 of The 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!
September 18 · 1 hr 11 min
Special Subject – Against Interpretation – LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (1961), 3 WOMEN (1977) and Susan Sontag's essay "Bergman's Persona"
For our September 2026 Special Subject we read Susan Sontag's essay "Bergman's Persona" and applied its ideas to Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad, mentioned in the essay, and Robert Altman's 3 Women, which owes a great deal to Persona. Following Sontag, we ask what it would mean to try to approach a narrative film without needing to know "what happens in the story" and what other modes of response are available for films that resist plot synopsis. And for those who are still trying to figure out the occult connection of Henry James to our podcast, there's lots of Sacred Fount talk (started by Sontag). But just like us with these movie plots, you will probably be no wiser. Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: Sontag on narrative complexity/opacity 0h 07m 21s: LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (1961) [dir. Alain Resnais] 0h 33m 18s: 3 WOMEN (1977) [dir. Robert Altman] 1h 06m 25s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – John Cromwell Susan Sontag's essay "Bergman's Persona: An Essay on Tragedy," published in Styles of Radical Will (1969) +++ Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – 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 of The 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!
September 11 · 56 min
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – RKO – 1935: ENCHANTED APRIL & IN PERSON
For this RKO 1935 episode, FOTP Ann Harding returns in Enchanted April (directed by Harry Beaumont), based on a novel by Elizabeth von Armin that Elise declares, based on the cinematic evidence, to be the missing link between Jane Austen and Jane Bowles. Then we turn to one of Dave's favourites, In Person (directed by William A. Seiter), a Ginger Rogers comedy that paired her with an unusually lively George Brent. We discuss the very unusual chemistry between their characters, a Hollywood actress in disguise and an outdoorsman who cures her agoraphobia in a curious way. Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: 1935 & RKO 0h 04m 33s: ENCHANTED APRIL (1935) [dir. Harry Beaumont] 0h 25m 40s: IN PERSON (1935) [dir. William A. Seiter] +++ 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 1935 Information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The 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!
September 4 · 1 hr 12 min
Acteurist Spotlight – Sandra Dee – Part 2: STRANGER IN MY ARMS (1959) and GIDGET (1959)
For our second Sandra Dee episode we watched two films from 1959 (March 1959, to be exact): the Ross Hunter family melodrama A Stranger in My Arms (directed by Helmut Käutner), from a novel by the author of Written on the Wind, and the infamous Gidget (directed by Paul Wendkos), based on Frederick Kohner's novel about his daughter. We do our best to reconstruct the movie Stranger could have been while marveling at Dee's exhausting performance of a neurotic rich girl, and then turn our flabbergasted attention to Gidget, a movie with much more on its mind (particularly concerning gender roles and alienation) than we could ever have imagined based on its reputation. And in our So This Is Sarris section we get sensitive about Sam Fuller's visual forms. Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: STRANGER IN MY ARMS (1959) [dir. Helmut Kautner] 0h 20m 54s: GIDGET (1959) [dir. Paul Wendkos] 1h 00m 32s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – Samuel Fuller +++ Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – 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 of The 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!
August 28 · 1 hr 2 min
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Fox Film Corporation/20th Century Fox – 1935: THE GAY DECEPTION and THE MAN WHO BROKE THE BANK AT MONTE CARLO
In this 1935 20th Century-Fox Studios Year by Year episode, Friend of the Pod William Wyler, in his only appearance at Fox during the studio era, hits it out of the park again with The Gay Deception. This is one of two comedy masterpieces by Wyler in 1935, both woefully neglected, although this one foreshadows his one well-known comedy, Roman Holiday, in certain of its plot elements. But it's recognizably a 1930s screwball comedy, albeit with Francis Lederer as the madcap heiress (or prince) driving Frances Dee screwy. And we also watched The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (directed by Stephen Roberts), which is a very good use of Ronald Colman and also features Joan Bennett, which is no cause to complain. Finally, in our So This Is a Sentence? segment, Andrew Sarris enlightens us about lechery, longing, sophistication, sexual humour, and malice in the movies of Lowell Sherman. Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: 1935 & Fox 0h 05m 52s: THE GAY DECEPTION [dir. William Wyler] 0h 44m 26s: HE MAN WHO BROKE THE BANK AT MONTE CARLO [dir. Stephen Roberts] 0h 58m 55s: So This is Sarris (from Andrew Sarris' The American Cinema) – Lowell Sherman +++ Studio Film Capsules provided by The Films of 20th Century Fox (Aubrey Solomon and Tony Thomas) and The Fox Film Corporation, 1915-1935: A History and Filmography (Aubrey Solomon) 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 * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive) * Read Elise's latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating.
