Episode #66 - Matthew Dessem (The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford)

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"I find these moments fascinating where a film might have been made but wasn't. I'm more interested in failure than success."

Matthew Dessem spent years observing the behind-the-scenes reality of Hollywood, so it's only natural that his book, The Gag Man, would take us behind the scenes of an essential collaborator to silent and sound comedians who all but disappeared behind the name of the stars. In this latest episode of the podcast, Dessem traces his movie upbringing to his eventual project searching through every piece of the Criterion canon, and eventually to his interest in exploring the legends of Hollywood that never made it, whether a screenplay or a collaboration. The two then go in depth on his new biography of Clyde Bruckman, a man with legendary credits but no legend until now. Finally, the two switch to a different legend, Brad Pitt's turn as the notorious outlaw and Casey Affleck as the man who shot him in The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, which both embraces the mythology of the classic American genre, while also exposing it at its most ugly.

0:00-2:24 Opening

3:24-9:51  Establishing Shots - Mistress America
10:36-47:26 Deep Focus - Matthew Dessem

48:35-50:48 Mubi Sponsorship
51:42-1:08:37 Double Exposure - The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominick)

1:08:40-1:10:40 Close / Outtake 

Purchase The Gag Man through The Critical Press or Amazon. Check out Matthew's blog here, as well as his work for Slate and The Dissolve.

Remembering James Agee (The Night of The Hunter)

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"It is my business to conduct one end of a conversation, as an amateur critic among amateur critics. And I will be of use and of interest only in so far as my amateur judgment is sound, stimulating, or illuminating."

May 16th, 1955—60 years ago before this recording—James Agee died of a heart attack in the back of a New York taxi at the all too young age of 45. In his wake, he left a mountain of unprecedented writing, including the foundations for the first wave of serious film criticism in America. In this special episode, Scott Nye and Kristen Sales join Peter to discuss Agee's work and life. From his Southern roots in literature, including his poetic depiction of the depression, to his adoration of the silent comedies and vitriolic defense of one of Charles Chaplin's most contentious films. The conversation spreads from criticism to narrative prose to photography and finally to Agee's work within the moving image, especially his contribution to one of the all time great films, The Night of the Hunter.

0:00-4:19 Opening

4:40-22:30  "Comedy's Greatest Era" and Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
23:05-33:39 On Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity and The Lost Weekend
34:20-51:37 Monsieur Verdoux and "Knoxville: Summer 1915"
52:36-1:00:20 In The Street

1:00:56-1:03:15 Mubi Sponsorship - Mother and We Can't Go Home Again

1:04:22 -1:22:38 The Night of the Hunter 

1:22:42-1:24:49 Close / Outtake

Read Scott Nye at Criterion Cast and Battleship Pretension
Read Kristen Sales at Sales on Film.
Follow Scott on Twitter and Kristen on Twitter

Episode #34 - Dana Stevens (Letter From An Unknown Woman)

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"In some ways, I just think of myself as a writer. If I could never write about movies again, I'd be terribly sad, but I would continue to write."

As one of the film criticism's public figures, Dana Stevens has carved out a niche for herself with a thoughtful and intelligent approach to contemporary film reviewing. So she joins Peter in the studio for a brief chat about her days as a Comparative Lit. PhD, the 6 hour writing process, and the joy of the occasional Slate-style pitch. Then the two dive into Max Ophüls's opulent drama Letter From An Unknown Woman, which Dana finds majesty in the film's tragic metaphor for love while Peter explores the film's unique texture between the artificial and the authentic. Plus, Peter remembers Alain Resnais by revisiting two of his classics.

0:00-1:20 Opening 

2:01-8:20 Establishing Shots - RIP Alain Resnais / Donations

9:05-36:38 Deep Focus - Dana Stevens

38:34-1:01:32 Double Exposure - Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophüls)

1:01:34-1:03:16 Close / Outtake

Read Dana Stevens at Slate and listen to the Slate Culture Gabfest.
Follow Dana on Twitter.

Episode #28 - Imogen Sara Smith (In A Lonely Place)

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"What makes noir different from other crime movies is you have these elements of interiority—it's about psychological states."

While it can be fun to talk to critics who spend their time keeping up with contemporary cinema, Peter is glad to bring on Imogen Sara Smith, who has always dived into cinema's past worlds. The author of Buster Keaton: The Persistence of Comedy and In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City talks about her initial love of film via the Great Stoneface, her desire to write long in order to thoroughly engage with a topic, and her love of Pre-Code's subversive pleasures. The two also dive deeply into the many ends and odds of the strange cycle of film noir, engaging with questions of genre, psychology, and some underrated hits, before ending with one of noir's canonical masterpieces: Nicholas Ray's In A Lonely Place, a film so brutal in its depiction of love by being at first so intoxicating. 

0:00-1:24 Opening 

2:15-5:12 Establishing Shots - In The Mouth of Madness

5:28-10:18 Listener Feedback

11:03-1:12:57 Deep Focus - Imogen Sara Smith

1:13:56-1:36:45 Double Exposure - In A Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray)

1:36:47-1:39:19 Close / Outtake

Purchase Imogen's two books - In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City and Buster Keaton: The Persistence of Comedy. Read her work at Bright Lights Film Journal, Moving Image Source, Alt Screen, and The Examiner.