There's Sometimes a Buggy

We begin our Danielle Darrieux Acteur Spotlight with the movie that made her internationally famous, Anatole Litvak's gorgeously morbid romantic drama Mayerling (1936), co-starring Charles Boyer; and Abus de confiance (1938), our intriguing introduction to Darrieux's collaboration with director Henri Decoin, her husband at the time. From doomed lover to starving law student, the very young Darrieux is already being presented with meaty parts that demonstrate the force of her screen presence.

Time Codes:

0h 00m 20s: Very Brief Introduction to Danielle Darrieux

0h 02m 20s: MAYERLING (1936) [dir. Anatole Litvak]

0h 36m 47s: ABUS DE CONFIANCE (1937) [dir. Henri Decoin]

0h 54m 09s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – Luis Bunuel

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Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – a discussion of Late Spring

* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise's piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again"

* Check out Dave's Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!

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This Universal 1935 Studios Year by Year episode features some very curious medical ambitions: first, there's Eugene Frenke's wacky Life Returns, loosely based on the true story of scientist Robert E. Cornish and his canine Lazari; an act that could only be followed by John Stahl's Magnificent Obsession, starring Robert Taylor as a genius physician who can only realize his potential by becoming the man he killed and curing the woman he blinded. We do our best to isolate what distinguishes Stahl's Obsession from Sirk's (besides the comedic stylings of Charles Butterworth, a.k.a. the inspiration for the voice of Cap'n Crunch).

Time Codes:

0h 00m 20s: 1935 & Universal

0h 05m 40s: LIFE RETURNS (1935) [dir. Eugene Frenke]

0h 33m 16s: MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1935) [dir. John M. Stahl]

1h 06m 16s: So This is Sarris – From The American Cinema -Robert Aldrich

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Studio Film Capsules provided by The Universal Story by Clive Hirschhorn

Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler

1935 Information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer

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* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise's latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating.

* Check out Dave's new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!

Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy

Write to us at [email protected]

We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!

Our final Sandra Dee episode for a while sees us battling out whether the inanities of the Ross Hunter melodrama Portrait in Black (1960), based on a play by the writing duo behind White Heat, are fun or just dumb, after which we turn to Peter Ustinov's Romanoff and Juliet (1961), the most curiously gentle satire of Cold War superpower misbehaviour it's possible to imagine. We do agree on one thing in this episode: there's not enough Sandra Dee.

Time Codes:

0h 00m 20s: PORTRAIT IN BLACK (1960) [dir. Michael Gordon]

0h 31m 29s: ROMANOFF & JULIET (1961) [dir. Peter Ustinov]

0h 47m 49s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – Delmer Daves

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Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – a discussion of Late Spring

* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise's piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again"

* Check out Dave's Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!

Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy

Write to us at [email protected]

We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!

For our September 2026 Special Subject we read Susan Sontag's essay "Bergman's Persona" and applied its ideas to Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad, mentioned in the essay, and Robert Altman's 3 Women, which owes a great deal to Persona. Following Sontag, we ask what it would mean to try to approach a narrative film without needing to know "what happens in the story" and what other modes of response are available for films that resist plot synopsis. And for those who are still trying to figure out the occult connection of Henry James to our podcast, there's lots of Sacred Fount talk (started by Sontag). But just like us with these movie plots, you will probably be no wiser.

Time Codes:

0h 00m 20s: Sontag on narrative complexity/opacity

0h 07m 21s: LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (1961) [dir. Alain Resnais]

0h 33m 18s: 3 WOMEN (1977) [dir. Robert Altman]

1h 06m 25s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – John Cromwell

Susan Sontag's essay "Bergman's Persona: An Essay on Tragedy," published in Styles of Radical Will (1969)

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Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – a discussion of Late Spring

* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise's piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again"

* Check out Dave's Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!

Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy

Write to us at [email protected]

We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!

For this RKO 1935 episode, FOTP Ann Harding returns in Enchanted April (directed by Harry Beaumont), based on a novel by Elizabeth von Armin that Elise declares, based on the cinematic evidence, to be the missing link between Jane Austen and Jane Bowles. Then we turn to one of Dave's favourites, In Person (directed by William A. Seiter), a Ginger Rogers comedy that paired her with an unusually lively George Brent. We discuss the very unusual chemistry between their characters, a Hollywood actress in disguise and an outdoorsman who cures her agoraphobia in a curious way.

Time Codes:

0h 00m 20s: 1935 & RKO

0h 04m 33s: ENCHANTED APRIL (1935) [dir. Harry Beaumont]

0h 25m 40s: IN PERSON (1935) [dir. William A. Seiter]

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Studio Film Capsules provided by The RKO Story by Richard B. Jewell & Vernon Harbin

Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler

1935 Information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer

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* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise's latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating.

* Check out Dave's new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!

Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy

Write to us at [email protected]

We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!

For our second Sandra Dee episode we watched two films from 1959 (March 1959, to be exact): the Ross Hunter family melodrama A Stranger in My Arms (directed by Helmut Käutner), from a novel by the author of Written on the Wind, and the infamous Gidget (directed by Paul Wendkos), based on Frederick Kohner's novel about his daughter. We do our best to reconstruct the movie Stranger could have been while marveling at Dee's exhausting performance of a neurotic rich girl, and then turn our flabbergasted attention to Gidget, a movie with much more on its mind (particularly concerning gender roles and alienation) than we could ever have imagined based on its reputation. And in our So This Is Sarris section we get sensitive about Sam Fuller's visual forms.

