Sept. 16, 2024

Frank Capra - Arsenic and Old Lace

Frank Capra - Arsenic and Old Lace
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Season 5 A Film By...

Arsenic and Old Lace celebrates its 80th anniversary this week! "The Authority on the Golden Age of Cinema" Robert Burnett returns for an in-depth conversation about Frank Capra's macabre comedy!

For exclusive episodes and content, check out A Film By... Podcast on our Patreon with a FREE 7-day trial. You can also sign up as a free member!

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This episode is sponsored by MaiRo & Co Dog Treat Bakery

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This episode is brought to you by the Mayroe and Co.

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been treating Cincinnati's dogs to tail wagon goodness since twenty twelve,

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00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:37.079
and now they're available online at Mayroanco dot com. Today

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we're going to talk about a film by Frank Capra,

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his nineteen forty four crime comedy classic Arsenic and Old Lace.

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This week, Arsenic and Old Lace celebrates its eightieth anniversary. Therefore,

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it's fitting that my guest today be an expert on

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the stage and screen of yesteryear. I like to think

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of him as the authority on the golden age of cinema.

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Earlier this year, he was a guest on our limited

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nineteen ninety six series when we talked about Billy Zane

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in The Phantom, and I think today's film is certainly

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in his Willhouse. Robert Burnette, Welcome back.

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Sir, Thank you so much for having me.

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I've been looking forward to this conversation today, and you

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were the only one I was like, this is It's

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got to be Robert that I talked to you about

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this this film. Now I understand you know we're talking

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about a movie nineteen forty four. So I know we've

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got some cinophiles that are listening to us and they

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probably have seen this. They own it, they love it.

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I also know we have a group of people that

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probably are like what is arsenic and old lace? So

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for those that have not seen it, will the brief

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synopsis I would offer you is Mortimer Brewster, a Brooklyn

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theater critic and writer of books on the futility of marriage,

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risks his reputation after he decides to tie the knot

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moments before absconding on his honeymoon. He discovers the surprise

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of his life when he learns that his beloved maiden

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aunts Abby and Martha are serial murderers who target bachelor's Robert.

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This was actually this was a first time watch for me.

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Do you recall the first time you saw this film?

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Truth can be told we're all good friends. This is

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the first time I watched it, and somehow what I

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thought I had seen it. It's like, I know the clips,

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i know the story, I'd read the play. You know.

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It's it's one of those things that's just kind of

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in our culture, you say, our Sniffle Old Lady date,

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the Little Old Lady, the alder Berry wine. You know,

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it's it's all known, if you know. But but once

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it started, I was like, Oh, to your god, I

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don't think I've actually seen all of this except for

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little excerpts in tributes to carry Grant or whomever. So

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it was a delight. I've watched it three times now

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in the last two weeks, so I'm catching up.

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Yeah, you and I were talking about Capra off Mike,

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you know, because he's got an extensive filmography, but you

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just you know, they're kind of he doesn't have a

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distinct style. Is that Is that fair to say?

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That absolutely fair to say. Yeah. He would generally come

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up with what he wanted to do and do it,

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and usually it might even just be one take, uh,

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and then he would move on, you know. So uh,

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some actors loved it. Some actors would get frustrated because

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they wanted to do different takes for different things. But

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he also said he did it in part because then

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the studio couldn't mess with his films because he only

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had enough coverage to do what he wanted to do.

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He didn't give them a lot of shots to edit

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or you know, do reverse angles or anything like that.

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Very clever, very clever of him. One thing we were

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talking about, you know, because I told you like that,

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I you know, this was not what I was expecting,

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and you made the comment, You're like, yeah, well, it's

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not the typical Jimmy Stewart au Shuck's film that were

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used to from Frank Capra this one. Yeah, I know

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it's weird to say it's a breadth of fresh air

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given that it came out nineteen forty four, but it

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wasn't what I was expecting, and I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

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Yeah, let's tell tactic and if Kapa wanted to make

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this movie because he did feel like he was getting

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stuck in a rut of kind of you know, flag

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waving Americana, you know, comedies with a little bit of drama,

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and when this came up to the studio, he thought

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it would be a great chance for him to just

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flex a little bit and try something different than what

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he was becoming kind of overly known for.

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Yeah, so the role, the lead role of Mortimer Brewster

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was intended for Bob Hope. He was under contract and

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unavailable at the time, and so we get Carry Grant.

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Robert your thoughts on Cary Grant in this film or

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in general.

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Carry Grant is one of my favorite Golden Age stars

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because he's really versatile. I mean, he can do Hitchcock,

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he can do light comedy, he really just can do everything.

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And this film is it was super fun to watch

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because it was one of the last films where he

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really went with the physical comedy, some of the pratfalls

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and the double takes, which he started with early in

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his career, and in fact, prior to film, he was

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a circus acrobat and did all kinds of stunts and

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somersaults and things like that. So you see him in

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some of his early films with Hepburn. But by the

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time the forties came along, and of course, as well mentioned,

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this film came out three years after it was filmed,

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he was getting to the kind of the more mature,

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sophisticated Hitchcock hero or anti hero, and and kind of

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a different phase of his career. So it was fun

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to discover him making faces and doing double in triple

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takes and all that fun stuff. So I think, I

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think it's a great role for him. I'm glad they

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glad they got him. Bob Up would have been fine,

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But I think a little more, a little more one dimensional.

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M h.

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Carry Grant in this role. Like as you said, I

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I reck I connect with him as the debonair Hitchcock lead.

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So to see him in this film and the physical

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comedy and the facial expressions, forgive me for saying it, Robert,

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but I almost felt like, is this what chevy Chase

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was watching to become chevy Chase? Because Yeah, watching carry

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Grant in this, I felt like I was watching Clark

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Griswold from the National Impuons movies.

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There's a real through line there because chevy Chase was

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not an unhandsome man. I mean he was not. He

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wasn't George Clooney, but but he was not like so

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many of our comic actors in old and new films

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are not going to be the boy who could the

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girl necessarily at the end of the film, but you

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can imagine it with Chevy Chase. So I think that

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makes the humor of them falling down and you know,

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taking pies in the face or whatever silly thing they're

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doing even funnier.

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Absolutely, one thing I really was, I gotta respect Carry

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Grant for this. I was doing a little research on him.

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So his salary is in excess of one hundred thousand

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dollars for the film, and he donates most, if not

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all of it to various Allied wartime charities. We gotta remember,

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it's nineteen forty four, World War two is happening. So

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I really, I really respect him for doing the right

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thing with this money.

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I love that you love that, and he certainly didn't

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have to do it. The flip side of that story

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is two of the pictures he'd done back to back

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before this. He was the highest paid actor in Hollywood

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at that time, and his taxes were immense, and now

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throughout his career he was always very generous and gave

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back and did things that were not publicized. But part

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part of the idea of this give all the money

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away salary thing with this is it gave him tax credits.

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So he was a shrewd, shrewd businessman throughout his life,

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which is partly why he was able. He was never

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assigned to one studio after he left Paramount in the

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early nineteen thirties. He was a freelance, which was almost

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unheard of in that era, but people were tied to

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with studio, could ask his own salary and really picked

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and chose what he can do, which is why so

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much of his filmography is we still know because he's

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you know, he's working with Catherine Hepburn, then he's working

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with Hitchcock, then he's working with Audrey Hepburn in some

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of those later films. I mean, he always was a

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top door star take commensurate to it. So so loved

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the charity, but it was also a smart business move

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its part as well.

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Let's let's talk about his leading lady, Priscilla Laine plays

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Elaine Harper, his neighbor that he ultimately falls in love with.

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I gotta be honest, Robert, I I can't recover seeing

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her in another film from from this this era. You know,

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I know she's not a Hitchcock girl. I know, I

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just I've never seen she was.

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She was once. I think she was, what was it notorious?

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I can't remember when she was. She had a small

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part in one of the Hitchcocks. Okay Heims a delight

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though she is, and if you want to want to

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spend some time, its more time with her. The best

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movies she did she did three movies. It was kind

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of an early early uh you know, success with lots

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of sequels. The first one was called Four Daughters, and

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it's about four young women. Part of the stunt the

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movie was the studio had hired her and two of

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her sisters, who were all very young and talented and

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mostly just photogenic, and so they put them in this

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movie called uh, well sorry, four Daughters, I said, sisters.

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I think it's four daughters, and they played four sisters,

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uh somebody else with the four sister It was a

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huge boss office sests, and it was just success. It

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was just you know, they're they're they're dating, and their

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travails and and and falling in love and adventures and

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all this. It was such a huge money maker for

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its studio that they brought them back the next year

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for four Wives, and then then they brought them back

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the next year for four mothers and yeah, I mean

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so franchise. They had to do it in that order

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because it was the forties. They couldn't have mothers before wives.

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That would have been you know, a thing. But no,

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but they're they're they're charming, charming films. They're they're kind

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of middle middleweight, middle brow, studio fair from from the forties.

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But she's good in all of them. And and then

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I think she just kind of stepped away from it

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because she never quite got top billing, but she certainly

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worked a lot when they needed a pretty blonde.

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Yeah this, and I don't know, I just I thought

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that was unusual that this was kind of like her

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last big, big role. You know, she does a couple,

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she has a handful of films after this, and then,

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like you said, she kind of faded, faded from the limelight.

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I think that's a shame, because I loved her in this.

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I thought she was she was just fantastic.

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There were a lot of them in that era because

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there was a constant, you know, search for some the

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new face or the new name or the new star,

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and so they brought out so many young men and

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women in the late thirties or early forties especially and during

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the war years too, and they just a lot of

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them walked away from it or you know, did didn't

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love it, or just didn't click with the audiences. And

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I'm looking. Yeah, her film for Hitchcock was Saboteur, which

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was filmed after this film we're talking about, but came

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out a couple of years before.

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Yeah, I know, I know you mentioned that they you

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know this this is released in nineteen forty four, it

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was actually shot three years before. We'll get into that

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when we when we talk about the film's background. And

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obviously we've got three three actors here that I don't

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want to step on, you know, I know you've got

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some great stuff to tell us about the the the

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origin of this film and where where it comes from.

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But Josephine Hall as Abby, she's one of the one

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of the old maid Aunts. I you know, we we know,

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we'll just you know, just not to keep people in suspense.

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This is obviously this is a stage production that becomes

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a film. She's she's in the stage production, correct.

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Yeah, absolutely, both both both the sisters, uh Teina Daria

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and Josephine Hole both both recreated their parts for the film,

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which is what's unusual then in this still unusual?

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Now all right, well we'll hold off on on on

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the stage talk for just a minute. But uh, watching

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these two bounce bounce around the set, I know these women,

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these I know the these are my aunts, like I

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you know, I had, I had, I grew up with

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these women. So this was was really fun to just

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watch them until you until the big reveal that, oh wait,

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they're serial killers. Let me be clear, my aunts did

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not murder anybody.

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But I mean, did you actually ever checked the basement.

241
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I never checked the basement.

242
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Now never expected you never would have suspected these ladies either,

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you know.

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So yeah, Well it's because they're just so they're so

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they're so endearing, you know, even when even when they

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explained to carry Grant what they're doing and why they're

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doing it, they're very dismissive about it, like it's not

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a big deal.

249
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Well, and I think that that's part of the charm

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of this film, and so much of the humor is

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how dead pan, no pun intended they are about everything.

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It just like, oh when we plais in their line

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with cyanide and oh would you like some cake, deer?

254
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It's kind of everything is kind of just just you know,

255
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nothing is pushed, nothing, it is shocking, it's just and

256
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so I think their their delivery is just so matter

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of fact that it makes it that much more funny

258
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than if there had been a big secret for a big,

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big reveal or you know, a big tight close up

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on you know, Justine Hoole's face. It's it's not it's

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just like, oh, past as salt and we killed another

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one today, both kind of yeah, part of the conversation.

263
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And it it brings the humor out.

264
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So well, it does, it absolutely does. Uh, you can't

265
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talk about the humor of this film without talking about

266
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John Alexander, who's playing Teddy. This guy is off the

267
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charts and doing a bit that I think some people

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might perceive it could get tiring for some people, but

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I gotta tell you, his antics did not get old

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with me at all. I loved him from the first,

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his first scene to his final scene.

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He's a wild man, he was, and he was the

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other actor who came from the Broadway play. They brought

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him over from Broadway because he was just so indelible,

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because yeah, he could get it annoying really fast. His

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character and his stick. But he just so delightful and

277
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funny himself that you don't mind it. And he actually

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played the role of Teddy on and off till I

279
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think through the nineteen sixties, like when he died. I mean,

280
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it was like his bread and butter. He played many

281
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other roles. He'd done some other films too, but he

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did every time they needed Teddy for revival or you know,

283
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a show anywhere in the country, he would show up

284
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and charge right up those stairs. You know.

285
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Yeah, the idea that this you know, he's obviously he's

286
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mentally ill. He believes himself to be President Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt.

