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!

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Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com

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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

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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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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

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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

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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.

* 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

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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

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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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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

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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!

Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy

Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com

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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

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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.

* 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!