This week's 1933 Fox Film Studios Year by Year episode paradoxically digs into the Hollywood beginnings of a couple of Paramount powerhouses via William Dieterle's Adorable, a musical based on a German operetta co-written by Billy Wilder (who'd be writing for Fox directly by 1934), and William K. Howard's The Power and the Glory, with an innovative screenplay by Hollywood newcomer Preston Sturges. Important early 30s Fox stars Janet Gaynor (permitted to play against type as a saucy princess who wants to play with the plebs) and Spencer Tracy (as a self-made - with a little help from his wife - tycoon) supply the charisma for the respective proceedings. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, the TIFF Lightbox Naruse retrospective continues with Hideko the Bus Conductress, The Whole Family Works, and Sudden Rain (starring Setsuko Hara), and we see a new restoration of Erich von Stroheim's famously unfinished, visually lavish, absolutely unhinged censor-baiting silent melodrama Queen Kelly. Join us as we bat the ball around – but try to keep your knickers on!

Time Codes:

0h 00m 25s: 1933 and Fox

0h 06m 00s: ADORABLE (1933) [dir. William Dieterle]

0h 19m 39s: THE POWER AND THE GLORY (1933) [dir. William K. Howard]

0h 39m 17s: Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto: Naruse Retrospective at TIFF Lightbox (3 films) The Whole Family Works (1939), Hideko the Bus Conductress (1941) and Sudden Rain (1956) and Reconstruction of Queen Kelly, directed by Erich von Stroheim

Studio Film Capsules provided by The Fox Film Corporation: 1915-1935 by Aubrey Solomon

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

1933 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!

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Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com

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Our Acteur Spotlight kicks off with six movies starring Delphine Seyrig, beginning this episode with Alain Resnais' Muriel (1963) and Marguerite Duras' debut as a feature film director, La Musica (1967) (co-directed with Paul Seban). We find that these two films about former couples discussing, debating, and negotiating how to live with their past make a good pairing for their existential contrasts as well as their thematic and structural similarities. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, a New Year's Eve viewing of Trading Places (1983), the Eddie Murphy/Dan Aykroyd comedy, is a reminder of a time when unabashed criticism of capitalism and white supremacy was the concern of mainstream Hollywood (coinciding with maybe the all-time historical nadir of representation of women in film); and two more Mikio Naruse films, Lightning (1952) and A Wanderer's Notebook (1962), both starring the versatile Hideko Takamine and based on works by Fumiko Hayashi, give the hopeful and despairing sides of the search for meaning in the midst of economic hardship and disappointing relationships.

Time Codes:

0h 00m 25s: MURIEL (1963) [dir. Alain Resnais]

0h 34m 08s: LA MUSICA (1967) [dir. Marguerite Duras]

0h 57m 00s: Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto – John Landis' Trading Places (1983) at The Carlton Cinema + Mikio Naruse's Lightning (1952) and A Wanderer's Notebook (1962) at TIFF Lightbox

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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!

This week's Warner Brothers 1933 Studios Year by Year episode brings the studio-as-auteur question back into focus with two highly distinctive Pre-Code musicals with a similarity of style and social outlook that can't be attributed to the directors, screenwriters, source material, or the presence of Hollywood's most idiosyncratic choreographer and stager of musical numbers, Busby Berkeley. We argue for the dramatic and comedic merits of 42nd Street (directed by Lloyd Bacon) and Gold Diggers of 1933 (directed by Mervyn LeRoy), without failing to grapple with the more deranged elements of the musical sequences. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, the focus on sex, gender, and harsh economic realities continues with further screenings from TIFF Cinematheque's ongoing Mikio Naruse retrospective: Late Chrysanthemums, Scattered Clouds, and When a Woman Ascends the Stairs. We also briefly mention our TIFF Lightbox viewing of Hitchcock's North by Northwest, which allowed us to see Cary Grant narrowly escape multiple elaborately complicated and indirect murder attempts in 70 mm.

Time Codes:

0h 00m 25s: 1933 and Warner Brothers

0h 05m 13s: 42nd STREET [dir. Lloyd Bacon with Busby Berkeley]

0h 50m 20s: GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 [dir. Mervyn Leroy with Busby Berkeley]

1h 30m 40s: Fear & Moviegoing in Toronto: Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest (1959) and Mikio Naruse's Late Chrysanthemums (1954), Scattered Clouds (1967) & When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960) – all at TIFF Lightbox

1h 40m 16s: Listener Jason's Top Gloria Grahame films

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Studio Film Capsules provided by The Warner Brothers Story by Clive Hirchhorn

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

1933 Information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer

+++

* 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!