Another Kind Of Distance: A Time Travel, Twin Peaks, Film, Doom Patrol And Nostalgia Podcast

Our first Universal 1930 episode veers from racial insanity, courtesy of John Murray Anderson's two-strip Technicolor musical KING OF JAZZ (spoiler: the King is a White Man), to grisly Christian sentimentality, via William Wyler's HELL'S HEROES (aka Several Corpses and a Baby), which also makes this an accidental Christmas episode. If that's not enough, we also bring Big Discussion of Scorsese and Akerman! Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s:          King of Jazz (dir. John Murray Anderson) 0h 30m 42s:          Hell’s Heroes (dir. William Wyler)                     1h 00m 39s:          Fall Cinemagoing Update – Akerman (Portrait d’une jeune fille de la fin des années 60 à Bruxelles) and Scorsese (Who’s That Knocking at My Door & Boxcar Bertha)  +++ * Check out our Complete Upcoming Episode Schedule * Find Elise’s latest published film piece – “Elaine May’s Male Gaze” – in the Elaine May issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room* *And Read Elise’s Writing at Bright Wall/Dark Room, Cléo, and Bright Lights.* Follow us on Twitter

We have a conversion experience with DUEL IN THE SUN (King Vidor, 1946) and return to PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (William Dieterle, 1948). Are these the two definitive Jennifer Jones movies? The best movies she made? The best movies that Selznick produced? We consider these questions as we continue to ponder the unfolding of Jones's persona. We also set up our Scorsese Corner and begin our floating discussion of the current TIFF retrospective with our first-impression reading of THE IRISHMAN. Elise opines that the lead actors look neither the right age nor even particularly human, but both agree that Pacino, especially, is marvellous. But does Scorsese go down too easy to be a major filmmaker? Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s:          Duel in the Sun (dir. King Vidor et al) 0h 49m 43s:          Portrait of Jennie (dir. William Dieterle)                           1h 30m 20s:          Fall Cinemagoing Update: Chantal Akerman continues and The Irishman (2019) +++ * Find Elise’s latest published film piece – “Elaine May’s Male Ga

We look at the first three films of Li Yu, FISH AND ELEPHANT (2001), DAM STREET (2005), and LOST IN BEIJING (2007), the latter seen by us at the TIFF Cinematheque retrospective Seeing the Unseen: Re-Encountering Chinese Cinema, which focused on films by Sixth Generation directors that had trouble with government censorship in China. It's not difficult to see how the Verhoeven-meets-Renoir-esque LOST IN BEIJING got into this category. Trigger warnings for extensive discussion of violence against women and fish. We also touch on some of our other favourites from the retrospective, such as Jia Zhangke's A TOUCH OF SIN and Joan Chen's XIU XIU: THE SENT-DOWN GIRL.   Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s:          Brief overview of the retrospective – Seeing the Unseen: Re-                                           Encountering Chinese Cinema (October 2019) 0h 29m 58s:          Fish and Elephant 0h 45m 06s:          Dam Street 1h 04m 49s:          Lost in Beijing 1h 28m 01s:          Scorsese v. Marvel 1h 41m 22s:          Fall C

This week sees Elise fully convert to the studi-auteur theory, thanks to two more-or-less randomly chosen RKO features from 1930 by a couple of Georges, MIDNIGHT MYSTERY (B. Seitz, later of Andy Hardy movie fame) and THE SILVER HORDE (Archainbaud, who went on to direct the other Some Like It Hot... with Bob Hope), which illustrates the expanded romantic plot possibilities of the Pre-Code era. Also some discussion of Jean Arthur's struggle, in an early appearance, to portray a supercilious socialite. It's super silly! And the reappearance of our Correspondent from Reality, Todd Murry. Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s:          Midnight Mystery (dir. George B. Seitz) 0h 42m 22s:          The Silver Horde (dir. George Archainbaud)                  1h 11m 10s:          Fall Cinemagoing Update – Chantal Akerman & The Paradise Theatre 1h 16m 19s:          Listener mail with  Todd Murry +++ * Check out our Complete Upcoming Episode Schedule * Find Elise’s latest published film piece – “Elaine May’s Male Gaze” – in the El

