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

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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!

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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

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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

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* 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.

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

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* 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!