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I think he might be the best performance in the

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film because when he is just listening to another another actor,

289
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or he's reacting to something that's being said to him,

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just everything he's doing with his body language and his

291
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his his face. I believe that he believes he is Roosevelt.

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He's doing such an amazing work here.

293
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Especially they give him the wiremrim glasses and they give

294
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him a mustache. But he doesn't know even look like Roosevelt. Really,

295
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he doesn't try and bully, he said, he doesn't try

296
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and look like him. He doesn't try and sound like him,

297
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and I love the absurdity of him was saying things like, oh,

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that's why I don't recognize you. I haven't met you yet.

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I don't meet you until I So it's not even

300
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like I mean, he believes he's Roosevelt, but it's this

301
00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:45.320
very chill hear way where he kind of like has

302
00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:47.759
read all the books and just can kind of cherry

303
00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:49.759
pick what he wanted to do. There was a line

304
00:16:49.799 --> 00:16:52.279
in the play that was fantastic that got left out

305
00:16:52.279 --> 00:16:54.039
of the film because they thought it would have been dated,

306
00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:55.759
and with the three year delay it would have been

307
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more dated. One of the cops, I think it's the newer,

308
00:17:00.039 --> 00:17:02.799
younger cop says, oh, he thinks he's Roosevelt. Why would

309
00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:06.599
why would anyone want to be FDR? And the other

310
00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:09.920
cop says, well, nobody would want to be him. He's

311
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he's Teddy Roosevelt. And that line did not survive the play.

312
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It got got cut out for the film version, but

313
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it was a little little FDR bashing back in the

314
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day from Broadway.

315
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I'll tell you watching this too, because I saw this

316
00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:29.599
a couple of times, and watching this performance, I was thinking,

317
00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:33.720
like what modern actor would just chew the scenery in

318
00:17:33.799 --> 00:17:36.720
this role, And Nathan Lane came to mind.

319
00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:40.079
See, I thought you'd say that when you started off.

320
00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:42.839
I see, I kind of disagree, because I think part

321
00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:45.839
of what makes what makes this guy so funny is

322
00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:49.200
he's he underplays same thing with with our our our

323
00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:53.599
two Maiden ants. He isn't trying to be wacky and

324
00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:57.039
over the top. He's just this nice guy who thinks

325
00:17:57.039 --> 00:18:00.680
he's Roosevelt and he's not. He never pushes it, He never,

326
00:18:01.240 --> 00:18:03.359
you know, is kind of milking it or winking at

327
00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:07.799
the audience. He is a very realistic portrayal in the

328
00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:12.160
kind of bubble of a nineteen forties movie. But I

329
00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:16.279
think funny if Nathan Lane is Nathan Lane is always

330
00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:19.720
so over the top. And I think that, I mean,

331
00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:22.039
I think Robin Williams, who I think you know, has

332
00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:25.920
already played or already did play. Yeah. Yeah, But Robin

333
00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:28.640
Williams could have pulled it off because he knew when

334
00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:31.240
to rein it in. And I don't think Nathan Lane

335
00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:35.240
has like anything lower than eleven on his dial for performances.

336
00:18:35.319 --> 00:18:39.079
So love him, love you, Nathan, but I think he

337
00:18:39.079 --> 00:18:41.599
wouldn't have had the nuance or and he would have

338
00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:42.359
thrown the tone off.

339
00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:47.400
All right, that's an interesting take this movie. It takes

340
00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:53.039
place on the afternoon of Halloween, and it's got the

341
00:18:53.079 --> 00:18:57.240
set designs a little spooky without going overboard, obviously, but

342
00:18:57.799 --> 00:19:01.720
it is not without its creepy characters. So tell me

343
00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:04.599
what you thought about Peter Lorie as Doctor Einstein.

344
00:19:05.079 --> 00:19:09.680
Oh loved Peter Lourieu. He is an unsung, unsung hero

345
00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:14.240
of film. He just is so strange and so again

346
00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:17.160
in this. I mean, he could be menacing. If you've

347
00:19:17.160 --> 00:19:19.680
ever seen m his kind of breakthrough thing where he

348
00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:24.960
plays a serial killer, creepy, creepy, creepy, but he could

349
00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:28.319
play humor realiantly. And I thought his line reading is

350
00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:33.359
in this were fantastic. He could be menacing, you could.

351
00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:36.680
You could see his fear of you know, the car

352
00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:40.160
of off want to be but his humor. The scene

353
00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:42.319
where he where he and Roosevelt are going down to

354
00:19:42.359 --> 00:19:46.160
the basement to see Panama in the basement and uh,

355
00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:49.880
Laurie turns and goes bom voyage and it did. It's

356
00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:53.559
hilarious and it's not necessarily a funny line, but he

357
00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:56.799
just made it funny. So I think it's great, and

358
00:19:56.839 --> 00:20:00.000
he he brings that that cachet because he was always,

359
00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:02.759
you known at this point for being kind of othered

360
00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:06.039
and kind of creepy and kind of off putting, so

361
00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:10.079
it fits for his character. But I think he plays

362
00:20:10.119 --> 00:20:13.680
the humor really well, which makes him kind of lovable

363
00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:17.160
almost even though he's with this psychopathic maniac.

364
00:20:17.799 --> 00:20:21.559
Well. And the thing is, I think my favorite scene

365
00:20:21.559 --> 00:20:26.039
with Peter Lourie is at the end when the police

366
00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:29.920
captain is in the background talking to the people at

367
00:20:29.960 --> 00:20:32.920
the sanitarium and he's like, all right, the description of

368
00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:36.599
the of the accomplice, and Peter Laurie's standing there, he's

369
00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:39.720
inches from the door. He knows he's caught, and the

370
00:20:39.799 --> 00:20:44.400
guy is just giving these physical descriptions and every time

371
00:20:44.440 --> 00:20:47.200
he's you know, five foot three, you know, speaks with

372
00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:49.960
a German accent, Like every time he says something, Peter

373
00:20:50.039 --> 00:20:53.160
Lourie kind of shrinks a little bit and winces a

374
00:20:53.160 --> 00:20:56.039
little bit. Yeah, and then they're like, oh, this is

375
00:20:56.039 --> 00:20:58.480
the doctor that's on the papers. And then the second

376
00:20:58.519 --> 00:21:00.640
he knew, he realizes that he's off, got free, and

377
00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:03.480
he hits the door. I gotta be honest, I was

378
00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:06.039
rooting for him to get away. I wanted I wanted

379
00:21:06.119 --> 00:21:08.079
him to get away. He's he's a villain in the

380
00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:11.039
in the piece, but he he's just he's he's so fun.

381
00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:14.920
Well. That the beauty for me of old films in general.

382
00:21:15.079 --> 00:21:17.799
And I'll drop a few more names later, but I

383
00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:21.440
love character actors. And Laurie was a star in Europe

384
00:21:21.480 --> 00:21:23.359
early in the Silent Era, in the early thirties. When

385
00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:25.400
he came to America, he was always a character actor.

386
00:21:25.480 --> 00:21:28.640
I mean, good Heavens, he was in Casablanca and all

387
00:21:28.680 --> 00:21:31.480
those other films as well. They're so well known, and

388
00:21:31.880 --> 00:21:35.559
he'd become kind of a cultural thing where people like,

389
00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:37.839
they know his voice, they know what he looks like.

390
00:21:38.599 --> 00:21:41.319
Even after all these years, he still you know, known.

391
00:21:41.880 --> 00:21:45.480
But but he was so versatile, and I think I

392
00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:48.119
think in this film in particular, I'm sure when he

393
00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:51.279
came on screen, as audiences would with other actors in

394
00:21:51.319 --> 00:21:54.720
this film, they like, oh, it's him, and they already

395
00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:57.000
kind of know, Okay, probably gonna be humorous, it's probably

396
00:21:57.000 --> 00:21:59.240
gonna be maybe a little of cob It's gonna be

397
00:21:59.319 --> 00:22:01.519
you know, and uh. And that's kind of the beauty

398
00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:03.680
of character actors. Is to come on and you're just like,

399
00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:05.920
you know what you're getting and it makes you happy.

400
00:22:06.519 --> 00:22:13.799
Well, definitely not humorous, but definitely Macobb is Raymond Massey

401
00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:17.960
playing Jonathan Brewster. Yeah, wow, this is the the you

402
00:22:17.960 --> 00:22:20.079
know when we keep talking about the Karloff look alike,

403
00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:25.079
which I thought was clever with the film's writing. This

404
00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:29.160
guy was absolutely he was. He was creepy on to

405
00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:29.960
like level ten.

406
00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:33.799
Yeah, and it's so fun because this movie starts off

407
00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:35.680
and you don't really know what you're getting with that

408
00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:38.920
point was baseball scene, and then then we get into

409
00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:42.319
the Brewster house and it's kind of this dienectic comedy

410
00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:44.640
with Terry Grant and the girlfriend and the wacky ants,

411
00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:46.039
and then all of a sudden, it takes this right

412
00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:48.079
turn and we're like, we've got a body hidden in

413
00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:50.720
the window seat and then all then then you know,

414
00:22:50.759 --> 00:22:54.240
so it's it's it's shifting from from light comedy to

415
00:22:54.759 --> 00:22:57.119
kind of mystery to this to that. And then he

416
00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:00.240
shows up. Yeah, Jonathan shows up, and it's almost like

417
00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:04.079
horror slash noir all of a sudden, which and and

418
00:23:04.200 --> 00:23:08.720
tonally it all works though the scene where he as

419
00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:12.079
the one sister is showing the other where she hid

420
00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:15.519
the body. Uh, he burst through the windows. I mean

421
00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:18.680
it's one of those like gasp out loud, you know,

422
00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:22.519
scares and and there's some wonderful Kiaro's hero and kind

423
00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:25.119
of noir shots later where he and Laurie are moving

424
00:23:25.160 --> 00:23:27.319
another body because there's lots of bodies and it's just

425
00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:31.720
all shadows and silhouettes and darkness and sound and so

426
00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:35.799
different from maybe what you were expecting at the beginning

427
00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:39.880
of the film. But Capra and and and the cast

428
00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:43.079
pulled off where you don't notice these really weird shifts

429
00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:45.559
in moods or tone. It all kind of comes across

430
00:23:45.559 --> 00:23:48.880
as one one, one big take with lots of layers.

431
00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:51.680
That's that moment you you just mentioned where he burst

432
00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:54.200
through the window. I mean I I kind of jumped

433
00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:57.319
a little bit on my couch. I could fully believe

434
00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:01.039
that that was the moment in uh theaters in nineteen

435
00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:03.240
forty four where popcorn is flying through the air because

436
00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:04.519
people weren't.

437
00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:07.279
Ready for it. So yeah, it was great. But then

438
00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:10.400
you know Massey who I only really know him besides

439
00:24:10.440 --> 00:24:15.319
this film for Abraham Lincoln, because he played Lincoln very

440
00:24:15.319 --> 00:24:18.079
famously and won prizes and it was kind of his thing.

441
00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:22.680
But he does humor too. The line the line where

442
00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:25.000
he meets Teddy, and Teddy says, I'm Teddy Roosevelt, and

443
00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:28.440
his character says, I'm would Row Wilson go to bed,

444
00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:35.640
deadpan and funny and just so sharply delivered. So Massey,

445
00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:39.440
it was kind of a thankless part, but he even

446
00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:41.160
gets a few jokes out of it, which I thought

447
00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:41.680
was nice.

448
00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:45.200
Robert, let's take a quick break and when we return,

449
00:24:46.359 --> 00:24:51.119
I know you've got some interesting conversation about the creation

450
00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:58.480
of this film or there welcome back. We are talking

451
00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:03.799
about Frank Capra's Arsenic and Old Lace. Robert, I know

452
00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:08.200
you know quite a bit about how this film came

453
00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:10.519
to be. What can you tell us about Arsenic and

454
00:25:10.519 --> 00:25:10.920
Old Lace.

455
00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:15.440
It has a really interesting background and a little bit

456
00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:17.920
of mystery to it, just like in the film itself,

457
00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:21.920
and it is still a modern day classic. Still performed

458
00:25:21.960 --> 00:25:25.440
a lot, and it was one of the first big,

459
00:25:25.559 --> 00:25:31.000
big Broadway successes of that kind of horror mystery comedy

460
00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:34.559
that we saw years later in the movie and play

461
00:25:34.640 --> 00:25:37.599
Sleuth in Death Trap, which was a player in the film.

462
00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:41.039
It's a great genre. It's one of my favorites. But

463
00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:43.400
this was one of the first, one of the earliest ones.

464
00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:47.079
Gas Light was before it, when it was still called

465
00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:50.240
Angel Street in the in the theater. It ran for years,

466
00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:53.480
but it was not funny. Gaslight is is a lot

467
00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:56.359
of things. It's not a laugh riot. This dis managed

468
00:25:56.440 --> 00:25:58.960
to meld the humor with the shocks and thrills the

469
00:25:59.000 --> 00:25:59.680
audiences love.

