This is the first time we've watched two Jean-Pierre Melville films in a row. After last week's very good Le doulos we were excited to see what Melville had to offer us this time. After watching it we are significantly less excited, in light of last week and the conversation there we once again dig deeper into our relationship with the man's catalogue.

A very fun Jean-Pierre Melville film causes us to reconsider how we’ve viewed the director and his works in the past. Le doulos is a comedy. It must be. Did we make a mistake in not interacting with Le Samourai as parody? Probably not.

Adam Spieckermann joins us to talk about Ozu's final film, An Autumn Afternoon from 1962. Between Adam S.'s and Pat's areas of expertise and study we have a sprawling talk about Ozu's style and post-war Japanese culture. Also, thanks to a bonus feature on the Criterion DVD we get to indulge in that most joyous of pastimes: complaining about 20th century France's racist exoticism of Asia.

We finish up a trio of Max Ophüls films with The Earrings of Madame De... costarring Vittorio De Sica who apparently acted much more often than he directed, and did both quite well, leading Ophüls to be rather embarrassed at having to direct the famed director.

Our second in a series of Max Ophüls' films adapts a selection of short stories by Guy de Maupassant, climaxing in the third part with one of the most amazing continuous takes I've ever seen. And this is the Criterion Collection! We've seen a lot of amazing continuous takes!