Time Codes:

0h 00m 20s: STRANGER IN MY ARMS (1959) [dir. Helmut Kautner]

0h 20m 54s: GIDGET (1959) [dir. Paul Wendkos]

1h 00m 32s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – Samuel Fuller

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Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – a discussion of Late Spring

* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise's piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again"

* Check out Dave's Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!

Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy

Write to us at [email protected]

We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!

In this 1935 20th Century-Fox Studios Year by Year episode, Friend of the Pod William Wyler, in his only appearance at Fox during the studio era, hits it out of the park again with The Gay Deception. This is one of two comedy masterpieces by Wyler in 1935, both woefully neglected, although this one foreshadows his one well-known comedy, Roman Holiday, in certain of its plot elements. But it's recognizably a 1930s screwball comedy, albeit with Francis Lederer as the madcap heiress (or prince) driving Frances Dee screwy. And we also watched The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (directed by Stephen Roberts), which is a very good use of Ronald Colman and also features Joan Bennett, which is no cause to complain. Finally, in our So This Is a Sentence? segment, Andrew Sarris enlightens us about lechery, longing, sophistication, sexual humour, and malice in the movies of Lowell Sherman.

Time Codes:

0h 00m 20s: 1935 & Fox

0h 05m 52s: THE GAY DECEPTION [dir. William Wyler]

0h 44m 26s: HE MAN WHO BROKE THE BANK AT MONTE CARLO [dir. Stephen Roberts]

0h 58m 55s: So This is Sarris (from Andrew Sarris' The American Cinema) – Lowell Sherman

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Studio Film Capsules provided by The Films of 20th Century Fox (Aubrey Solomon and Tony Thomas) and The Fox Film Corporation, 1915-1935: A History and Filmography (Aubrey Solomon)

Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler

1935 Information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer

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* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise's latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating.

For this Special Subject episode, we looked at a couple of interventions in European national cinemas by Max Ophüls, La signora di tutti (1934), made in Italy, and Komedie om geld (1936), made in the Netherlands. Although not generally associated with radical politics, or politics at all, in these two early, lesser-known films Ophüls uses melodrama and comedy respectively to explore commodification, reification, and commodity fetishism. But don't worry, there's also a five-star melodrama staircase death and a con artist with a cute dog. And in our So This Is Sarris segment, we're moved to ask Why So Sarri(ou)s, Andrew?

Time Codes:

0h 00m 20s: Brief Ophuls Opener

0h 03m 50s: LA SIGNORA DI TUTTI (1934) [dir. Max Ophuls]

0h 41m 13s: KOMEDIE OM GELD (1936) {dir. Max Ophuls]

0h 59m 34s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – Jacques Tourneur

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* Previous Max Ophuls discussions

* Duels in Max Ophuls -Liebelei, Letter From an Unknown Woman & The Earrings of Madame De…

* Acteur/Auteur Special Subject– Max Ophuls & Edwige Feuillère – SANS LENDEMAIN (1939) & DE MAYERLING A SARAJEVO (1940)

Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – a discussion of Late Spring

* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise's piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again"

* Check out Dave's Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!

Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy

Write to us at [email protected]

We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!

For our inaugural Sandra Dee Acteurist Spotlight we examined two pairings with John Saxon from 1958, The Reluctant Debutante (directed by Vincente Minnelli), with Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall displaying their talents for farce, and The Restless Years (directed by Helmut Käutner), in which Dee gets to display her talent for psychological drama. Whether contending with aggressive peers and neurotic parents or making the first move with Saxon, Dee proves that there's much more to her screen persona than ammo for Stockard Channing to use against Olivia Newton-John.

Time Codes:

0h 00m 20s: Brief Introduction – Sandra Dee

0h 03m 53s: THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE (1958) [dir. Vincente Minnelli]

0h 27m 32s: THE RESTLESS YEARS (1958) [dir. Helmut Kautner]

0h 47m 12s: So This is Sarris (Andrew Sarris's The American Cinema) – Preston Sturges

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* Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – a discussion of Late Spring

* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise's piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again"

* Check out Dave's Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!

Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy

Write to us at [email protected]

We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!

For this Warner Bros. 1935 episode we watched a couple of melodramas that show a side of the studio's 1930s output less familiar than its fast-talking gangster and proletarian dramas: The Right to Live (directed by William Keighley), a love triangle story set among the rich and ableist, starring Josephine Hutchinson and Colin Clive; and I Found Stella Parish, a spin on the Stella Dallas maternal sacrifice theme starring Kay Francis and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. We learn about the importance of Stella Parish to Warner Bros. and Francis, right before the relationship between studio and star was about to go sour, and argue that Francis deserves her place alongside Davis, Cagney, Muni and Robinson in discussions of Warner Bros. in the 1930s. (Although the conversation about Francis seems to be changing.)

Time Codes:

• 0h 00m 20s: 1935 & Warner Brothers
• 0h 06m 37s: THE RIGHT TO LIVE (1935) [dir. William Keighley]
• 0h 27m 59s: I FOUND STELLA PARISH (1935) [dir. Mervyn Leroy]
• 1h 04m 08s: So This is Sarris (from Andrew Sarris' The American Cinema) – Gregory La Cava

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Studio Film Capsules provided by The Warner Brothers Story by Clive Hirschhorn

Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler

1935 Information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer

+++

* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise's latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating.

* Check out Dave's new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!

Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy

Write to us at [email protected]

We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!