470
00:25:59.759 --> 00:25:59.920
Now.

471
00:26:00.599 --> 00:26:05.039
Kesterer Ring is a footnote in theater history because he

472
00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:07.440
wrote lots of things, and this is the only thing

473
00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:11.240
he's known for, probably because he just mostly wasn't a

474
00:26:11.319 --> 00:26:13.720
very good writer. He was a hack. He wanted to

475
00:26:13.720 --> 00:26:16.759
write plays, he wanted to be famous. He ground them

476
00:26:16.759 --> 00:26:20.440
out like sausages, and most of them just weren't great,

477
00:26:21.720 --> 00:26:25.119
and initially this one wasn't either. Now, he had not

478
00:26:25.160 --> 00:26:27.240
really done a lot of comedy prior to this. He

479
00:26:27.599 --> 00:26:31.319
mostly wrote traumas and thrillers and things, and so he

480
00:26:31.720 --> 00:26:34.440
thought he kind of pulled on the Villian idea of

481
00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:38.799
that kind of humor and sticks. So there was a character.

482
00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:42.400
There were several more mad characters in the Brewster family.

483
00:26:42.519 --> 00:26:44.799
And because he was trying to rip off, you can't

484
00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:48.880
take it with you. The wacky family claimed to come

485
00:26:48.920 --> 00:26:52.359
out a few years before, but so he had one

486
00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:55.599
of the mad characters would fall on the ground and

487
00:26:55.799 --> 00:26:58.400
bite the floor and we're all like a three stooges

488
00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:02.400
after anytime anybody said the word pickles, so of course,

489
00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:04.440
and that was like the height of his humor, was

490
00:27:04.839 --> 00:27:06.319
you know, one of the ants would say, oh, would

491
00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:07.920
you care for some more pickles? And then this character

492
00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:09.680
would drop to the floor and spin around and go

493
00:27:09.720 --> 00:27:13.279
whoo and like fite things. You know, that was his humor.

494
00:27:13.319 --> 00:27:16.200
He was not quite a sophisticated as this. He also

495
00:27:16.839 --> 00:27:21.000
had this weird kind of political streak where his version

496
00:27:21.240 --> 00:27:23.519
of this play and it exists in manuscript. I've never

497
00:27:23.559 --> 00:27:24.920
been able to get a copy, but I'd love to

498
00:27:24.920 --> 00:27:29.839
read it. His version of this play was very political

499
00:27:29.880 --> 00:27:35.440
in that the it was ostensibly about the old, rich

500
00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:41.240
white ruling class versus the up and coming immigrants and

501
00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:46.480
poor people and what modern America was becoming. And so

502
00:27:46.519 --> 00:27:49.079
he was going to write thiscathing takedown of how if

503
00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:51.680
you are rich and powerful, you could just murder people

504
00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:53.720
and hide them in your basement and it wouldn't matter

505
00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:56.160
if you were one of the old families and one

506
00:27:56.200 --> 00:27:59.759
of the rich people. But here's all these new younger

507
00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:03.839
peopleople so so that their name was Brewster. And in

508
00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:06.119
the play it's mentioned that a Brewster came over in

509
00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:10.279
the Mayflower. And so there was all this stuff about that.

510
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:14.160
The two cops that we meet early in the film, Uh,

511
00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:17.519
one of them in the play was was Jewish, and

512
00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:21.279
they changed him to Irish for this this ersion. But

513
00:28:21.559 --> 00:28:24.759
and so there was quite a bit about the Brewster

514
00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:28.319
family was like taken aback. Why a Jewish policeman. We

515
00:28:28.359 --> 00:28:30.680
didn't know that was possible? And are you sure he's

516
00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:33.200
met for our neighborhood? And I mean it was he

517
00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:35.920
was trying to be very very you know, modernistic in

518
00:28:35.960 --> 00:28:40.920
his but but but the idea of the ants killing

519
00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:44.480
people and bearing them in the basement was an intriguing idea,

520
00:28:44.680 --> 00:28:46.599
and in fact he got it from a real life

521
00:28:46.640 --> 00:28:50.200
incident that had happened several years years earlier. There was

522
00:28:50.599 --> 00:28:54.119
a woman who was burying people and killing them and

523
00:28:54.119 --> 00:28:57.119
then burying them, uh, and got away with it for

524
00:28:57.240 --> 00:28:59.359
years and it was finally discovered. But so he write

525
00:28:59.400 --> 00:29:01.799
this play. He's had a bunch of other plays that

526
00:29:01.880 --> 00:29:03.839
have run a week or two on Broadway and kind

527
00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:08.240
of bomb and the producers Russell Kraus and Howard Lindsay

528
00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:11.480
get a hold of this and they look it over

529
00:29:11.640 --> 00:29:13.279
and they can see the bones of it, and they

530
00:29:13.319 --> 00:29:16.880
realize it need to be funny, not a social indictment.

531
00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:21.000
And so they came to an agreement with him. And

532
00:29:21.039 --> 00:29:22.759
it's a long story, but they basically came to an

533
00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:26.440
agreement with him where they said, we'll produce it, We'll

534
00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:28.160
let you keep your name on it, so you'll get

535
00:29:28.200 --> 00:29:30.519
the royalties and the credit. We're going to rewrite the

536
00:29:30.519 --> 00:29:35.160
whole thing. And so they basically did. They rewrote almost

537
00:29:35.160 --> 00:29:39.400
the entire play. What you hear now is like ten

538
00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:43.319
percent Kessing dialogue, and everything else is Prows and Lindsay.

539
00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:45.240
And they had a great track record. I mean, they

540
00:29:45.240 --> 00:29:47.640
wrote anything Goes with Cole Porter in the thirties. They

541
00:29:47.640 --> 00:29:49.319
were working all the way up through the Sound of

542
00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:53.960
Music in the nineteen fifties. They wrote musicals, they wrote plays,

543
00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:57.839
They were writers mainly also producers. They were a crack team.

544
00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:01.480
They got ahold of his kind of half baked idea

545
00:30:01.640 --> 00:30:03.359
and turned it into what we saw today.

546
00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:09.599
Now my understanding now, now my understanding is part of

547
00:30:09.599 --> 00:30:13.519
this deal that the producers are working out with the

548
00:30:13.559 --> 00:30:18.880
stage production, is that you cannot release the film until

549
00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:21.160
we've finished our our run.

550
00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:22.640
Yeah, I was.

551
00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:24.880
It's wildly popular, right, I.

552
00:30:24.799 --> 00:30:27.759
Would come into that. Yeah that that was so. Yeah,

553
00:30:27.880 --> 00:30:30.480
the play gets on, it's been rewritten, it's it's been

554
00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:33.880
cast tremendously. With Josephine Hall and Ginadare who we see

555
00:30:33.880 --> 00:30:36.440
in the film, and with the actor playing Teddy Roosevelt.

556
00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:42.160
He comes, he's in the play, and Boris Karloff plays

557
00:30:42.200 --> 00:30:44.319
the part that was played by Raymond Matthews. So Boris

558
00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:47.599
Karloff plays a man who looks a lot like Boris Karloff.

559
00:30:48.440 --> 00:30:49.319
I love I love that.

560
00:30:49.400 --> 00:30:52.079
And the play one of the things that Kroleson Lindsay

561
00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:54.079
added to it that makes it really special, and they

562
00:30:54.079 --> 00:30:56.960
got rid of most of it for the film, which

563
00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:01.799
rightly so. It was very kind of meta before meta

564
00:31:01.960 --> 00:31:04.559
was a thing. So all through the play, there's only

565
00:31:04.599 --> 00:31:06.079
one line of it they keep in the film, but

566
00:31:06.519 --> 00:31:09.880
they talk about, gee, if this were a play, this

567
00:31:09.920 --> 00:31:12.319
is where the part where this happens, and they mentioned

568
00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:14.559
it in the film when Carrie Grant gets tied up

569
00:31:14.599 --> 00:31:20.319
with the extension cord or the like. Yeah. Yeah, But

570
00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:25.480
but throughout the play Uh, the the Grant character. The

571
00:31:25.640 --> 00:31:28.960
Mortimer is not a best selling author about a book

572
00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:32.160
about being anti marriage. He is just a dramatic critic.

573
00:31:32.519 --> 00:31:36.039
So there's all these little zings about, well, this is ridiculous,

574
00:31:36.079 --> 00:31:38.279
you can't hide somebody in the window box in a play.

575
00:31:38.359 --> 00:31:40.960
No one would believe that, you know, and things like

576
00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:43.759
that that were the kind of meta references that audiences

577
00:31:43.759 --> 00:31:46.319
then would have laughed at the whole thing about, like

578
00:31:47.160 --> 00:31:49.920
just like Boris Karloff was hilariously funny, because at that

579
00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:50.720
it was.

580
00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:54.359
So let me ask you this, Robert, ye, if we've

581
00:31:54.400 --> 00:31:57.039
got if we've got you know, we've got three of

582
00:31:57.079 --> 00:32:02.119
the main stars from the the production, the stage production,

583
00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:07.759
they're in the film. Why why isn't Boris Karloff playing

584
00:32:07.799 --> 00:32:08.559
Jonathan Brewster.

585
00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:12.680
That's the deal. The play was a huge success, it

586
00:32:12.880 --> 00:32:16.960
was It ran ultimately for four years and then was

587
00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:21.359
in stock. It's been revived forever. They bought the film rights,

588
00:32:21.400 --> 00:32:25.680
as often happened Kraleston Lindsay, the ostensible producers of the

589
00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:28.799
play who actually did write it too, sold the film rights.

590
00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:31.039
And it was a big hit. No one thought Chestering

591
00:32:31.160 --> 00:32:32.480
was going to have a hit. No one thought this

592
00:32:32.599 --> 00:32:35.599
kind of weird o tre thing about murdering ants was

593
00:32:35.640 --> 00:32:37.680
going to be a big hit. It hit just right

594
00:32:37.720 --> 00:32:41.480
on Broadway. It was a huge success. So the deal

595
00:32:41.559 --> 00:32:44.680
was worked out that they could have some of the

596
00:32:44.759 --> 00:32:48.880
cast for eight weeks. That was it. They could shoot

597
00:32:48.920 --> 00:32:52.599
the film for eight weeks. So the two Ants, yeah,

598
00:32:52.680 --> 00:32:56.000
the two It was troublesome. Later the Two Ants and

599
00:32:56.079 --> 00:32:59.559
Teddy get flown to Hollywood. They have eight weeks to

600
00:32:59.640 --> 00:33:03.119
film go and the writer was the film could not

601
00:33:03.200 --> 00:33:06.319
be released until the play close and everyone thought, well, great,

602
00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:08.480
we're filming it in late forty one, it'll come out

603
00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:11.039
in summer of forty two. The play ran for almost

604
00:33:11.079 --> 00:33:13.759
four years. Ultimately they finally relented and in forty three

605
00:33:13.839 --> 00:33:15.559
they let it come. They let the film come out,

606
00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:18.119
even though they play was still running. But by that

607
00:33:18.119 --> 00:33:20.559
point they had tours going but no. The reason Carlofs

608
00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:24.559
stayed was they needed to have at least one name

609
00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:27.640
to keep the Broadway production going. With the rest of

610
00:33:27.680 --> 00:33:30.440
the cast gone, audiencely would not have wanted to go

611
00:33:30.519 --> 00:33:35.599
see this Broadway smash. A couple months after it opened

612
00:33:35.640 --> 00:33:37.480
with none of the stars of the play in it,

613
00:33:37.799 --> 00:33:40.599
and Gina Dare and Josephine hol were big names in

614
00:33:40.680 --> 00:33:43.359
theater at that time. The play was a smash hit,

615
00:33:43.640 --> 00:33:46.960
so Carloff. The deal was that Carloff would stay and

616
00:33:47.039 --> 00:33:50.759
do the play while the rest of them came out

617
00:33:50.839 --> 00:33:54.920
to California the film. Carloff was also an investor in

618
00:33:54.960 --> 00:33:58.839
the play, and so that was part of the thing too,

619
00:33:58.960 --> 00:34:01.119
is they were like, well, if you you leave too,

620
00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:04.279
that's gonna probably lose money. It might even close. But

621
00:34:04.319 --> 00:34:06.640
you're Borrows Karloff, You're the biggest name because you're a

622
00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:10.320
movie star. You stay in. The play will run for

623
00:34:10.360 --> 00:34:13.679
the eight weeks, they'll all come back, It'll all be fine.

624
00:34:13.760 --> 00:34:17.000
And in fact that the royalties from the play and

625
00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:20.239
the residuals he got from being a producer on it,

626
00:34:20.760 --> 00:34:23.039
Carloff was basically set for life, which is why he

627
00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:24.400
did not do a lot of film work in the

628
00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:27.239
forties and fifties because he had all the money he

629
00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:27.880
needed from this.

