Reel Deep Dive

Often credited with kicking off the Universal Monsters series that gave us Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), and The Wolf Man (1941), The Phantom of the Opera was created at great expense and with numerous production woes. Intended from the onset to be a vehicle for superstar actor Lon Chaney, his scene-stealing performance and memorably gruesome makeup job still manages to engage audiences almost a hundred years after the movie's 1925 debut.  While Phantom of the Opera has been adapted to the screen many times (Reel Deep Dive has covered two other Phantom films on prior episodes), this version remains a unique experience.

Eager to repeat the success of 1965's A Charlie Brown Christmas, CBS instructed director Bill Melendez, producer Lee Mendelson, and writer/creator Charles M. Schulz to craft another Peanuts holiday special that they could rebroadcast year after year indefinitely. Mendelson pushed Halloween as the next logical step and, after bringing back most of the original voice cast and musician Vince Guaraldi, the team produced another seasonal perennial. Freely adapted from one of Schulz's storylines in the Peanuts newspaper comic, It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was a ratings smash that quickly attained a stature in pop culture comparable to its yuletide predecessor.

Easily the most popular entry in the "killer car" microgenre, Christine centers upon an awkward, dweeby teenage boy who is gradually corrupted by an evil spirit found inside the vintage automobile that gives the film its name. Directed by John Carpenter as the Stephen King source novel was being prepared for publication, Christine received mixed reviews, earned modest success at the box office, and quickly became a perennial on late night cable and at video rental stores. Few would proclaim Christine to be a peerless classic or even the best thing produced by its creative team, but it has nonetheless hung around in the public consciousness in the decades since its release and, as it goes with any reasonably successful horror movie, it has a remake and/or sequel in development as of this writing.

The result of an infamously prolonged and troubled shoot, Jaws was greeted with critical acclaim and record-breaking box office from the moment of its release. Not every hit movie maintains a good reputation and a looming presence in pop culture as it ages, but Jaws has arguably grown in esteem in the six decades since it was released. Jaws has "inspired" scores of knockoffs, director Steven Spielberg would soon become a dominant figure in Hollywood, film studios would use Jaws as a case study in how to produce, release, and market big movies, and people spooked by Jaws would hunt the great white shark to the brink of extinction.

Looking to reinvent her image after starring in a string of lowbrow erotic thrillers throughout the 1990's, Drew Barrymore grew passionate about a script that reframed the Cinderella story through the lenses of historical fiction and third wave feminism. The resulting Ever After was a commercial hit that charmed millions of millennial girls and led to Barrymore starring in a series of warm, bubbly romcoms like The Wedding Singer (1998), Never Been Kissed (1999), and 50 First Dates (2004).

This recording is intended to be the first of a series of podcast episodes focusing on X-Men: The Animated Series. Instead of framing things on key episodes or writers integral to the series, this particular facet of Reel Deep Dive will instead take a character from the program and break things down from their perspective. Since Jubilee served as the audience POV figure for much of X-Men: The Animated Series, Ryan is starting things off with her. We'll do episodes focusing on Storm, Rogue, Wolverine, Beast, and other fan favorites if this one gets enough clicks to justify such a thing.

9 to 5 centers on the vicarious charge yielded from three working women overthrowing their company's corrupt, misogynistic, and bigoted boss. Initially pitched as a dramatic vehicle for Jane Fonda, 9 to 5 struck gold once it was retooled as a wacky office comedy with its feminist subtext framed in a satirical vein. While very much an ensemble story that gives just as much screen time to Fonda and Lily Tomlin, 9 to 5 is often remembered primarily for a hit theme song and breakout acting performance from Dolly Parton. That, coupled with sharp dialogue, memorable antics, canny one-liners, and a number of boldly-filmed fantasy sequences, made 9 to 5 one of the most profitable films of its day; a long-running TV sitcom and a Broadway musical adaptation are among the things spun off from it.  

One of the cornerstones of the period that animation geeks refer to as The Disney Renaissance, Beauty and the Beast loosely adapts the classic French fairytale into a 90 minute musical extravaganza containing equal parts humor and pathos. Pleased with the success of The Little Mermaid (1989), Disney executives instructed the filmmakers to take an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach to the follow-up. Beauty and the Beast had its share of creative issues and tragedy; the first director was fired a year into production and songwriter Howard Ashman sadly died while the movie was still in animatics. Despite this, Beauty and the Beast was a smash hit that collected critical accolades and award statues. Its stature has only grown in the decades following its release, especially among millennials who grew up watching a battered VHS tape of it over and over again.

Suspiria, whether we're talking about Dario Argento's original film or the remake directed by Luca Guadagnino, centers upon a young American woman attending a prestigious German dance academy run by a coven of witches. That being said, the two films differ greatly when it comes to length, storytelling, music, acting, editing, color sense, and thematic subtext. Rachel really wanted to put both movies side by side and deconstruct what made each of them tick. Ryan was a little wary of the added research needed and he (correctly) guessed that he'd inevitably butcher the pronunciation of so many Italian and German names, but he went along with things.

We're checking off a big one here. Arguably the most celebrated film produced during Hollywood's golden era, The Wizard of Oz takes L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's novel and throws an unprecedented amount of money, care, talent, and hammy performances at it. The result is a miasma of iconic visuals, memorable songs, and iconic one-liners that still retains its ability to overwhelm the senses decades later.