Lions, Towers & Shields

By popular demand among both members and panelists actual and potential, we explore this 1945 classic. Peter Godfrey (who?) directs Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan and a cast of delightful character actors in a holiday story about covering up lies with more lies on a farm in Connecticut on Christmas Eve. Holiday food and sleigh rides aplenty.

"Christmas in Connecticut:" the Original

Host Shelly Brisbin with Annette Wierstra and David J. Loehr.

Old Movies, New Things: discs, books and other physical objects

.Sightings: classics on TV, streaming, and (someday) the festival circuit

The Movie: review/commentary on a single classic film

Next time, we’ll watch:

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Believed by many to be the best of the Astaire-Rogers musicals, “Top Hat” was also the most successful. It arrived in the middle of their run as an on-screen couple. It’s both a musical and a screwball comedy with songs by Irving Berlin. It also features a stellar supporting cast: Edward Everett Horton, Helen Broderick, Eric Blore and, wait, is that Lucile Ball?

Fred and Ginger dance cheek to cheek in "Top Hat"

Host Shelly Brisbin with David J. Loehr, Greg Maupin, and Erika Ensign.

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LTS acknowledges the pumpkin-spiced holiday.

From IMDB: “American honeymooners in Hungary become trapped in the home of a Satan-worshiping priest when the bride is taken there for medical help following a road accident.”

From Shelly: “Oh, I forgot this was an Edgar G. Ulmer joint.”

Universal horror’s big guns are firing in this old dark house story where the ODC is actually a modernist masterpiece, built atop a former fortress. Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and a cast of less interesting people populate this amazing film.

The Black Cat

Host Shelly Brisbin with Annette Wierstra, David J. Loehr, Monty Ashley, and Nathan Alderman.

Old Movies, New Things: discs, books and other physical objects

The Movie: commentary and discussion about one classic film

Next time, we’ll watch:

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

It’s cynical, it’s Billy Wilder, and it’s still relevant. On-the-skids newspaper man Kirk Douglas is gonna do ANYTHING to get that story. This movie came up during the very first Lions, Towers & Shields episode as one that several panelists would watch again. And here they are!

Ace in the Hole

Host Shelly Brisbin with Monty Ashley and David J. Loehr.

Old Movies, New Things: discs, books and other physical objects

Sightings: classics on TV, streaming, and (someday) the festival circuit

The Movie: commentary and discussion about one classic film

Next time, we’ll watch:

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

In an early starring role, Cary Grant upends the sensibilities of a small town that’s rife with gossip and hypocrisy. And we have expert help this week, because the panel includes a man who’s created an audio documentary about Grant.

Hot Saturday

Host Shelly Brisbin with Erika Ensign, Nathan Alderman, and Adam Roche.

Old Movies, New Things: discs, books and other physical objects

The Movies: commentary and discussion about one classic film

Fun Links from the Panel: Verity Podcast, Tiny Activism, Vote dot org, Secret History of Hollywood Patreon

Next time, we’ll watch:

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Here’s a delicious little film noir, where greed is breathtaking, and you’ll wonder who’s the evilest - until you know for sure.

We watch "Too Late for Tears."

Host Shelly Brisbin with Annette Wierstra and Nathan Alderman.

Title

Old Movies, New Things: discs, books and other physical objects

Sightings: classics on TV, streaming, and (someday) the festival circuit

The Movie: _ review/commentary on a single classic film_

Next time, we’ll watch:

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

This is the film that should have won Judy Garland the Oscar. It was both her greatest triumph, and a comeback film. It’s directed by George Cukor, the “woman’s director” of so many female-centered studio films. There’s a whole book about the making of “A Star is Born,” in fact. Also, this is the three-hour one.

Considering Judy Garland's A Star is Born

Host Shelly Brisbin with Jean MacDonald.

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Welcome to another crossover where I join the Agents of S.M.O.O.C.H. for a timey-whimey road trip for our Virtual Vacation series. Our agents tease apart the five(?) timelines in Two for the Road (1967), starring Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney using the cars the characters drive. Join us as we criss-cross through ten years of time and space while road-tripping through France towards the Mediterranean coast. Sometimes it’s smooth sailing, sometimes it’s rocky, sometimes there are too many people in the car. Make sure you pack the sunscreen.

Virtual Vacation: Two for the Road

Host Annette Wierstra with Shelly Brisbin and Jean MacDonald.

If you want to catch up on our other Agents of S.M.O.O.C.H. Crossover episode join us in Rome with Roman Holiday!

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Preston Sturgess was in top form in 1941 for this comedy starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake - in one of her first films. McCrea is a movie director, looking for a way to make a “socially relevant” film, instead of the comedies he’s been making. McCrea travels as a hobo, trying to “know trouble” in a way he can’t while living his life as a Hollywood director. Like Orson Welles, Sturges used a stock company of character actors, and many of them are along for the ride.

Sullivan's Travels: Class Tourism, with a Little Sex

Host Shelly Brisbin with Erika Ensign, Dr. Drang, and David J. Loehr.

Old Movies, New Things: discs, books and other physical objects

Sightings: classics on TV, streaming, and (someday) the festival circuit

The Movie: review/commentary on a single classic film

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

We offer you a summer movie set in Rome. Directed by William Wyler, and starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, Roman Holiday tells the story of an American newspaper reporter who meets a princess and liberates her from the confinement of her royal station for a romantic adventure in 1950s Rome for a classic royal and the commoner tale. The people and the scenery are beautiful, and the actors have lovely chemistry. The is among the earliest, and best of the 1950s-60s films that took Americans to a Europe that had finally begun recovering from the horrors of World War II.

We could all use a Roman Holiday

Host Shelly Brisbin with Annette Wierstra and Sage Young.

Old Movies, New Things: discs, books and other physical objects

Sightings: what’s coming on TCM, streaming services, and the festival circuit

The Movie

Next Time

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