630
00:34:29.239 --> 00:34:32.159
But yeah, so they he made he made. He made

631
00:34:32.199 --> 00:34:34.320
the right call then, because it's I gotta imagine, if

632
00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:37.159
you're Boris Karloff, It's like, I'm either going to lose

633
00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:41.440
money by walking away from this stage performance, or I'm

634
00:34:41.480 --> 00:34:44.440
gonna lose money from not being in this Hollywood picture.

635
00:34:45.320 --> 00:34:46.760
But it sounds like he made the right where he

636
00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:47.440
made the right call.

637
00:34:47.639 --> 00:34:49.599
Yeah, he with nobody's pool because yeah, I mean, the

638
00:34:49.599 --> 00:34:51.559
film would have paid him X amount of dollars and

639
00:34:51.559 --> 00:34:53.280
he would have got that money and it would have

640
00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:57.599
been done. The play is still being produced. I expect

641
00:34:57.639 --> 00:35:00.440
his estate is probably still getting ten cents every time

642
00:35:00.440 --> 00:35:02.320
my high school does our snickel old lace. You know,

643
00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:06.360
so good for him. Do you know the funny story

644
00:35:06.360 --> 00:35:08.000
about what happened when the play went on tour?

645
00:35:08.480 --> 00:35:09.559
No, but please tell me.

646
00:35:09.880 --> 00:35:11.360
I will tell you this. So the play was a

647
00:35:11.360 --> 00:35:14.320
big hit, as as often happens with hit Broadway shows

648
00:35:14.679 --> 00:35:17.880
then and now, it went on the road. So they

649
00:35:17.960 --> 00:35:20.199
took it to Chicago and it went all over the country,

650
00:35:20.519 --> 00:35:24.559
and Carlos stayed with the New York productions. As that's

651
00:35:24.599 --> 00:35:26.960
what I was saying earlier. It ran for ultimately for

652
00:35:27.000 --> 00:35:29.239
four years. The movie came out a couple of years

653
00:35:29.239 --> 00:35:31.800
in it was dwindling, but it was still popular. At

654
00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:34.039
that point, Carloff was not in it. It was different cast,

655
00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:36.360
but it was still popular on Broadway. But they sent

656
00:35:36.440 --> 00:35:39.719
out a tour on the road and Initially the tour

657
00:35:39.880 --> 00:35:43.519
had the two sisters that were so well known from it,

658
00:35:44.440 --> 00:35:46.519
and Carloff did not want to do the tour. I

659
00:35:46.559 --> 00:35:48.599
forget if he was getting married or just whatever it was.

660
00:35:48.639 --> 00:35:50.960
He didn't want to, you know, do two months here,

661
00:35:51.039 --> 00:35:54.039
two months there. So they decide, in a bit of

662
00:35:54.079 --> 00:35:58.280
fun stunt casting, they will get Bela Lugosi to play

663
00:36:00.159 --> 00:36:03.800
after Jonathan for the tour. He was a big name draw.

664
00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:08.599
Everybody knew Bogosi's name, and they did, in fact change

665
00:36:08.599 --> 00:36:10.559
the script to say, oh, a man who looks like

666
00:36:10.599 --> 00:36:14.840
Bela Lagosi, which I thought was kind of funny. I

667
00:36:14.880 --> 00:36:18.760
guess early on, early on in the run, one of

668
00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:22.079
the two elderly ladies, because she'd done the show for

669
00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:26.039
hundreds of performances, she would occasionally say something about Boris

670
00:36:26.119 --> 00:36:31.239
Carloff and usually at that point, Lagosi would just basically

671
00:36:31.239 --> 00:36:33.280
turn and stare out at the audience, which is like,

672
00:36:33.559 --> 00:36:35.840
you know what the hell face, and it would get

673
00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:38.280
a huge laugh. But there was a debate about whether

674
00:36:38.360 --> 00:36:41.239
leaving in the carlaf reference or or to take you know,

675
00:36:41.599 --> 00:36:45.440
deliberately uh. They chose not to, but and then the

676
00:36:45.480 --> 00:36:48.960
ghostie left, and then later on Eric bon Stroheim, the

677
00:36:48.960 --> 00:36:52.159
the director who's best known to us today from Sunset

678
00:36:52.239 --> 00:36:56.639
Boulevard where he played Max the Butler to Crazy Norman

679
00:36:56.679 --> 00:36:59.840
Desmond von Stroheim did it, and at that point it

680
00:36:59.880 --> 00:37:03.400
was an actor who looked like Eric won Stroheim, So

681
00:37:03.400 --> 00:37:06.159
they kept changing the text to whoever bit the thing,

682
00:37:06.159 --> 00:37:09.559
and again it brought out that kind of meta joke

683
00:37:09.800 --> 00:37:13.280
of yes, it looks like him, it is him. For

684
00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:15.480
the film, they decided to stay with Karloff, even though

685
00:37:15.519 --> 00:37:17.599
he was not in it. They had to get permission

686
00:37:18.320 --> 00:37:22.039
from Universal Studios to do the makeup though, because of

687
00:37:22.079 --> 00:37:25.599
course Boris Karloff did not look like frankent Dyne. He

688
00:37:25.719 --> 00:37:28.199
portrayed him beautifully, but there was a lot of Jack

689
00:37:28.239 --> 00:37:30.760
Dwan's makeup on there, and a lot of moody lighting

690
00:37:30.800 --> 00:37:34.480
and all that. They didn't want the actor to necessarily

691
00:37:34.519 --> 00:37:37.480
look massy, to look like, you know, man on the

692
00:37:37.519 --> 00:37:40.440
street Boris Karloff. They wanted to look like Frankendin's monster.

693
00:37:41.119 --> 00:37:44.800
So there were a lot of negotiations with Universal Studios

694
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:48.239
about how much forehead and what shape head and how

695
00:37:48.280 --> 00:37:50.920
much you know of this and that, and they ultimately

696
00:37:50.960 --> 00:37:52.719
came to some kind of compromise where there's a lot

697
00:37:52.719 --> 00:37:56.239
of scars and a few few appliances, but not a

698
00:37:56.280 --> 00:37:56.840
whole bunch.

699
00:37:58.239 --> 00:37:59.800
But yeah, I love how tho I love how they

700
00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:02.639
I love how they explained that away with Peter Lourie's

701
00:38:02.719 --> 00:38:06.599
character being like this plastic surgeon who is working to

702
00:38:06.960 --> 00:38:09.960
you know, disfigure his face so he's not recognizable since

703
00:38:09.960 --> 00:38:11.800
you're on the run. That is brilliant.

704
00:38:11.840 --> 00:38:15.360
That is that is from the play as well itself.

705
00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:19.400
That was kept. They made some smart choices adapting this

706
00:38:19.480 --> 00:38:24.000
from this date to screen, and uh, primarily they they

707
00:38:24.159 --> 00:38:28.840
beefed up the rules of Mortimer carry Grant and uh

708
00:38:29.159 --> 00:38:32.599
Priscilla Lane's character the fiancee and then and the wife

709
00:38:33.440 --> 00:38:37.000
towards the end, because if you're gonna have carry Grant,

710
00:38:37.079 --> 00:38:40.400
you want to use him more. Uh So the entire

711
00:38:40.480 --> 00:38:44.119
scene at the beginning, whether at the marriage registry, uh

712
00:38:44.159 --> 00:38:46.719
and hiding and all of that because he's the noted

713
00:38:46.880 --> 00:38:51.000
bachelor and all of this, and several of the scenes

714
00:38:51.039 --> 00:38:55.679
where Grant and Priscilla Lane are running around the tree

715
00:38:55.760 --> 00:38:58.719
out in the cemetery and chasing each other and kissing

716
00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:01.079
and whatnot. They build a lot of that up to

717
00:39:01.119 --> 00:39:04.119
give both of them more to do. Uh, because they

718
00:39:04.119 --> 00:39:08.320
had carry grant. The play is just only set in

719
00:39:08.360 --> 00:39:12.199
the house. There's one set, nothing else. So they did

720
00:39:12.239 --> 00:39:14.400
they made some nice changes to open it up a

721
00:39:14.440 --> 00:39:16.800
little bit. That being said, I have to dog on

722
00:39:16.840 --> 00:39:18.239
the baseball scene at the beginning.

723
00:39:19.519 --> 00:39:21.119
I don't need it.

724
00:39:21.239 --> 00:39:22.599
They were, no, we.

725
00:39:22.519 --> 00:39:23.719
Absolutely don't understand it.

726
00:39:24.599 --> 00:39:29.159
Traditionally, when you bring theater to film, you open it up,

727
00:39:29.199 --> 00:39:31.840
they call it. And it's because most plays have one

728
00:39:31.880 --> 00:39:33.960
set or two sets. In this case, it literally was

729
00:39:34.360 --> 00:39:37.239
one set the whole night. And to make it more filmmaxed,

730
00:39:37.320 --> 00:39:40.599
they want to take you other places and move around

731
00:39:40.599 --> 00:39:44.039
a little bit. We have some contemporary filmmakers who can

732
00:39:44.079 --> 00:39:46.960
do amazing things in one room or one set. It's

733
00:39:47.039 --> 00:39:49.440
usually kind of a twitterive force. But back then they

734
00:39:49.440 --> 00:39:51.519
wanted to like get outside a little bit, do a

735
00:39:51.519 --> 00:39:55.760
little bit of stuff. And Capra being Capra, said well Brooklyn,

736
00:39:55.800 --> 00:39:58.559
like nobody knows anything about Brooklyn except their baseball team.

737
00:39:59.039 --> 00:40:02.280
So they divide. It was all Capra, the scriptwriter didn't

738
00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:04.679
even do it. They found some stock footage and they

739
00:40:04.679 --> 00:40:07.159
devised this whole thing was set up of here we

740
00:40:07.159 --> 00:40:10.920
are in Brooklyn and then meanwhile coast the river. Here's

741
00:40:10.960 --> 00:40:14.519
what's happening at the brewster house. I think it's kind

742
00:40:14.599 --> 00:40:16.920
of clumsy and kind of lame, and it doesn't even

743
00:40:16.920 --> 00:40:19.679
have a payoff, Like I kept waiting for a baseball

744
00:40:19.800 --> 00:40:22.719
comes through the window later or something, so.

745
00:40:22.800 --> 00:40:25.760
The payoff for me. And I thought, if we filmed

746
00:40:25.760 --> 00:40:29.639
this whole Brooklyn Dodgers uh set up just for this

747
00:40:29.679 --> 00:40:31.840
one line, it's that was it was kind of a waste.

748
00:40:31.880 --> 00:40:34.400
But at the end, when the when the ants are

749
00:40:34.639 --> 00:40:38.559
ready to you know, they're willingly being committed, uh to

750
00:40:38.639 --> 00:40:43.679
go to what is it Happy Dale Asylunce the one

751
00:40:43.920 --> 00:40:46.480
the one makes a statement, well, this neighborhood hasn't been

752
00:40:46.519 --> 00:40:49.280
the same since that Pennant thing, you know, and she's

753
00:40:49.280 --> 00:40:51.800
referencing the Brooklyn Dodgers winning winning the World Series. But

754
00:40:51.840 --> 00:40:56.039
it's like, that's a long stretch to get to, you know,

755
00:40:56.119 --> 00:40:59.039
to to land that that that joke, and I'm with you.

756
00:40:59.119 --> 00:41:01.960
I I think you cut the entire Brooklyn Dodgers thing

757
00:41:01.960 --> 00:41:02.480
at the beginning.

758
00:41:02.880 --> 00:41:06.280
And I don't know if we even need the marriage

759
00:41:06.320 --> 00:41:09.199
license scene either, except it does give us a chat

760
00:41:09.239 --> 00:41:11.480
to meet Carrie Grant and meet for Solwan because to

761
00:41:11.480 --> 00:41:15.360
play is ostensibly the sitters are the main characters Yea

762
00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:19.280
and Mortimer is kind of the normal one the audience

763
00:41:19.320 --> 00:41:22.639
can connect to and who gives us our exposition. But

764
00:41:22.679 --> 00:41:24.360
he's not the star by any means.

765
00:41:24.559 --> 00:41:26.920
I'll tell you. So you mentioned the Dodger scene, I'll

766
00:41:26.920 --> 00:41:30.880
give you one that it was. It bothered me a

767
00:41:30.880 --> 00:41:33.199
little bit. And I know I'm nitpicking here because I'm

768
00:41:33.239 --> 00:41:37.039
assuming that in the if you see this live, if

769
00:41:37.039 --> 00:41:39.599
you see a you know, stage performance, it probably works

770
00:41:39.719 --> 00:41:43.880
really well. But there's that moment where the lights are

771
00:41:43.880 --> 00:41:48.679
out and we're just listening to things happening. Yeah, I

772
00:41:48.679 --> 00:41:51.559
think it went a little long in the film and

773
00:41:51.599 --> 00:41:55.280
it got a little a little frustrating. If I'm being honest.