Our first Halloween special looks at a monster for whom familiarity has bred unjustified contempt. Looking at Tod Browning's 1931 DRACULA and Francis Ford Coppola's misleadingly-titled BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA from 1992, we discuss the Cursed Count as a romantic and a sympathetic figure; the two films' departures from Bram Stoker's novel; xenophobia and monstrousness; their very different takes on Van Helsing; their problematic fascination with female sexuality; and Dwight Frye's unforgettable Renfield. And as a Bonus: our brief takes on two Halloween art movies we saw at rep theatres this season, James Whale's THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and Charles Laughton's NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. We conclude that the universe posited in all four films is godless at best, or, at worst, illustrates Calvin's thesis that God hates us, every one. Spoilers! Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s:          Dracula (dir. Tod Browning) 0h 36m 32s:          Bram Stoker’s Dracula (dir. Francis Ford Coppola)                      1h 07m 23s:          Fall C

We declare the year 1930 CANCELLED prior to discussing John Ford's UP THE RIVER & Frank Borzage's LILIOM (little known today - but based on the same source as the musical CAROUSEL). We consider the different (maybe opposite) ways in which these Fox movies portray sympathy for the victims of class society without criticizing the system, in contrast to a Warner Bros.-style treatment of similar material.  Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s:          Up the River (dir. John Ford) 0h 39m 16s:          Liliom (dir. Frank Borzage)                 1h 15m 23s:          Fall Cinemagoing Update - Li Yu and TIFF’s "Seeing the Unseen"  +++ * Find Elise’s latest published film piece – “Elaine May’s Male Gaze” – in the Elaine May issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room* *And Read Elise’s Writing at Bright Wall/Dark Room, Cléo, and Bright Lights.* Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com Theme Music: “What’s Yr Take on Cassavetes?” – Le Tigre

In our second Jennifer Jones episode, we defend William Dieterle's LOVE LETTERS (1945), putting it in the context of 40s psychiatric melodramas and WWII amnesia movies, and consider the good and bad of what Ernst Lubitsch's CLUNY BROWN (1946) has to say about female sexuality and English complacency.   Time Codes: 0h 1m 00s:            Love Letters (dir. William Dieterle) 1h 00m 28s:          Cluny Brown (dir. Ernst Lubitsch)                     1h 31m 37s:          Fall Cinemagoing Update 1h 33m 28s:           Listener Mail with Evan Dokos and Todd Murry +++ * Find Elise’s latest published film piece – “Elaine May’s Male Gaze” – in the Elaine May issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room* *And Read Elise’s Writing at Bright Wall/Dark Room, Cléo, and Bright Lights.* Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com Theme Music: “What’s Yr Take on Cassavetes?” – Le Tigre

In our first 1930 Warner Bros. episode, we consider DAWN PATROL as an early example of cahier hero ‘Auward ‘Awks's philosophy of masculinity, and note the emergence of the Warners ethos in Mervyn Leroy's PLAYING AROUND, including consciousness of class, sympathy for criminals, vaudeville Yiddish characters, and a touch of patriarchal anxiety.   Time Codes: 0h 1m 00s:       The Dawn Patrol (dir. Howard Hawks) 0h 39m 19s:     Playing Around (dir. Mervyn Leroy)      1h 16m 29s:     Fall Cinemagoing Update – Euzhan Palcy 1h 23m 06s:     Listener Mail with Todd Murry +++ * Find Elise’s latest published film piece – “Elaine May’s Male Gaze” – in the Elaine May issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room* *And Read Elise’s Writing at Bright Wall/Dark Room, Cléo, and Bright Lights.* Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com Theme Music: “What’s Yr Take on Cassavetes?” – Le Tigre

“Autumn is the most bourgeois month,” as Keats said. Elise and Dave prove this is so by exploring Nora Ephron's two autumnal Upper West Side romantic comedies, WHEN HARRY MET (1989) and YOU'VE GOT MAIL (1998), a remake of Ernst Lubitsch's THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER. Elise passes judgment on the two latter movies on the basis of her extensive experience of working in retail and intimate knowledge of the Bookstore Wars of the turn of the millennium. Dave defends Bernie Bros. Time Codes: 0h 1m 00s:       Topic Intro & When Harry Met Sally (dir. Rob Reiner)  0h 32m 05s:     You’ve Got Mail (dir. Nora Ephron) & The Shop Around the Corner (dir.                              Ernst Lubitsch)          1h 45m 45s:     TIFF Autumn Schedule unboxing 1h 59m 51s:     Listener Mail with Todd Murry +++ * Find Elise’s latest published film piece – “Elaine May’s Male Gaze” – in the Elaine May issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room* *And Read Elise’s Writing at Bright Wall/Dark Room, Cléo, and Bright Lights.* Follow us on Twitte

