It’s been a few weeks since this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival came to a close. It’s always bittersweet when the festival ends because this means that I’m left waiting for next year’s event. I equate it to post-Christmas malaise. But with a few weeks removed I’m able to see things differently than if I’d written this review in the immediate aftermath of it. This year’s festival had a lot to prove. If I had written a proper review of the 2023 festival it wouldn’t have been particularly complimentary, though that’s also because there was a lot going on behind the scenes at the network that we ..read more

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-uwsav-15f9570 This year’s TCM Classic Film Festival has come and gone but we’re bringing it back to you whether you were there or there in spirit. Introductions from North By Northwest, Gidget and Them! are included. Head over to our Patreon to hear more festival audio, including Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta talking Pulp Fiction, Jodie Foster and Steven Spielberg. This episode was created thanks to our Patrons: Ali Moore Amy Hart Danny David Floyd Donna Hill Gates Jacob Haller Jonathan Watkins Krista Painter McF Rachel Clark A Button Call ..read more

Considered one of the seminal science fiction films of the 1950s, I was fortunate to see Them! in the best way possible. Not only on a big screen with an introduction by sound experts Craig Barron and Ben Burtt during the TCM Classic Film Festival; with Them’s amazing child actress Sandy Descher included. I also saw it after reading Foster Hirsch’s remarkable book Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties, an engrossing exploration of the decade that saw Old Hollywood change forever and that lays out how Them! played on fears ranging from communism to feminism. All that from a movie about giant ..read more

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ac4u5-15df95c It’s TCM Classic Film Festival time once again and we’re back with a special bonus episode highlighting all our picks. Author Lara Gabrielle joins us as does Ava Gardner expert Lora Stocker to break down the questions we have about this year’s festival (what does “corporate daddy” Warner Bros. Discovery have in store?) and the movies we aren’t gonna miss. PROGRAMMING NOTE: In light of the festival, our next episode will actually debut on May 1st.  This episode was created thanks to our Patrons: Ali Moore Amy Hart Danny David Floyd Donna ..read more

i A I don’t know about you, but I worried this day wouldn’t come. After the layoffs Warner Bros. Discovery implemented last year that saw beloved TCM personalities without a job and culminated in several days of fear that the network would be destroyed forever, the fact that we’re celebrating its 30th anniversary is kind of a miracle. I’ve told this story countless times but TCM quite literally put me on the road to where I am today. The first movie I ever saw (complete with Robert Osborne intro) was the 1946 film The Spiral Staircase. I’m not sure why I stopped changing the channel as a waywa ..read more

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-u8jf2-15d381e It was a hard day’s night getting this episode together after our guest backed out last minute. Thankfully, Emily is back and we’re celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Beatles’ cinematic debut in A Hard Day’s Night. We talk about the Fab Four turned actors, the way this movie tried to sell a soundtrack, and far too many connections to Spice World. This episode was created thanks to our Patrons: Ali Moore Amy Hart Danny David Floyd Donna Hill Gates Jacob Haller Jonathan Watkins Krista Painter McF Rachel Clark A Button Called Smalls Chris ..read more

We were fortunate to interview TCM host Dave Karger about his new book, 50 Oscar Nights. Hear Dave discuss tracking down the 50 subjects he interviewed, Howard Ashman stories and more ..read more

I realized last year I didn’t actually list out my schedule on here (though we did do a Ticklish Business episode on our choices). But it was funny re-reading my 2022 choices and seeing how closely I stuck to it. Fun fact, I said in 2022 I’d never done a midnight and in 2023 I finally made it through one: the 1980 charmer Xanadu! This year’s festival has A LOT to live up to. It’s the 15th anniversary of the festival celebrating the 30th anniversary of the network and takes place just one year after the public outcry over the internal lay-offs at the network. I’m cautiously optimistic that WBD ..read more

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-x3nez-15bdea6 We’re celebrating the dueling centennials of Marlon Brando and Tennessee Williams with a look at their most enduring collaboration: 1951’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Historian and author Foster Hirsch joins us to break down the film’s complicated subject matter, Marlon Brando’s Method acting, the gender and class politics and everyone’s old friend, the Blacklist. Buy Foster’s book Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties here. This episode was created thanks to our Patrons: Ali Moore Amy Hart Danny David Floyd Donna Hill Gates Jacob Haller Jon ..read more

Anna May Wong is one of those performers that leaves me saying, how are there not a million biographies written about her? Yes, she’s had her fair share, but she isn’t in the realm of Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe where books about her are everywhere. It’s a shame because, as Katie Gee Salisbury lays out in her book Not Your China Doll, Anna May Wong lived a life of excitement and heartache, in equal measure. I went into this book knowing little about Anna May Wong other than her career was waylaid by the racism that, in some ways, still plagues Hollywood. Salisbury’s book positions Wong as ..read more