774
00:41:55.599 --> 00:41:57.599
I understand why we're doing it because I love the

775
00:41:57.639 --> 00:42:00.400
set design, like the fact that they built this house

776
00:42:01.239 --> 00:42:05.039
like every room in detail, and this isn't just like set,

777
00:42:05.079 --> 00:42:06.719
you know, just like a you know sets that are

778
00:42:06.719 --> 00:42:09.760
going to roll away. I love the setting of this house,

779
00:42:09.800 --> 00:42:12.400
but I just that that that that moment where everyone's

780
00:42:12.440 --> 00:42:15.199
kind of stumbling around the dark and you're just listening

781
00:42:15.239 --> 00:42:18.400
to people's voices and you're hearing things land and crash.

782
00:42:18.440 --> 00:42:20.440
I was like, okay, we can let's let's speed this

783
00:42:20.559 --> 00:42:21.119
up a little bit.

784
00:42:21.159 --> 00:42:24.800
I think, yeah, it's funny about that house too, because

785
00:42:24.920 --> 00:42:27.840
it was such a great set that they kept it

786
00:42:28.119 --> 00:42:31.920
for years and I forget now, but it was used

787
00:42:31.960 --> 00:42:35.519
in another classic film and they either like burn it

788
00:42:35.599 --> 00:42:38.559
down or tear it down on film, but the house

789
00:42:38.719 --> 00:42:41.760
was the house set was used again later because it

790
00:42:41.800 --> 00:42:42.920
was such a great set.

791
00:42:43.119 --> 00:42:44.440
I don't have to look that up. I'd love to

792
00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:45.119
see the movie.

793
00:42:44.960 --> 00:42:47.679
Though, I am, I am, I'm pulling it up now.

794
00:42:47.800 --> 00:42:51.400
It was George Washington Slept Here, which is a fun

795
00:42:51.440 --> 00:42:55.559
comedy with Jack Benny about he and his wife buying

796
00:42:56.000 --> 00:42:58.800
a old colonial home. It's kind of a hot mess

797
00:42:58.840 --> 00:43:02.440
and all this, and yeah, George Wathington's Left Here came

798
00:43:02.480 --> 00:43:05.840
out in forty two, so filmed a year later, and

799
00:43:05.880 --> 00:43:08.639
then they also you did in another film after that,

800
00:43:09.400 --> 00:43:13.440
so the studio system works for that. I also did

801
00:43:13.639 --> 00:43:15.760
mentioning the studio system because I do love it so much,

802
00:43:15.800 --> 00:43:18.199
those old movies. I got such a kick out of

803
00:43:18.239 --> 00:43:21.880
this movie. In this scene at the marriage registrar seeing

804
00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:25.800
Charles Lane, he was one of the two reporters, the

805
00:43:25.840 --> 00:43:28.280
fella with the red glasses kind of bolding head. Where

806
00:43:28.280 --> 00:43:30.719
do I know him for you you know him from everything.

807
00:43:30.719 --> 00:43:34.639
He made over two hundred and fifty films. Yeah, he

808
00:43:34.719 --> 00:43:37.880
worked pretty much steadily from the early nineteen thirties up

809
00:43:37.960 --> 00:43:41.159
until the seventies. He lived to be over one hundred

810
00:43:41.199 --> 00:43:44.320
and one years old. He was on I Love Lucy

811
00:43:44.480 --> 00:43:46.760
and he transitioned to TV. So if you ever watch

812
00:43:46.840 --> 00:43:49.159
I Love Lucy or Make Room for Daddy or any

813
00:43:49.159 --> 00:43:52.639
of those fifties sitcoms, he did those. He was never

814
00:43:52.679 --> 00:43:54.719
a star, he never he never had more than a

815
00:43:54.719 --> 00:43:57.440
few lines, but he always would play the salar puss

816
00:43:57.440 --> 00:44:00.360
and he was the night desk editor, or he was

817
00:44:01.000 --> 00:44:03.840
the restaurant manager, or he he was, you know, the

818
00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:07.719
judge at the trial. If you look into filmography, I

819
00:44:07.719 --> 00:44:10.679
mean he went doing no lie like twenty to thirty

820
00:44:10.679 --> 00:44:15.880
films a year for the studios and just and so like.

821
00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:18.280
But as soon as I saw him, I'm like, it

822
00:44:18.280 --> 00:44:20.159
makes you made me smile, and I'm like, oh, it's him.

823
00:44:20.519 --> 00:44:22.679
I love that about old movies where you get to

824
00:44:22.719 --> 00:44:26.199
see Edward Everett Horton, who in this one plays the

825
00:44:26.239 --> 00:44:29.119
asylum director, and these characters come out and you know

826
00:44:29.159 --> 00:44:31.039
what you're gonna get. They're gonna do their bit. They're

827
00:44:31.039 --> 00:44:33.840
gonna do their their sour puss thing or their fussy thing,

828
00:44:33.920 --> 00:44:36.280
or their whatever, their whatever, their their stick is. They're

829
00:44:36.320 --> 00:44:39.079
gonna do it, and you're gonna love it, and it's

830
00:44:39.199 --> 00:44:41.079
it's so fun to kind of see those kind of recurring,

831
00:44:41.360 --> 00:44:43.239
recurring actors. So I knew I was in good hands

832
00:44:43.239 --> 00:44:43.880
when I saw him.

833
00:44:44.480 --> 00:44:47.360
Well, we are good hand. We are in good hands

834
00:44:47.400 --> 00:44:50.719
with the sponsors you're about to listen to. Uh, We're

835
00:44:50.719 --> 00:44:52.440
gonna take a quick break, and when we get back,

836
00:44:53.079 --> 00:44:55.480
I'm gonna tell you a few things about Frank Capra,

837
00:44:56.079 --> 00:45:00.440
and then Robert is gonna give us his recommendation on

838
00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:03.800
which Capra films we should be watching. We'll be back,

839
00:45:06.920 --> 00:45:11.000
Welcome back. It is time to talk about Frank Capra. Robert,

840
00:45:11.079 --> 00:45:15.840
I know that you know these things, but for our listeners,

841
00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:19.880
I got two things and an interesting quote from mister Capra.

842
00:45:20.760 --> 00:45:23.360
This one. Let's start off with something a little, a

843
00:45:23.360 --> 00:45:27.559
little humorous. So when Frank Capra was nominated for his

844
00:45:27.599 --> 00:45:31.360
first Best Director Oscar in nineteen thirty three, a movie

845
00:45:31.400 --> 00:45:36.000
called Lady for a Day, the presenter was Cowboy star

846
00:45:36.079 --> 00:45:40.760
Will Rogers, who opens the envelope and says, come and

847
00:45:40.760 --> 00:45:44.519
get it, Frank, Well, Capra was halfway down the aisle

848
00:45:44.559 --> 00:45:46.960
to the stage before he realized it was meant for

849
00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:52.360
Frank Lloyd, who directed Cavalcade. So a little bit of

850
00:45:52.360 --> 00:45:56.119
an embarrassing moment for Frank Capra at the capsule.

851
00:45:56.239 --> 00:45:58.800
I love my old movies. No one ever needed to

852
00:45:58.880 --> 00:46:04.440
watch Cavalcade to us it is. Yeah, it was the

853
00:46:04.480 --> 00:46:09.199
wrong the wrong winner. Sorry, sorry other Frank. But Capra

854
00:46:09.280 --> 00:46:10.800
made up. But though, did I think he got what

855
00:46:10.920 --> 00:46:14.880
four Best Director wins all together for the Oscars?

856
00:46:14.880 --> 00:46:16.519
So I believe you're right.

857
00:46:17.199 --> 00:46:20.519
Yeah, So that that kind of amazing. So I guess

858
00:46:20.559 --> 00:46:22.239
I guess he could let ones this time.

859
00:46:22.719 --> 00:46:26.880
Yeah, tell you what's also amazing. So obviously this film

860
00:46:26.920 --> 00:46:32.000
is in production. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on

861
00:46:32.039 --> 00:46:35.840
December twelfth, nineteen forty one, with a week to go

862
00:46:36.440 --> 00:46:41.159
before he was done editing this picture, Frank Capra enlisted

863
00:46:41.159 --> 00:46:45.639
in the US Army Signal Corps as a major. You know,

864
00:46:45.679 --> 00:46:48.519
a lot of a lot of our Hollywood stars, Hollywood directors,

865
00:46:48.559 --> 00:46:50.559
they're signing up, They're they're going to join the fight.

866
00:46:51.480 --> 00:46:54.960
But he received an extension on his order to report

867
00:46:54.960 --> 00:46:57.320
for active duty in mid January so he could finish

868
00:46:57.440 --> 00:47:01.280
editing the picture. He stayed to complete post production and

869
00:47:01.320 --> 00:47:05.400
then reported on February eleventh, nineteen forty two, this would

870
00:47:05.400 --> 00:47:09.159
be his last film, his last feature film until It's

871
00:47:09.159 --> 00:47:12.960
a Wonderful Life in nineteen forty six. Yeah, and speaking

872
00:47:13.239 --> 00:47:15.960
about the appeal of directing a film like Arsenic and

873
00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:20.480
Old Lace, Capra said, the film is no great document

874
00:47:20.519 --> 00:47:23.920
to save the world, no worries about whether John Doe

875
00:47:23.920 --> 00:47:27.159
should or should not jump. It's just good old fashioned

876
00:47:27.159 --> 00:47:29.519
theater and Robert, as you know. He would go on

877
00:47:29.599 --> 00:47:32.840
to admit that making the film was the first time

878
00:47:32.920 --> 00:47:39.480
he had enjoyed directing since making It happened one night. Yeah, Robert,

879
00:47:39.639 --> 00:47:45.400
He's He's got fifty nine credits to his to his filmography.

880
00:47:45.440 --> 00:47:47.079
I know we don't have time to talk about all

881
00:47:47.119 --> 00:47:50.039
of them, but I do want to mention a couple

882
00:47:50.239 --> 00:47:53.239
to get the Robert Burnett take, so that our listeners

883
00:47:53.440 --> 00:47:56.960
who are discovering Frank Caepra for the first time or

884
00:47:57.119 --> 00:48:00.800
rediscovering Frank Capra, they'll know which one to check out

885
00:48:00.840 --> 00:48:04.800
based on your recommendations. I'm gonna jump ahead, if that's

886
00:48:04.800 --> 00:48:06.440
okay with you, sir. I'm gonna jump ahead, because I

887
00:48:06.480 --> 00:48:08.840
know he does. He does a lot of silent films

888
00:48:08.880 --> 00:48:11.800
in the twenties. Can we just start. Let's start with

889
00:48:11.880 --> 00:48:14.440
nineteen thirty four. It Happened One Night.

890
00:48:15.280 --> 00:48:18.880
This is a classic. This is a pre code comedy.

891
00:48:19.000 --> 00:48:22.719
It is hilarious. We've got Clark Gable and Quadette Colbert.

892
00:48:23.440 --> 00:48:26.639
It's kind of a road picture. It was a template

893
00:48:26.719 --> 00:48:30.519
for so many other other movies and those kind of

894
00:48:30.599 --> 00:48:34.159
mismatched pairings, you know, all the way up through Pretty Women,

895
00:48:34.800 --> 00:48:38.679
Pretty Woman with Richard Gear and Julie Roberts, all the

896
00:48:38.880 --> 00:48:41.760
kind of mismatched couple thrown together and look what happens

897
00:48:41.880 --> 00:48:44.280
and they fall in love. This is one of the

898
00:48:44.280 --> 00:48:48.039
first and one of the best. It was considered pre

899
00:48:48.119 --> 00:48:52.800
code because it was kind of scandalous. The real fun

900
00:48:52.840 --> 00:48:55.519
fact about this film is that Clark Gable appears in

901
00:48:55.599 --> 00:49:01.559
his undershirt and that was shocked, shocking, shocking. There's also

902
00:49:01.599 --> 00:49:05.239
a scene where they are in a train compartment and

903
00:49:05.239 --> 00:49:08.159
they have to change out of their wet clothes and

904
00:49:08.280 --> 00:49:10.920
she's on one side of I have a little line

905
00:49:10.960 --> 00:49:13.599
across the compartment with some sheets hanging on it, and

906
00:49:13.679 --> 00:49:16.440
she's getting undressed one one side and he getting undressed

907
00:49:16.480 --> 00:49:19.000
on the other and you know, get the smelling salts

908
00:49:19.000 --> 00:49:23.639
because this is practically pornography for nineteen thirty four. So yeah,

909
00:49:23.679 --> 00:49:27.840
but it holds up. It is absolutely sharp and funny.

