Never Heard Of It

This week, Craig and Shawn talk about watching 1977's 'It Happened One Christmas', that Marlo Thomas movie that we teed up last week. When they said they were basing this movie on 'It's a Wonderful Life', boy howdy, they weren't kidding. Here all about how Orson Welles stacks up against Lionel Barrymore! How Marlo Thomas stacks up against Jimmy Stewart! How Christopher Guest stacks up against... the actor who played the same part as Christopher Guest! Man oh man, it's quite the celebration of Christmas spirit up in here!

This week, Shawn and Craig give you the backstory on 1977's 'It Happened One Christmas', a Marlo Thomas-produced TV movie that was based very, VERY heavily on 'It's a Wonderful Life'. Craig runs down the cast and crew - you'll be watching one of Christopher Guest's least known roles, for instance - and Shawn has some very cool info on how this movie was received both then and now. Let me tell you, this is one tee up that won't leave you wishing you'd never been born!

Oh, boy howdy, you guys, have we got a heavy episode for you today. We're talking about the background of 'Belladonna of Sadness' an animated film out of Japan from 1973. It sounds like it's gonna be an intense ride so make sure you're of a mature age and that you're at least this tall before you strap in. Craig will tell you all about the cast and crew, which at the very least has some connection to Astro-Boy and Kurasawa, and Shawn will tell you all about the behind-the-scenes stories like the fact that this movie didn't make its US premiere until 2009, when all the rest of you were out watching Avatar, for the fifth time. Come on and hear all about it and then go check out the movie!

This week, Shawn and Craig talk all about watching the 1924 silent thriller 'The Hands of Orlac'! It's all about this fella Orlac and how he loses his hands and how he gets the hands of a killer grafted on to his arm stumps. A chiller, to be sure. And if you ever wanted to know how much these two DON'T know, this is the episode for you. Do they know if hand transplants are real or not? Nope. Do they know which character wrote which letter and when they did it? No, thanks. Do they know if you'll listen all the way to the end of this episode? Certainly not. Let's all find out together! Got check out 'The Hands of Orlac' and then give this bad boy a listen.

This week, Shawn and Craig put their noses to the grindstone for 1924's 'The Hands of Orlac', a movie that asks 'If you HAD to be in an accident where you lost both of your hands and you HAD to have the hands of a killer grafted on to your wrist-stumps, would that really be so bad?' The answer, to judge by the poster, is a big YES. But judging by the cast and crew and behind the scenes stories, and the fact that his movie is nearly 100 years old, this is a body horror story with serious legs. Will it prove to be head and shoulders above the rest? The only way to know is to knuckle down, lend an ear to this episode, and then cast your eyes on the movie itself.