August 21 · 1 hr 4 min
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… * Acteur/Auteur Special Subject– Max Ophuls & Edwige Feuillère – SANS LENDEMAIN (1939) & DE MAYERLING A SARAJEVO (1940) Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – 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 of The 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!
August 14 · 56 min
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 – 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 of The 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!
August 7 · 1 hr 13 min
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 * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The 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!
July 31 · 1 hr 3 min
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 – 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 of The 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!
July 24 · 1 hr 36 min
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 – 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 of The 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!
July 17 · 1 hr 14 min
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – MGM – 1935: BIOGRAPHY OF A BACHELOR GIRL & THE FLAME WITHIN
For this MGM 1935 Studios Year by Year episode we again explored the screen persona of forgotten star Ann Harding in a double feature, Biography of a Bachelor Girl (directed by Edward H. Griffith) and The Flame Within (produced, written, and directed by Edmund Goulding). We discuss the changes from S.N. Behrman's 1932 play Biography and how well its liberal political message survives them and then turn to making the auteur case for Edmund Goulding, while remaining riveted by Harding's liberated but dignified persona, whether she's playing a psychiatrist caught up in counter-transference or a broad-minded portraitist who's become infatuated with a Communist. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto we discuss Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own (1992) and the meaning of Geena Davis' enigmatic central performance. Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: 1935 & MGM 0h 06m 00s: BIOGRAPHY OF A BACHELOR GIRL (1935) [dir. Edward H. Griffith] 0h 32m 30s: THE FLAME WITHIN (1935) [dir. Edmund Goulding] 0h 59m 07s: Fear & Moviegoing in Toronto – Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own (1992) at the Carlton Cinema 0h 00m 00s: So This is Sarris (from Andrew Sarris' The American Cinema) - Frank Capra Studio Film Capsules provided by The MGM Story by John Douglas Eames 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 * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The 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!
July 10 · 1 hr 25 min
Acteurist Spotlight – Jennifer Jason Leigh – Part 2: SHORT CUTS (1993) and MRS. PARKER & THE VICIOUS CIRCLE (1994)
For Part 2 of our Acteur Spotlight on Jennifer Jason Leigh we watched Robert Altman's cinematic embodiment of the Raymond Carver universe, Short Cuts (1993), and one of Dave's all-time faves, Altman collaborator Alan Rudolph's portrait of Dorothy Parker, her loves, and her milieu, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994). We grapple with exactly why Altman wants us to spend so much time with these "automaton" characters what kind of stakes are behind the dissociative, self-destructive behaviours, and compare Leigh's sex worker to Isabelle Huppert's in Chabrol's Une affaire de femmes, then turn to pondering why the darkest and most "saintly" comedic spirits of the Algonquin Round Table were drawn to each other, at least according to the lore of Rudolph's film. Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: SHORT CUTS (1993) [dir. Robert Altman] 0h 45m 49s: MRS. PARKER & THE VICIOUS CIRCLE (1994) [dir. Alan Rudolph] 1h 20m 05s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – John Brahm +++ * Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – 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 of The 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!
July 3 · 59 min
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Paramount – 1935: THE PRESIDENT VANISHES and THE GLASS KEY
For this round of Paramount 1935 we watched William A. Wellman's The President Vanishes, based on the pacifist anti-fascist novel by Rex Stout, and the first film version of Dashiell Hammett's The Glass Key, directed by Frank Tuttle and starring George Raft as the devoted and unlucky friend of a criminal political boss. Elise is startled by Raft's liveliness (even as he spends a good stretch of the movie half-dead) and Dave avidly discusses two of his favourite topics, 20th century American politics and Dashiell Hammett (together and separately). A brisk round of So This Is Sarris provides a satisfying conclusion to the proceedings. Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: 1935 & Paramount 0h 09m 50s: THE PRESIDENT VANISHES (1934) [William A. Wellman] 0h 36m 53s: THE GLASS KEY (1935) [dir. Frank Tuttle] 0h 55m 12s: So This Is Sarris (The American Cinema by Andrew Sarris) – Edgar G. Ulmer Studio Film Capsules provided by The Paramount Story by John Douglas Eames 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 * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The 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!