910
00:49:28.960 --> 00:49:31.920
I think it's Colbert's best film. And she wasn't really

911
00:49:31.960 --> 00:49:33.920
known for her comedy. It's a shame because she was

912
00:49:33.960 --> 00:49:36.679
great in this. And this is one of the earliest

913
00:49:36.719 --> 00:49:40.440
films that Clark Gable broke out of just being the

914
00:49:41.119 --> 00:49:45.400
hunky leading man opposite a female star and said his

915
00:49:45.840 --> 00:49:48.000
career moving to where we would end up gone with

916
00:49:48.039 --> 00:49:50.760
the wind a few years later. Kind of his persona

917
00:49:50.800 --> 00:49:54.800
and his charm were honed in this film. Capra, as

918
00:49:54.800 --> 00:49:57.800
I mentioned before we started recording, is not one of

919
00:49:57.800 --> 00:50:01.760
my favorite directors, but gosh, he could get great performances

920
00:50:01.840 --> 00:50:03.559
out of some of these stars and kind of give

921
00:50:03.639 --> 00:50:07.039
them signature roles. And it happened one night for both

922
00:50:07.119 --> 00:50:10.480
Copet and Gable. Is a signature film. Well, we're seeing.

923
00:50:10.960 --> 00:50:15.519
Your thoughts on mister Deed's Goes to Town nineteen thirty

924
00:50:15.559 --> 00:50:19.400
six place by Adam Sandler. No scratch that, Gary Cooper.

925
00:50:20.280 --> 00:50:26.360
I know we got that terrible remake with with Sandler,

926
00:50:26.400 --> 00:50:28.000
but mister them.

927
00:50:27.880 --> 00:50:30.239
Confused all the time. I mean, you think of Adam Sandler,

928
00:50:30.239 --> 00:50:34.519
you immediately think or Gary Cooper. They're interchangeable. Yeah, and

929
00:50:34.599 --> 00:50:37.639
one's like six ' four, you know, broad shouldered and

930
00:50:37.679 --> 00:50:40.840
all this, and the other one is Adam Sandler. Yeah,

931
00:50:41.159 --> 00:50:43.480
this is kind of the first of one of the

932
00:50:43.559 --> 00:50:47.840
kind of Americicana things. I think you could have subbed

933
00:50:47.880 --> 00:50:50.639
out at this point. You could have subbed out Cooper

934
00:50:50.719 --> 00:50:54.119
for Jimmy Stewart in this film. It is a nice

935
00:50:54.199 --> 00:50:57.960
chance to see Jean Arthur, who is really not known

936
00:50:58.119 --> 00:51:00.320
today at all, but she worked with Coup Bir she

937
00:51:00.440 --> 00:51:04.159
worked with Carry Grant in a couple of films. Had

938
00:51:04.239 --> 00:51:07.880
kind of a tragic life. But it's a fun film,

939
00:51:08.039 --> 00:51:11.320
but it is kind of the beginning of what later

940
00:51:11.360 --> 00:51:16.880
became known as Caprakorn in Hollywood, these kind of corny

941
00:51:17.880 --> 00:51:22.440
flag wave in a Shuxi Americana films. This one, though,

942
00:51:22.679 --> 00:51:26.239
is it's fun to watch, but it's not one of

943
00:51:26.280 --> 00:51:28.679
my super favorites. But it's kind of where he hits

944
00:51:28.719 --> 00:51:32.079
his stride as the Frank Capra that we think of

945
00:51:32.119 --> 00:51:36.679
when we think of a Frank Capra movie. So yeah,

946
00:51:36.960 --> 00:51:39.960
it's a fun one to watch, but I don't think

947
00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:41.320
it's a fun one necessarily to have.

948
00:51:41.280 --> 00:51:45.760
To rewatch, all right, The nineteen thirty seven Lost Horizon.

949
00:51:47.320 --> 00:51:51.039
This is a minor classic of the era, based on

950
00:51:51.079 --> 00:51:55.360
a very famous book, got made into a horrible movie

951
00:51:55.440 --> 00:51:59.320
musical in the nineteen seventies that gave me one of

952
00:51:59.360 --> 00:52:03.559
my favorite bitch equips of all time with this musical

953
00:52:03.639 --> 00:52:07.599
had George Kennedy in it and leave Olman and people

954
00:52:07.639 --> 00:52:10.320
that should not have been a musical. Bert Baccarack of

955
00:52:10.400 --> 00:52:14.880
all the sixty seventies pop hits wrote the score and

956
00:52:14.920 --> 00:52:18.360
the equip that I just treasured about this. At the

957
00:52:18.400 --> 00:52:22.039
Academy Award, someone asked Bett Middler about lots of Yzon

958
00:52:22.079 --> 00:52:26.480
and she said, I never miss a live Almond musical. Almond,

959
00:52:26.519 --> 00:52:29.880
of course known for her intense Bergmann dramas and very

960
00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:33.920
heady artistic things. But this lotter Rizon is actually not bad.

961
00:52:34.159 --> 00:52:37.639
And Ronald Coleman, again not as well known today, gives

962
00:52:37.679 --> 00:52:40.440
a very strong performance. It's a great adaption of the book.

963
00:52:41.559 --> 00:52:43.920
If you like Edward ever at Horton and Art nicol

964
00:52:43.920 --> 00:52:45.960
Old Lace, he shows up in this one as well,

965
00:52:46.800 --> 00:52:49.039
playing basically the same character he will play for his

966
00:52:49.159 --> 00:52:54.360
forty five year career, the kind of diithering, nervous, you know, guy.

967
00:52:54.400 --> 00:52:57.760
But it's it's it's a really nice adaption. The only

968
00:52:58.239 --> 00:53:02.400
kind of flaw on this one really is it's set

969
00:53:02.440 --> 00:53:08.320
in this sort of mountainous Himalayan thing, and the backdrops

970
00:53:08.400 --> 00:53:11.239
and the sets are kind of cheesy, certainly by what

971
00:53:11.239 --> 00:53:14.599
we're used to today. But a solid film again, kind

972
00:53:14.599 --> 00:53:18.239
of a solid B picture of the era and one

973
00:53:18.280 --> 00:53:20.840
of Kapa's better known, better known movies.

974
00:53:21.320 --> 00:53:23.280
Well, he's starting to hit his stride where he's about

975
00:53:23.320 --> 00:53:25.119
to crank out, like one a year, it seems now

976
00:53:25.360 --> 00:53:27.880
nineteen thirty eight. You can't take it with you.

977
00:53:28.599 --> 00:53:32.440
Here's Geane Arthur again and Jimmy Stewart and so we're

978
00:53:32.480 --> 00:53:34.360
starting to really, I really get in the groove. This

979
00:53:34.480 --> 00:53:37.760
is also based on our Broadway play, like our nicol

980
00:53:37.760 --> 00:53:41.159
Old Lace was, and the play is a classic. The

981
00:53:41.159 --> 00:53:45.239
film is a classic, just kind of mad cap, crazy

982
00:53:45.280 --> 00:53:51.119
family and their shenanigans, but great, great cast. Everybody down

983
00:53:51.159 --> 00:53:55.800
the line is a solid performer and lots of great

984
00:53:55.880 --> 00:53:57.880
names from the nineteen thirties. So if you're like me,

985
00:53:57.920 --> 00:54:00.440
you got me. Lionel Barrymore is in this and Mish hour,

986
00:54:01.360 --> 00:54:04.400
very young Anne Miller, who later became a cap dancing

987
00:54:04.639 --> 00:54:08.159
thing for the nineteen fifties with Gene Kelly Spring Byington.

988
00:54:08.239 --> 00:54:10.199
All these kind of faces you will know if you

989
00:54:10.280 --> 00:54:14.360
watch thirties movies, appear in it. And it's it's really solid.

990
00:54:14.559 --> 00:54:18.480
It's funny, it's screwball. It's a kind of about a

991
00:54:18.480 --> 00:54:23.760
wacky family and all their different shenanigans. Stuart being introduced

992
00:54:23.760 --> 00:54:26.760
in the family through a love interest is with the

993
00:54:26.800 --> 00:54:31.039
trope at the time, but very solid. Definitely one of

994
00:54:31.079 --> 00:54:31.920
Capra's best.

995
00:54:32.239 --> 00:54:36.199
I think you can't talk about Capra's best without having

996
00:54:36.880 --> 00:54:40.360
his next feature, nineteen thirty nine's mister Smith goes to Washington.

997
00:54:40.519 --> 00:54:41.840
In the conversation right.

998
00:54:41.920 --> 00:54:44.559
Right, and here's Jean Arthur again. You can see that

999
00:54:44.880 --> 00:54:47.400
Capra had his stock company, he had people he liked,

1000
00:54:47.679 --> 00:54:50.800
of course Jimmy Stewart. Then we add in Claude Rains

1001
00:54:50.840 --> 00:54:53.039
in the mix and some other people. Yeah, this is

1002
00:54:53.519 --> 00:54:56.199
not only a great Capra film, like it definitely a

1003
00:54:56.199 --> 00:54:57.559
great American film.

1004
00:54:57.840 --> 00:55:00.159
This is a Americana right, Yeah.

1005
00:55:00.199 --> 00:55:05.280
Absolutely. And the very famous speech that that Jimmy Stewart

1006
00:55:05.280 --> 00:55:08.639
gives to the Senate gets in every AFI list of

1007
00:55:08.840 --> 00:55:11.639
Best Speeches and Best Film Moments and all of this.

1008
00:55:13.320 --> 00:55:16.599
And what's funny about it is it was a big,

1009
00:55:16.639 --> 00:55:20.760
big success at the box office, and it was won

1010
00:55:20.840 --> 00:55:23.800
some awards, although not as many as it was nominated for.

1011
00:55:24.000 --> 00:55:27.119
Was nominated for a bunch of Oscars, uh just one

1012
00:55:27.159 --> 00:55:30.159
for the original Story, but is now on every top

1013
00:55:30.239 --> 00:55:34.960
hundred list you see. This film is up there. Later

1014
00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:38.119
on in his career, Jimmy Stewart like despised this film

1015
00:55:38.719 --> 00:55:43.960
because he thought he was He thought the movie was capricorn,

1016
00:55:44.519 --> 00:55:48.480
and he thought that he was unbelievable in it. He

1017
00:55:48.519 --> 00:55:52.400
thought his performance was not great. But I think that

1018
00:55:52.480 --> 00:55:55.880
Jimmy underestimates himself. This is a really great movie.

1019
00:55:56.280 --> 00:55:58.639
I disagree with him on that. It's it's fantastic film.

1020
00:55:59.320 --> 00:56:01.000
Yeah, well, I think it came back to haunt him.

1021
00:56:01.039 --> 00:56:03.119
You know, when you have a career that ranges from

1022
00:56:03.159 --> 00:56:07.280
Westerns to musicals to Hitchcock to be you know, known

1023
00:56:07.320 --> 00:56:11.039
at your Lifetime Achievement Award for this quip and then

1024
00:56:11.079 --> 00:56:15.239
also wonderful life and probably probably rear window, you know,

1025
00:56:15.639 --> 00:56:17.400
he's like he has more to offer than just that.

1026
00:56:18.199 --> 00:56:19.960
All right, I don't know about this next one because

1027
00:56:19.960 --> 00:56:22.320
I've never seen it, but tell me your thoughts on

1028
00:56:22.519 --> 00:56:25.239
nineteen forty one's Meet John Doe.

1029
00:56:26.440 --> 00:56:30.239
Well, I'm for it. Barbara Stanwick is another great actress

1030
00:56:30.480 --> 00:56:34.000
of her era that is not a common name now

1031
00:56:34.519 --> 00:56:38.199
like she should be. Normally. She played like tough broads

1032
00:56:38.280 --> 00:56:42.440
and newspaper gals and you know, these kind of big

1033
00:56:42.440 --> 00:56:46.159
shoulder pad women. But she was great in comedies, and

1034
00:56:46.199 --> 00:56:49.920
this one is another political comedy drama comedy drama like

1035
00:56:50.920 --> 00:56:54.480
the last several have been. But Stanwick is great in this.

1036
00:56:54.800 --> 00:56:57.119
I think After Ball of Fire is probably her best

1037
00:56:57.119 --> 00:57:00.119
performance because I think she was a better comedian, and

1038
00:57:00.159 --> 00:57:03.159
then she was a tough gal, which was kind of

1039
00:57:03.159 --> 00:57:06.320
how she got shoehorned. But this is a great film.

1040
00:57:06.400 --> 00:57:08.880
And then Gary Cooper again is back. His little stock

1041
00:57:08.920 --> 00:57:13.400
company of people show up again. The only downside of

1042
00:57:13.400 --> 00:57:16.840
this one is after you've seen some of the earlier

1043
00:57:16.880 --> 00:57:20.280
films we talked about, it starts feeling like Kapa is

1044
00:57:20.320 --> 00:57:24.159
going back to the well one time too many. Now,

1045
00:57:24.199 --> 00:57:27.320
Now that being said, this is also from nineteen forty one.

