Have You Seen This?

im lets Jen talk him into discussing an unasked-for remake of a noir classic, The Big Sleep.Jen incorrectly described the short film in which Will Hays introduces the Vitaphone sound system as a public deployment of the Hays Code. In his capacity as chairman of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Hays did introduce a rubric for self-imposed censorship that would deform the film industry for more than thirty years. However, not only did that not happen until 1930, he didn’t even write the damn thing in spite of putting his name on it! The text of the Hays Code was devised by a handful of Catholic busybodies, including the insidiously influential film censor Joseph Breen. Anyway, if you watch the short you can see Hays’s smoldering sex appeal and naturalistic speaking style.

Tim coaxes Jen into the pool for a Polish horror musical set in a dark alternate 80s Warsaw, The Lure!Director Agnieska Smocyzynska also made The Silent Twins (2022) about June and Jennifer Gibbons. Jen gave a glib and half-accurate version of their whole deal, but this 90s-era BBC documentary features the real June Gibbons and tells it a little more accurately. It’s a story that has been mined over and over again elsewhere as “spooky” content. However, the real narrative is one about two intelligent young girls facing a pressure cooker of racism and ableism, acting out, and being medicalized, misdiagnosed, and punished instead of supported. In 2023 the BBC revisited the case via podcast, again with June Gibbons.Listen to Lady Godiva’s Operation by the Velvet Underground. Listen to it seventeen times in a row, if you’re Jen.

Jen and Tim invite Chris Wade, #1 Music Super Fan, to marvel at the high production values of the dangerously furry Rock & Rule.Hear Chris and wife Molly range far and wide on the subject of music on the And Introducing podcast! Or get your hands on actual physical music magazine Antics!The movie and many fascinating related tidbits may easily be located on the internet, if you know where to look.Read the article on animating oldschool light effects that Jen was too dumb to parse, describe, or even find again.

Tim and Jen host the guys of Guys: A Podcast About Guys for some guy talk about internet movie guys!Sadly, Bryan’s childhood favorite Big Shots is not currently streaming on Tubi, but they’ll email you when it’s available.It’s true, Benjamin Franklin did find farts extremely funny. “A Letter to a Royal Academy” (later published under the title Fart Proudly) is a whole essay about flatulence. You may find that you are entertained with the pleasantry of it and the ridicule it contains!

Jen and Tim welcome back Gaius of the wonderful Tribunate channel on YouTube to fact-check some prime dadslop called Boudica: Queen of War.The other Boudica movie Tim watched is called Boudica: Rise of the Warrior Queen and is freely available on Tubi, if you’d like to compare and contrast.The University of Toronto has proof: Romans really did practice ancient dentistry!

Tim and Jen peep at Brian De Palma’s dirty Hitchcockian (heh) thriller, Body Double!De Palma did an interview with TV reporter Bobbie Wygant to promote Body Double at the time of the film’s release. Dont’t miss Bobbie obligingly picking up some insert shots at the end of the tape.If you’re curious about that sick bachelor pad from the movie, this YouTuber has a concise history of the Chemosphere, including a mention of Body Double.Tim sent me this: “Reverend Richard Coles sings the word of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Relax to the tune of Ruler of The Queen's Navy from Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore.” He pulls it off!

Jen hosts Josh and Brian of The Worst of All Possible Worlds to contemplate a version of Othello that, thankfully, features no blackface— Catch My Soul from 1974.The Sky King episode of The Worst of All Possible Worlds is a slight divergence from their usual material, but it is as worthy as any of their deep dives into popular culture. Also check out the Ill Conceived podcast if you would like to know more about the natalist weirdos currently making their neuroses our problem.The 1962 film All Night Long is currently available on the Criterion Channel, if you want to see Patrick McGoohan take the Iago role. Also featuring appearances from Charles Mingus and Dave Brubeck!The Aggressive Christianity website is a must-visit for those who miss its brand of Web 1.0 lunacy.Jerry Lee Lewis did not tour as Iago in Catch My Soul— he played the part in a Los Angeles production, so maybe he was easier to corral. Hear some rehearsal excerpts on YouTube! Incidentally, the same production featured William Marshall as Othello, as a replacement for Rosey Grier(!). Marshall later played a traditional version of Othello for television.The BBC did indeed run The Black and White Minstrel Show from 1958 to…1978??? Good lord.

Jen and Tim finish the leftover eggnog and talk about a darker-than-dark version of Dickens’s classic, A Christmas Carol.The Grauniad’s 5-star review calls this version “rich, clever, funny and courageous,” in contrast to an outright pan from RogerEbert.com.Read an interview with Christmas Carol scribe Steven Knight in…Town and Country magazine? Huh, OK. Why not.

Tim and Jen atone for their recent choices for episode topics by discussing a good holiday-themed movie: Bob Clark's Black Christmas!Voice of the killer Nick Mancuso speaks extensively about Black Christmas in this archived article from the Telegraph, as well as other aspects of his long career.“You go 10 feet down and it’s black. The scene called for me to swim under the water. I jump off the pier and open my eyes and it’s black everywhere. I’m wearing boots, a Vietnam flying jacket. All I remember thinking is, ‘I’m dying, I’m dying….In a b-movie!’" -Nick Mancuso, on almost drowning during the filming of Mother LodeThe Internet Archive has a copy of the unkind Black Christmas review from Cinema Canada (aka "Ca-EH du Cinema")."As Jean Paul Belmondo said to Jean Seberg at the end of Breathless: "C'est vraiment dégueulasse."-Natalie Edwards on Black Christmas