In the first MGM episode of our Studios Year by Year series, the year is 1930, and Elise and Dave watch as the straggler studio struggles with the challenges of early sound in THE BISHOP MURDER CASE, starring Basil Rathbone as Philo Vance, with two credited directors (Elise posits a third, unknown genius). Then we switch over to a Marion Davies comedy, NOT SO DUMB, directed by King Vidor, Dave's favourite director for many reasons that he enumerates in the episode, none of them relevant to this movie. We conclude that Lynn Fontanne stage vehicles are not the forte of either Vidor or Davies; however, Donald Ogden Stewart is on hand to provide handsy amusement. “Guess who!” “It was you!” Too bad that's not the movie's most problematic moment (trigger warning—our first—included in segment). Also: some reflections on the sadism of comedy and the role of the “other man” in film comedy.   Time Codes: 0h 1m 00s:       The Bishop Murder Case (dirs. Nick Grindé & David Burton) 0h 52m 59s:     Not So Dumb (dir. Kin

Join Dave and Elise for episode one of our (near-)complete filmography series on the great Jennifer Jones (née Phylis Isley). We provide a few preliminary thoughts re: our take on the Jones/Selznick synergy and then dive right into the films. Song of Bernadette kicks things off with quite a blessed bang, situating our star at the conceptual vanishing point between the instinctual and the ineffable; while the following year’s Since You Went Away dabbles with domesticating the Jones persona (as a nod to the war effort, y’know), for the first and perhaps the only time.       Time Codes: 0h 1m 00s:       Introduction to Jennifer Jones 0h 16m 15s:     Song of Bernadette (1943) dir. Henry King 1h 21m 37s:     Since You Went Away (1944) dir. John Cromwell 2h 19m 38s:     Listener Mail with Todd Murry +++ * Find Elise’s latest published film piece – “Elaine May’s Male Gaze” – in the Elaine May issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room* *And Read Elise’s Writing at Bright Wall/Dark Room, Cléo, and Bright Lights.* Follow us on Tw

Elise and Dave launch their extended excursion into oligarchic auteurism with a pair of films from the studio whose special touch may very well have been its hands-off approach to directorial oversight. Certainly Behind the Make-Up (aka The Feeder) makes a very interesting companion piece to Dorothy Arzner’s later masterpiece Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) – a film discussed on this very feed earlier in 2019. It stars William Powell, Kay Francis, Fay Wray, and Hal Skelly, none of whom would wind up becoming intimately associated with Paramount (although an argument could be made for Francis). Then we turn our attention to that great cinematic marvel of the early sound era – the picture that proved talkies could move! In fact, filmed out of Paramount’s Astoria Queens facility, Applause rambles magnificently all over pre-Chrysler Building and Empire State Building Manhattan. It’s also damned moving, with a performance from Helen Morgan that’ll leave you wondering why any of us were born.   Time Codes: 0h 1m 00s:    

Dave and Elise close out their discussion of the Dietrich/Sternberg septet with three films that examine three distinct paths (and aftermaths) to victory for the Dietrich persona. From superhero weepie to Henry James inflected Game of Thronery to a kind of class-conscious Carmen– this one’s got it all! Time Codes: 0h 1m 00s:       Blonde Venus 0h 33m 00s:     The Scarlet Empress 1h 09m 52s:     The Devil is a Woman 1h 42m 54s:     Elise and Dave rank the 7 films 1h 52m 01s:    Listener Mail with Todd Murry +++ *Read Elise’s Writing at Bright Wall/Dark Room, Cléo, and Bright Lights.* Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com Theme Music: “What’s Yr Take on Cassavetes?” – Le Tigre

Welcome to the first installment of Fear & Moviegoing in Toronto! This time out, it’s part one of our mammoth conversation covering Marlene Dietrich and Josef von Sternberg’s inspired 1930s collaborations. We saw the films as part of The TIFF Lightbox’s recently concluded retrospective, Insolent Enigma/Arrogant Auteur.  Join us as we feel our way toward a critical counternarrative to the anemic analyses which have plagued the skin-deep celebration of this cinematic septet for too long. (Much of our discussion takes place in dialogue with Andrew Sarris’ 1960s monograph The Films of Josef von Sternberg.)     Time Codes: 0h 1m 00s:       Preamble 0h 22m 27s:     The Blue Angel 0h 46m 00s:     Morocco 1h 15m 43s:     Dishonored 1h 48m 30s:     Shanghai Express 2h 11m 23s:    Listener Mail with Todd Murry +++ *Read Elise’s Writing at Bright Wall/Dark Room, Cléo, and Bright Lights.* Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com Theme Music: “What’s Yr Take on Cassavetes?” – Le Tigre

