Our second Diana Wynyard Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode brought two real oddball pre-Codes to our attention: Men Must Fight (1933), a hardcore pacifist film that predicts the upcoming world war in certain ways, in which Wynyard more or less reprises her Cavalcade role; and Reunion in Vienna (1933), based on a Robert E. Sherwood play, which could have been the first screwball comedy if Wynyard and John Barrymore had been playing Americans (but then, the movie's entire premise—the psychosexual allure of authoritarianism—would be removed). We make the probably indefensible case (more like an irresponsible opinion) that the latter handles a naughty love triangle in a more interesting way than Lubitsch's Design For Living from the same year. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, we watch a 65th anniversary screening of Sleeping Beauty, the most visually radical animated Disney film, and discuss whether it lives up to our childhood memories.

Time Codes:

0h 00m 25s: Men Must Fight [dir. Edgar Selwyn]

0h 23m 48s: Reunion in Vienna [dir. Sidney Franklin]

0h 45m 10s: Fear & Moviegoing in Toronto – Sleeping Beauty (1959) by Clyde Geronimi

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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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Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com

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Our first round of Studios Year by Year comes to an end with these Universal 1948 movies: A Woman's Vengeance (directed by Zoltan Korda with a screenplay by Aldous Huxley, based on his short story "The Gioconda Smile") and Larceny (directed by George Sherman). Huxley's philosophical concerns add unexpected dimensions to familiar Gothic tropes and gives great material to Charles Boyer and Ann Blyth, while Cedric Hardwicke deals with Jessica Tandy. In the second half of our double bill, John Payne's con man tries his best to deal with Shelley Winters in honey badger mode (he's the honey and the bees).

Time Codes:

0h 00m 25s: A WOMAN’S VENGEANCE [dir. Zoltan Korda]

0h 29m 24s: LARCENY [dir. George Sherman]

Studio Film Capsules provided by The Universal Story by Clive Hirschhorn

Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler

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* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the next two decades

* 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!

Our 2024 Christmas episode is devoted to all 312 minutes of Ingmar Bergman's late masterpiece Fanny and Alexander (1982); a phantasmagorical smorgasbord of genres and summary of the writer-director's obsessions. We explore the film's Keatsian and Kierkegaardian implications, its relationship to the Modernist moment, and its oneiric inquiry into the nature of reality... among the many other topics raised by this dramatically and conceptually rich movie. We hope the holiday season gives you many opportunities to eat, think, and be merry!

Time Codes:

0h 00m 25s: FANNY & ALEXANDER (1982) [dir. Ingmar Bergman]

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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

We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!