June 28 · 1 hr 22 min
* Corrected - Acteurist Spotlight – Jennifer Jason Leigh – Part 1: FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH (1982) and FLESH + BLOOD (1985) -
For the first episode of our Acteurist Spotlight on Jennifer Jason Leigh, we watched Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and Paul Verhoeven's Flesh + Blood (1985). We explore the possibility of Heckerling's portrait of a young woman's existential journey through the good, the bad, and the ugly of sexual discovery influencing an early draft of the Verhoeven heroine, and the young JJL's unique combination of vulnerability and poise. Then we turn to an extra-long Fear and Moviegoing dealing with a 10-movie retrospective of radical leftist independent filmmaker John Sayles' career at the TIFF Lightbox Cinematheque, attended by Sayles and his producer/ life partner, Maggie Renzi. Time Codes: 0h 00m 20s: Very brief intro to Jennifer Jason Leigh 0h 03m 46s: FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH (1982) [dir. Amy Heckerling] 0h 30m 11s: FLESH + BLOOD (1986) [dir. Paul Verhoeven] 1h 02m 05s: Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto – Declarations of Independence: The Cinema of John Sayles at TIFF Lightbox. Programmed and hosted by Adam Nayman. John Sayles' Return of the Secaucus Seven (1979), Baby It's You (1983), The Brother From Another Planet (1984), Matewan (1987), City of Hope (1991), Lone Star (1996), Men With Guns (1997), Silver City (2004). Also: The Howling (1981), directed by Joe Dante and scripted by Sayles and Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), directed by Jimmy T. Murakami and scripted by Sayles. +++ * Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – 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 of The 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!
June 19 · 1 hr 9 min
Special Subject – Wong Kar-wai's 2046 and its Informal Antecedents - DAYS OF BEING WILD (1990); IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (2000) and 2046 (2004)
Our Special Subject for June is Wong Kar-wai's so-called "Love Trilogy": Days of Being Wild (1990), In the Mood for Love (2000), and 2046 (2004). Our discussion walks a tightrope of abstraction as we consider the philosophical implications of Wong's treatment of the theme of love: whether it can be consummated and how time, secrets, androids, and epistemology are involved. Proust, Tarkovsky, and of course FOTP Henry James get their due mentions. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: DAYS OF BEING WILD (1990) [dir. Wong Kar Wai] 0h 29m 47s: IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (2000) [dir. Wong Kar Wai] 0h 46m 55s: 2046 (2004) [dir. Wong Kar Wai] 1h 05m 06s: So This Is Sarris (The American Cinema by Andrew Sarris) – Garson Kanin +++ * Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – 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 of The 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!
June 12 · 57 min
Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Universal – 1934: THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW & THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD
In this Universal 1934 Studios Year by Year episode, we discuss the original There's Always Tomorrow, starring Frank Morgan and Binnie Barnes (remade by Douglas Sirk in the 50s with Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck) and the bizarre Claude Rains vehicle The Man Who Reclaimed His Head. The middle-class American nuclear families of the 30s and 50s curiously converge, and future Hollywood Ten screenwriter Samuel Ornitz tries to reclaim his mind from the studio heads (or so we irresponsibly conjecture). And in Fear and Moviegoing, we briefly discuss Bitter Rice, a feminist/Marxist/crime/erotic/neorealist melodrama directed by Giuseppe De Santis. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: 1934 & Universal 0h 03m 19s: THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW [dir. Edward A. Sloman] 0h 27m 01s: THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD [dir. Edward Ludwig] 0h 41 m 35s: FEAR AND MOVIEGOING IN TORONTO – Bitter Rice (1949) by Giuseppe DeSantis at TIFF Lightbox 0h 47m 03s: So This Is Sarris (The American Cinema by Andrew Sarris) – Mitchell Leisen Studio Film Capsules provided by The Universal Story by Clive Hirschhorn Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler 1934 Information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer +++ * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The 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!

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