This week’s episode serves as both a prolegomenon to our imminent Hollywood Studios Year By Year series and as a wistful look back to Dave’s teen years, when he picked up Ethan Mordden’s freewheeling speed date with Old Hollywood History and discovered a new way to split the difference between Adornian culture industry theory and auteurist ontology. Journey back to a time when oligopoly really meant something and most entertainment companies weren’t somehow beholden to Disney. We quote from and quibble with Mordden’s characterizations of the quintessential qualities of Paramount, MGM, Warner Brothers, Fox, RKO, and Universal (Dave gets particularly riled up about yet another slight to the sacred memory of Carl Laemmle Jr.). What’s your favourite Golden Age Studio? We want to know! Time Codes: 0h 1m 00s:   The Hollywood Studios 2h 15m 43s    Listener Mail with Todd Murry +++ *Read Elise’s Writing at Bright Wall/Dark Room, Cléo, and Bright Lights.* Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy Write to us at therebuggy@g

Welcome to our brand-new movie podcast! In this episode, Elise Moore and David Fiore ramble on about their respective lives cinematic and present impressionistic lists of their characteristic enthusiasms. Last, but not least, we sketch out the shape of ‘casts to come. Among the topics covered here:  our not being a David Lynch podcast, RCA Videodiscs, Canadians watching New England PBS stations, Xanadu, The Lady in the Lake, reading about movies you fear you’ll never see, The Strawberry Blonde, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, Bette Davis in general, Stanley Cavell, Ray Carney, Jonathan Rosenbaum, and the great Jerry Lewis. Time Codes: 0h 1m 00s:   Dave and Elise’s Nitrate Nativities 1h 16m 33s: 4 Impressionistic lists 1h 57m 35s: Coming attractions   *Read Elise’s Writing at Bright Wall/Dark Room, Cléo, and Bright Lights.* Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com Theme Music: “What’s Yr Take on Cassavetes?” – Le Tigre

In the second half of our Dorothy Arzner marathon, we cover the remaining entries in the recent TIFF retrospective (Christopher Strong, Merrily We Go To Hell, and Dance, Girl, Dance), along with a pair of items we scrounged up on our own (Nana and Craig’s Wife). Dance, Girl, Dance is justifiably considered the director’s summative work, gathering all of Arzner’s countervailing preoccupations and themes into its sui generis structure like a bull in the narrative shop. The other four films form quite an interesting group, collectively emphasizing a more fatalistic side to the auteur only hinted at in the darker moments of The Bride Wore Red.    Also: this is Dave's first chance to wax rhapsodic about the great Helen Chandler (who got her last decent film role in Christopher Strong).  Arzner Gratia Artis!

Inspired by TIFF Lightbox's Winter 2019 Dorothy Arzner retrospective, Elise and Dave dive into a lengthy discussion of this absurdly neglected auteur's career and context. On leg one of the journey, we examine WORKING GIRLS (1931), THE WILD PARTY (1929) and THE BRIDE WORE RED (1937), zeroing in on the director's penchant for dichotomously paired protagonists (Judith Wood/Dorothy Hall; Clara Bow/Shirley O'Hara; Joan Crawford/Joan Crawford - with MVP kibitzing from Mary Phillips), her unflinching analysis of patriarchal gender codes, and her Transcendental poetics of the Will-To-Efflorescence.

Happy holidays from Elise and Dave! This year's X-Mas offering was inspired by Elise's new piece in The Threepenny Review and by Dave's lifelong obsession with New England Transcendentalism.  See you in 2019!

Join Elise Moore and David Fiore as they gear up for David Lynch's imminent return to the Pacific Northwest with an extended discussion of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. We'll be covering every episode of the show's much-anticipated third season, and we're more excited than ever after our most recent viewing of the director's divisive prequel/coda. Powered by Sheryl Lee's galvanizing performance, Lynch's first "Woman In Trouble" masterpiece emerged from the ashes of the TV show's rather confused (to put it charitably) second season. This Passion of Laura Palmer is a centrifuge which separates all of the most potently Manichean elements out of the folksy flannel Brigadoon Lynch and Frost had created for the network - generating some of the most soaring and soul-shatteringly debilitating moments ever filmed. We worry that Season 3 may walk back FWWM's extraordinary final shots of Laura, Coop and the Angel; talk a lot about Victor Fleming's hyper-Freudian 1941 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; and bear witness