1046
00:57:27.360 --> 00:57:30.320
The world is it war, America is coming out of

1047
00:57:30.320 --> 00:57:32.599
the Great Depression. There's a lot of stuff going on,

1048
00:57:33.280 --> 00:57:37.559
so I think maybe some patriotism and some even jingoistic

1049
00:57:38.119 --> 00:57:40.960
ra ra America. You know, we may have our problem,

1050
00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:43.639
but we're the best country in the world. Cheer it

1051
00:57:44.000 --> 00:57:47.280
might be needed out there for audiences. They certainly did

1052
00:57:47.280 --> 00:57:53.159
well at the box office. But of this, and mitter

1053
00:57:53.280 --> 00:57:55.239
Smith goes to Washington. If you have to watch one

1054
00:57:55.320 --> 00:57:56.199
go with mister Smith.

1055
00:57:57.960 --> 00:58:04.199
Well, I know, he cranks out several uncredited small shorts

1056
00:58:05.400 --> 00:58:09.199
and then we've been talking about Arsenic and old lace

1057
00:58:09.400 --> 00:58:14.599
this hour, which comes out nineteen forty four, and then

1058
00:58:14.679 --> 00:58:16.760
back to a lot of you know, this is I'm

1059
00:58:16.760 --> 00:58:18.760
assuming this is his work during World War Two where

1060
00:58:18.760 --> 00:58:21.719
he's doing a lot more of these uncredited shorts. You know,

1061
00:58:21.719 --> 00:58:24.199
we got titles like War Comes to America and here

1062
00:58:24.239 --> 00:58:27.320
is Germany and your Job in Germany. But when he

1063
00:58:27.360 --> 00:58:31.559
gets back home, now it's nineteen forty six and he

1064
00:58:31.599 --> 00:58:35.519
does his probably his most memorable film, right talking about

1065
00:58:35.519 --> 00:58:36.440
It's a Wonderful Life.

1066
00:58:36.880 --> 00:58:39.840
Yeah, everybody's seen this movie. If you haven't seen it,

1067
00:58:39.880 --> 00:58:45.199
you should see it. I think it's got flaws. I

1068
00:58:45.239 --> 00:58:49.360
think for me, the tone is very uneven, and people

1069
00:58:49.440 --> 00:58:53.000
remember it it's this warm, magical Christmas movie and oh

1070
00:58:53.079 --> 00:58:54.159
dear god, it is not.

1071
00:58:55.119 --> 00:58:58.360
Anything but that. I think when you're younger, when you're young,

1072
00:58:59.000 --> 00:59:01.000
you don't think about what it's really going on with

1073
00:59:01.039 --> 00:59:03.880
George Bailey. But yeah, the fact is this is a

1074
00:59:04.000 --> 00:59:07.400
very dark story about a man who's ready to take

1075
00:59:07.440 --> 00:59:10.559
his own life and needs needs a guardian angel to

1076
00:59:10.599 --> 00:59:14.119
show him, well, here's here's why white life is worth living.

1077
00:59:14.519 --> 00:59:17.079
It's you know, when you when you become an adult,

1078
00:59:17.079 --> 00:59:19.320
I think especially, and you start to see the movie

1079
00:59:19.360 --> 00:59:21.119
for what it really is. It's it's a little it's

1080
00:59:21.119 --> 00:59:23.880
a lot more depressing, it's a lot darker. It's still adult.

1081
00:59:23.880 --> 00:59:25.280
You're wrong. It's still a great film tho. It's still

1082
00:59:25.280 --> 00:59:27.159
a great film with a great message. But wow.

1083
00:59:27.800 --> 00:59:31.559
Yeah, it's interesting because Stewart also served in the military

1084
00:59:31.639 --> 00:59:33.840
for several years. A lot of the Hollywood stars did,

1085
00:59:34.079 --> 00:59:38.679
and directors like Capra. Uh and the way he got

1086
00:59:38.719 --> 00:59:40.440
pitched this by Capra because he didn't want to do

1087
00:59:40.480 --> 00:59:42.360
any more Capra stuff because he felt like he just

1088
00:59:42.800 --> 00:59:47.679
had taken that path. I'm looking at IMDb and Charles Lane,

1089
00:59:47.719 --> 00:59:50.000
my my reporter from the first film with the real

1090
00:59:50.039 --> 00:59:54.760
estate salesman in this movie. Of course he's in this movie. Anyway.

1091
00:59:55.119 --> 00:59:59.280
The pitch was from Capra to why why Stuart should

1092
00:59:59.280 --> 01:00:01.440
do it and why Stewart kind of the performance he

1093
01:00:01.480 --> 01:00:05.280
did was what we would call now like PTSD, like

1094
01:00:05.440 --> 01:00:10.519
post traumatic stress, you know, where it was this idea of, well,

1095
01:00:10.639 --> 01:00:15.119
your character is is suicidal and and you know, draw

1096
01:00:15.199 --> 01:00:18.960
on what you saw in the war and and all

1097
01:00:19.000 --> 01:00:21.199
the lives that were locked and all the kind of stuff.

1098
01:00:21.280 --> 01:00:25.360
So it isn't it isn't in the text of the

1099
01:00:25.440 --> 01:00:28.199
movie necessarily, but but it was in the subtext, and

1100
01:00:28.239 --> 01:00:31.039
it was why Stewart decided to come back and do

1101
01:00:31.079 --> 01:00:34.000
this because he and Kapra both served both knew that,

1102
01:00:34.719 --> 01:00:36.719
you know, America is still the best country in the world,

1103
01:00:36.760 --> 01:00:39.519
but we have some issues. And the war was a big, big,

1104
01:00:39.719 --> 01:00:42.320
long you know, cost a lot of lives, cost a

1105
01:00:42.320 --> 01:00:45.320
lot of money, set the country back. So the film

1106
01:00:45.320 --> 01:00:47.559
does take a darker turn. But Stewart had to be

1107
01:00:47.599 --> 01:00:51.519
talked into playing playing his character because George Bailey was

1108
01:00:51.559 --> 01:00:54.679
not something he wanted to do. Especially for Capra. He

1109
01:00:54.760 --> 01:00:57.360
thought it was going to be more, not not a

1110
01:00:57.440 --> 01:01:01.840
romp exactly, but a little more. And it just between

1111
01:01:01.840 --> 01:01:03.920
the two of them it kind of got darker and darker.

1112
01:01:04.639 --> 01:01:07.159
Well, let's have the let's Head the Other Way Away

1113
01:01:07.199 --> 01:01:11.639
from the Darkness. Nineteen forty eight, Spencer Tracy Catherine Hepburn,

1114
01:01:12.199 --> 01:01:13.199
State of the Union.

1115
01:01:14.039 --> 01:01:17.199
Yeah, Capra was a director to hire on Higher. He

1116
01:01:17.760 --> 01:01:21.239
did the scripts they gave him. This is not their

1117
01:01:21.320 --> 01:01:23.760
best movie. I don't think it's his best movie either.

1118
01:01:24.760 --> 01:01:27.239
It does have the young Angela Lansbury in it. They

1119
01:01:27.280 --> 01:01:28.800
didn't know what to do with her back then, so

1120
01:01:28.800 --> 01:01:31.480
she's kind of went from movie to movie. Tracy and

1121
01:01:31.519 --> 01:01:34.920
Hepburn are Tracy and Hepburn as always. The film is

1122
01:01:35.440 --> 01:01:38.559
well done, but it is not one of their better films.

1123
01:01:38.559 --> 01:01:41.400
It's just kind of kind of perfunctory, kind of assembly

1124
01:01:41.480 --> 01:01:46.079
line ish. It's well made. If you liked them, well,

1125
01:01:46.119 --> 01:01:48.440
we're seeing you get to see the young angel Lansbury,

1126
01:01:48.519 --> 01:01:54.760
you get to see Charles Lane again. But this is

1127
01:01:55.000 --> 01:01:57.320
low on my list of Hepburn Tracy films for sure.

1128
01:01:57.880 --> 01:02:01.639
Okay, well, let's enter the nineteen fifty He teams up

1129
01:02:01.639 --> 01:02:03.280
with Bing Crosby and riding High.

1130
01:02:04.280 --> 01:02:06.880
I have not seen this movie. You'd think I would.

1131
01:02:07.159 --> 01:02:09.760
I like being a lot, but I did not see

1132
01:02:09.760 --> 01:02:12.440
that one, so I can't say nothing about it.

1133
01:02:12.800 --> 01:02:17.159
We'll move on. How about nineteen fifty one, he's back

1134
01:02:17.199 --> 01:02:20.079
with being again with Here Comes the Groom.

1135
01:02:21.000 --> 01:02:21.960
Utterly forgettable.

1136
01:02:22.239 --> 01:02:24.440
I say that utterly favable.

1137
01:02:25.039 --> 01:02:29.079
I saw it and I literally do not remember anything

1138
01:02:29.280 --> 01:02:33.599
about it at all. It was just a studio filler.

1139
01:02:34.199 --> 01:02:37.639
As far as I'm concerned, I'm glancing glancing at the movie.

1140
01:02:37.639 --> 01:02:40.559
If folks are going, Nope, don't remember a thing about

1141
01:02:40.559 --> 01:02:41.119
this movie.

1142
01:02:41.280 --> 01:02:42.840
I love the way you said that. I could I

1143
01:02:42.840 --> 01:02:46.840
could just see like critics are not raving, you know,

1144
01:02:47.360 --> 01:02:50.519
utterly forgettable. Robert Burnett, Docking Base seventy seven.

1145
01:02:51.159 --> 01:02:53.800
Yeah, I hate, I hate to sell sell it short,

1146
01:02:53.960 --> 01:02:56.840
but yeah, in fact, if you would not mentioned it,

1147
01:02:56.880 --> 01:02:59.480
I would never even have remembered that this movie existed.

1148
01:03:00.280 --> 01:03:02.480
And I love my fifties musicals, but this is not

1149
01:03:02.559 --> 01:03:03.840
one that I am a fan of.

1150
01:03:04.400 --> 01:03:06.800
Yeah, So he does over the next Over the next

1151
01:03:06.840 --> 01:03:09.440
couple of years, he does a couple of TV movies.

1152
01:03:09.519 --> 01:03:12.719
He's he's kind of fading away from the from the big,

1153
01:03:12.880 --> 01:03:17.360
big tentpole films. Nineteen sixty one, he does a movie

1154
01:03:17.360 --> 01:03:21.599
called Pocket full of Miracles. Are you familiar with that one, Robert, Oh,

1155
01:03:22.119 --> 01:03:25.079
guy Davis, Yeah, it.

1156
01:03:25.119 --> 01:03:27.440
Is another one that is not good.

1157
01:03:28.079 --> 01:03:30.039
Oh, okay, they went back.

1158
01:03:30.159 --> 01:03:34.679
Well, they went back to David Runyon short stories and

1159
01:03:34.920 --> 01:03:38.079
took a couple of his short stories. He's best known today,

1160
01:03:38.199 --> 01:03:40.400
was a hugely popular writer in the twenties and thirties

1161
01:03:40.719 --> 01:03:43.679
of kind of there was a whole language they called

1162
01:03:43.760 --> 01:03:47.079
run Yannies because his characters were all card sharks and

1163
01:03:47.079 --> 01:03:50.360
mobsters and showgirls and things and all the kind of catchy,

1164
01:03:50.559 --> 01:03:54.039
zippy slang they would use. But he tried once in

1165
01:03:54.079 --> 01:03:57.079
a while to write warm hearted things. This was one.

1166
01:03:57.119 --> 01:04:00.119
It was based on his story called Apple Annie and

1167
01:04:00.239 --> 01:04:05.599
another story called Madame Lagimp And it's it's just we

1168
01:04:06.079 --> 01:04:10.679
and kind of unwatchable. Betty Davis plays this sweet old

1169
01:04:10.719 --> 01:04:15.000
apple seller whose daughter falls in love and there's a

1170
01:04:15.039 --> 01:04:17.599
wedding and she had to get herself out of her

1171
01:04:17.800 --> 01:04:20.280
apple cellar rags and be the mother of the bride,

1172
01:04:20.320 --> 01:04:24.519
and it just it's all. All the worst excesses of

1173
01:04:24.679 --> 01:04:29.559
nineteen fifties films that are bad are in this. If

1174
01:04:29.559 --> 01:04:33.920
you are a fan of character actors, we do get

1175
01:04:34.519 --> 01:04:37.960
like Ellen forby Grandma Walton is in this movie. Peter

1176
01:04:38.159 --> 01:04:41.039
Fox early in his career as a very small part

1177
01:04:41.079 --> 01:04:43.880
in this movie. My favorite, though Edward ever at Horton

1178
01:04:44.239 --> 01:04:48.400
is back. I loved him and very very young, and

1179
01:04:48.639 --> 01:04:52.880
Margaret swivels in for a few minutes and is I

1180
01:04:52.920 --> 01:04:55.840
remember right, she's a friend of the bride. But so

1181
01:04:55.880 --> 01:04:58.840
it's kind of this crazy lots of people in it,

1182
01:04:58.880 --> 01:05:02.239
but it just trying so dang hard to be warm

1183
01:05:02.280 --> 01:05:04.480
hearted that you kind of just can't stand it. The

1184
01:05:04.480 --> 01:05:06.760
the ad line was you have to see it to

1185
01:05:06.840 --> 01:05:10.239
believe it, and I'm not going to disagree with that.

