Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

Inspired by his reading Competing with Idiots: Herman and Joe Mankiewicz, A Dual Portrait and his earlier interview with its author, Nick Davis, Dan has been binging on Joe Mankiewicz films.  In this short episode, Mike names the films and Dan talks about what makes them worth seeing.  No other podcast delivers so much in so short a time!  

Terrific bumper music:  Bluebird by E's Jammy Jams Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Music provided by FreeMusic109 https://youtube.com/FreeMusic109

Is there a better way to celebrate episode 150 than to talk about Citizen Kane? There is: to do so with Nick Davis, grandson of its screenwriter, Herman Mankiewicz, and author of the spectacular Competing with Idiots: Herman and Joe Mankiewicz, A Dual Portrait.  Mike and Dan held off on covering Citizen Kane, waiting for the right moment to tackle it--and that moment has arrived. Mike, Dan, and Nick talk about how Kane's reputation as The Greatest Film of All Time obscures the fact that it is a joy to watch from start to finish and created at just the right time in Hollywood history. As always, the guys talk about their favorite moments; listen to this episode to see if yours are the same as theirs. (Hint: none of them chose "Rosebud.")

Thanks again to Nick Davis for joining us! You can get Competing with Idiots: Herman and Joe Mankiewicz, A Dual Portrait wherever books are sold. 

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

Mike and Dan interview Nick Davis about Competing with Idiots, his terrific dual portrait of his grandfather, Herman Mankiewicz, and his great-uncle, Joseph L. Mankiewicz. He talks to Mike and Dan about the impetus for the book, the Mankiewicz family dynamic, and how his understanding of these fascinating figures grew and became more complex over time. No film fanatic can miss this one!  

You can get a copy of Competing with Idiots anywhere books are sold. 

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

In an era of shameless, unnecessary, and unsolicited remakes, Some Like It Hot remains untouched, despite a premise that seems like low-hanging fruit for any producer seeking to explore gender-related issues. Mike and Dan talk about why Billy Wilder's 1959 comedy remains unremade and the brilliance of its three leads: Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe. Sigmund Freud and Wile E. Coyote sneak into the conversation. So hop in that dress, watch out for the gangster popping out of the cake, and give it a listen! We can make Manhattans!

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

Mike and Dan react to recent stories about Jared Leto transforming himself physically for his role in House of Gucci.  When will this praise of prosthetics-for-prosthetics' sake end?  When will the gimmick be praised less than the performance?   (Note: Dan refers to the actor who played John Merrick in David Lynch's The Elephant Man as William Hurt.  The actor was, of course, John Hurt.  Dan knew it as soon as it came out of his mouth but he was on a roll.)  Jump out of that makeup chair and give it a listen!

Terrific bumper music:  Bluebird by E's Jammy Jams Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Music provided by FreeMusic109 https://youtube.com/FreeMusic109

"A sword can beat another sword, but it cannot beat a thousand arrows." So says Mike in this episode on Throne of Blood (1957), Akira Kurosawa's version of Macbeth. What does Kurosawa get right--more so than many other traditional adaptations? What single plot change from the original makes Throne of Blood even more "Macbethish" (to quote Joe Mackewicz) than the original? And how does Kurosawa manipulate physical spaces to suggest the moral claustrophobia of his hero? And what in this film calls to mind the murderous couple in Double Indemnity?  In so many ways, Japan is more Scottish than Scotland. So dodge those arrows and give it a listen!  

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

Each new version of a famous play--especially one as well-known as Macbeth--calls to mind the ones that came before it. So how does Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth (2022) rate in light of other versions, including those in the viewers' imaginations? Dan and Mike talk about Denzel Washington's spectacular yet restrained performance and how Joel Coen's vision of the play is full of surprising choices. They also apply Hamlet's famous advice to the players to the film to better appreciate the many great performances. Lay on, Macduff, and give it a listen!

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

"In the end, we've lost this battle, too." So say Kambei at the end of Seven Samurai (1954), Akira Kurosawa's often-imitated masterpiece. Mike and Dan talk about what, exactly, is lost and won, how the samurai beat the bandits but lose to peace, and how the viewer's perspective is constantly shifting in a film that's 207 minutes long but feels like 15. Every possible emotion and experience a person can have watching a film is in this one, so join Mike and Dan as they talk about as many as they can.  

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

What is childhood really like? Is it like how it's portrayed in The Wizard of Oz and E.T.--or is it something altogether different, like the world in Bob Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man," where something's happening but you don't know what it is? Mike and Dan talk about Alice, the 1988 film by Jan Švankmajer that gets the feel of Lewis Carroll's books--and childhood--exactly right. "A film for children--perhaps" is how the title character describes it and the "perhaps" is what makes the film so compelling. Samuel Beckett, Zork, Tim Burton, and Mr. Bean all come into the conversation--so eat that tart, chase that white rabbit, and give it a listen!  

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

You may know and love The Red Shoes, but how much do you know about Moira Shearer, who agreed to play Vickie Page only after a year of pursuit by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger? Dan talks to Steve Exeter, writer and director of Oran na h-Eala (2022), a film that dramatizes the struggles Shearer faced in leaving the ballet for a more flashy medium. Shannon Davidson, who plays Shearer, joins the conversation and talks about the temptations and refusal of fame. To what degree did the film do for Shearer what the red shoes did for Vickie? How do artists stay true to their visions when they are pressured to take a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?  Join us for a conversation about this new, terrific film that Dan calls "a movie for people who love movies" and one that explores the very issues that Powell and Pressburger do in theirs.  

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.