1186
01:05:11.400 --> 01:05:13.480
Well you weren't. You weren't selling me on it, so

1187
01:05:13.599 --> 01:05:15.599
you said that, and Margaret was going to swivel in

1188
01:05:15.679 --> 01:05:20.239
so I might check it out. But Roberts first pictures given,

1189
01:05:20.480 --> 01:05:23.639
Given this filmography, I gotta ask you, and I'm gonna

1190
01:05:23.639 --> 01:05:26.960
put you on the spot here two part question. What

1191
01:05:27.239 --> 01:05:31.079
is Frank Capra's best film? And what is your favorite

1192
01:05:31.719 --> 01:05:32.599
Frank Capra film.

1193
01:05:32.920 --> 01:05:35.599
I'm gonna say his best film in the sense that

1194
01:05:35.679 --> 01:05:40.440
it is probably the most representative as well is going

1195
01:05:40.519 --> 01:05:46.360
to be Mister Deeds Goes to Town. But my favorite

1196
01:05:46.440 --> 01:05:49.519
is a two way tie. Now, thank you for writing

1197
01:05:49.639 --> 01:05:52.920
mean tonight, Urs nicol old Lace and it happened one

1198
01:05:53.000 --> 01:05:55.480
night I hadn't If I hadn't done this pod, I

1199
01:05:55.480 --> 01:05:59.000
would have said it happened one night, but Arsnick is

1200
01:05:59.039 --> 01:06:03.079
really funny and I really enjoyed watching it, so it's

1201
01:06:03.119 --> 01:06:03.920
on my lift as well.

1202
01:06:04.480 --> 01:06:07.760
Okay, what did you what did you catch Arsenic and

1203
01:06:07.800 --> 01:06:09.320
Old Lace? Do you have a copy of this or

1204
01:06:09.320 --> 01:06:10.519
did you did you stream something?

1205
01:06:10.960 --> 01:06:15.599
I got the Criterion Collection DVD from the library. As

1206
01:06:15.719 --> 01:06:18.519
we often say on docu Base seventy seven, physical media

1207
01:06:18.639 --> 01:06:22.079
is better, so I had a beautiful pristine print from

1208
01:06:22.239 --> 01:06:25.000
Criterion Collection and there was some nice bonus features on

1209
01:06:25.079 --> 01:06:28.840
it as well. Normally I don't listen to audio commentary

1210
01:06:28.880 --> 01:06:32.559
because it's not my favorite thing always, but this one

1211
01:06:32.599 --> 01:06:34.280
is great. There's a guy who wrote a whole book

1212
01:06:34.440 --> 01:06:38.119
about Arsenickel Old Lace and his journey from play to

1213
01:06:38.480 --> 01:06:44.119
film to you know, Staple, and he decides he does

1214
01:06:44.199 --> 01:06:47.400
like character voices, so when he's talking about Carry Grant,

1215
01:06:47.719 --> 01:06:50.199
he tells the stories with a Carry Grant voice, and

1216
01:06:50.559 --> 01:06:53.280
he uses a Boris Carlov voice at one point, Peter Lorie.

1217
01:06:53.719 --> 01:06:56.039
He's not a good mimic or anything, mind you, but

1218
01:06:56.119 --> 01:06:59.880
it's certainly made for very fascinating listening. It's just kind

1219
01:06:59.880 --> 01:07:04.639
of dry. Author is trying to entertain us with Hollywood impersonations.

1220
01:07:05.039 --> 01:07:08.920
Well, I for one did not expect the zany ride

1221
01:07:08.960 --> 01:07:11.960
that I was taken on. But for a story involving

1222
01:07:12.000 --> 01:07:15.800
serial murderers, escape maniacs, and a seller full of bodies,

1223
01:07:16.519 --> 01:07:19.639
it's absolutely charming. Check it out the next time you

1224
01:07:19.679 --> 01:07:22.239
want to take the old Hollywood approach to your movie night.

1225
01:07:22.320 --> 01:07:24.639
And I think this is a fun one for Fall

1226
01:07:24.800 --> 01:07:27.800
or for Halloween. Wouldn't you agree, Robert Oh?

1227
01:07:27.840 --> 01:07:29.320
Absolutely? Yeah.

1228
01:07:29.519 --> 01:07:32.920
Well, listeners, what do you think of arsenic and old lace?

1229
01:07:33.599 --> 01:07:36.840
Let us know on social media. You'll find us on Facebook, Instagram,

1230
01:07:36.880 --> 01:07:39.800
and x. You can check out a Film by Podcast

1231
01:07:39.880 --> 01:07:43.360
dot com for film and TV articles and our entire library,

1232
01:07:43.400 --> 01:07:46.039
which is streaming free on the platform of your choice.

1233
01:07:46.840 --> 01:07:48.440
As always, you can write to us at a Film

1234
01:07:48.480 --> 01:07:51.880
by Podcast at gmail dot com with your questions, comments

1235
01:07:51.960 --> 01:07:55.119
and concerns. We may just read your response on the

1236
01:07:55.159 --> 01:07:59.480
show and send you some a film by swag. On Friday,

1237
01:07:59.599 --> 01:08:03.039
are limited series of Film at forty five returns with

1238
01:08:03.159 --> 01:08:06.360
special guest Jason Colvin of the Shirley You Can't Be

1239
01:08:06.440 --> 01:08:10.239
Serious podcast. Jason joins us to celebrate the forty fifth

1240
01:08:10.239 --> 01:08:14.079
anniversary of The Jerk, starring Steve Martin in one of

1241
01:08:14.119 --> 01:08:18.720
his most memorable roles. Speaking of memorable Robert, it's always

1242
01:08:18.880 --> 01:08:21.560
great to hear from you on an episode of Docing

1243
01:08:21.560 --> 01:08:24.760
Based seventy seven, and it's an absolute pleasure to have

1244
01:08:24.800 --> 01:08:26.560
you join us. I hope you're I hope you're gonna

1245
01:08:26.560 --> 01:08:26.960
come back.

1246
01:08:27.079 --> 01:08:30.319
I really do oh anytime, absolutely well.

1247
01:08:30.359 --> 01:08:32.680
Speaking of docu Based seventy seven, anything coming up that

1248
01:08:32.680 --> 01:08:35.039
you can share with us, anything you're doing.

1249
01:08:35.880 --> 01:08:38.720
Yes, we've got two episodes I'm gonna be on, as

1250
01:08:38.720 --> 01:08:41.079
well as of course many others that I am not on,

1251
01:08:41.159 --> 01:08:44.760
so way that as you will. But the Yeah, we're

1252
01:08:44.760 --> 01:08:48.199
doing a top seven favorite Walt Disney World things. It's

1253
01:08:48.199 --> 01:08:51.000
gonna be very contentious. I'm sure we've got some special

1254
01:08:51.039 --> 01:08:55.199
guests and a lot of opinions will be had on

1255
01:08:55.239 --> 01:08:57.880
that one, so it should be good fun. And then

1256
01:08:57.920 --> 01:09:00.640
I'm especially looking forward to an episode I'll be hosting

1257
01:09:00.840 --> 01:09:04.800
that'll be dropping in November. I believe it is favorite

1258
01:09:04.840 --> 01:09:07.720
song by a fictional band. So if you are into

1259
01:09:08.600 --> 01:09:12.159
Spinal Tap, or you are into the Archeese or the

1260
01:09:12.199 --> 01:09:15.039
Partridge Family, if you are into that thing, you do

1261
01:09:15.600 --> 01:09:18.760
any of those movies or TV shows, whether it is

1262
01:09:19.239 --> 01:09:22.600
a pretend band or a pretend singer singing songs. We're

1263
01:09:22.640 --> 01:09:26.000
gonna pick those terrific songs and count them down for you,

1264
01:09:26.119 --> 01:09:28.840
So it should be fascinating to hear what we are

1265
01:09:28.880 --> 01:09:32.479
able to pull out of that kind of box, within

1266
01:09:32.520 --> 01:09:34.840
a box of fictional fictional Robert.

1267
01:09:34.840 --> 01:09:36.680
I'm gonna tell you real quick, because I know you're

1268
01:09:36.720 --> 01:09:40.319
a big fan of Billy Zane like I am. I

1269
01:09:40.319 --> 01:09:43.199
gotta shout out a song called Power of the Night

1270
01:09:44.119 --> 01:09:47.039
from nineteen eighty six when Billy Zane was in Critters,

1271
01:09:47.359 --> 01:09:51.680
the fictional band an awesome song called Power of the Night.

1272
01:09:51.760 --> 01:09:54.800
So check that when I made I may a spot

1273
01:09:54.840 --> 01:09:55.439
on my list.

1274
01:09:55.560 --> 01:09:56.640
I'm writing that down.

1275
01:09:58.560 --> 01:10:01.199
Well, and here's the other thing. I can't you. I

1276
01:10:01.199 --> 01:10:03.159
can't let you leave because I definitely want to hear

1277
01:10:03.479 --> 01:10:05.119
can you. Can you tell our audience a little bit

1278
01:10:05.279 --> 01:10:06.960
about Mayro and Co.

1279
01:10:07.800 --> 01:10:12.000
Yeah. May Row and Co is our dog treat bakery business.

1280
01:10:12.680 --> 01:10:15.880
We named it after our first three dogs, Mazie, Rosie

1281
01:10:15.920 --> 01:10:20.279
and Coco, So may Row and Co. In hindsight, we

1282
01:10:20.359 --> 01:10:22.359
never would have picked such an unusual name. We thought

1283
01:10:22.399 --> 01:10:24.479
it was catchy. No one knows what it is, but

1284
01:10:24.560 --> 01:10:27.640
it is Mayro and Co. We sell dog treats and

1285
01:10:28.159 --> 01:10:30.439
really anything you can find in a bakery for people,

1286
01:10:30.520 --> 01:10:32.680
we make it for dogs. We do waffles, we do

1287
01:10:32.920 --> 01:10:36.079
custom birthday cakes and Gotcha Day cakes, but we're best

1288
01:10:36.119 --> 01:10:39.840
known for our cookies and our classic treats. You can

1289
01:10:39.880 --> 01:10:42.640
find those at Red Dog Pet Resorts around town here

1290
01:10:42.640 --> 01:10:44.960
in Cincinnati. And I'm excited to announce that we have

1291
01:10:45.119 --> 01:10:49.279
just joined Jungle Gyms, which is super well known here

1292
01:10:49.279 --> 01:10:51.920
in the Cincinnati area but kind of known all around

1293
01:10:51.920 --> 01:10:54.279
the country. Is a wonderful tourist stop if you're heading

1294
01:10:54.319 --> 01:10:56.960
on our way. So we've just joined with them. We've

1295
01:10:57.000 --> 01:10:59.560
been doing it for gosh about ten years now, and

1296
01:11:00.319 --> 01:11:02.359
love the people we meet and all the fun dogs

1297
01:11:02.359 --> 01:11:03.319
we get to give treats to.

1298
01:11:04.399 --> 01:11:06.479
What about the website, because like that's where I first

1299
01:11:06.520 --> 01:11:09.319
saw you guys, and like I just on the way,

1300
01:11:09.640 --> 01:11:10.319
what do you got for me?

1301
01:11:10.720 --> 01:11:11.319
Well?

1302
01:11:11.399 --> 01:11:11.680
Thank you?

1303
01:11:11.800 --> 01:11:15.439
Mayrowanco dot com. That's m A I R O A

1304
01:11:15.600 --> 01:11:18.000
N d c O dot com.

1305
01:11:18.159 --> 01:11:21.159
If you have a furry friend that could use a

1306
01:11:21.760 --> 01:11:26.640
very delicious and nutritious treat, check out Mayro and co. I. Actually,

1307
01:11:26.880 --> 01:11:30.159
there'll be a link to the website in the show notes,

1308
01:11:30.199 --> 01:11:31.840
so check those out and they'll take you right to

1309
01:11:32.039 --> 01:11:35.479
UH Mayro and Co. Again, Robert, thank you, and UH

1310
01:11:35.640 --> 01:11:38.159
to those of you listening to us each week, following

1311
01:11:38.199 --> 01:11:41.479
us on social media, and subscribing to our Patreon, we

1312
01:11:41.600 --> 01:11:42.000
thank you.