The Total Film-Maker: Jerry Lewis (1926-2017)

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When it comes to a cinephilic appreciation of comedy, who better represented it than The Total Film-Maker, Le Roi du Crazy, the Nutty Professor? Jerry Lewis was a totem in the hall of cinephilia and with good reason. No one worked harder to create an entirely unique style of filmmaking that no one else could come close to matching—to the ire of some but to the adoration of a select few. While his collabrators—Dean Martin, Hal Wallis, Frank Tashlin, and Martin Scorsese among others—are equally legendary, it is impossible to take one's eyes off Jerry and what he did, breaking the rules in order to get the funniest of laughs. To celebrate the passing of one of the last titans of Classical Hollywood (even though he never seemed to fit it), Jaime Christley of The Village Voice and Slant Magazine joins Peter to discuss elements of what made this filmmaker so unique and why they still can't stop laughing at his gags.

0:00-3:53 Opening
3:53-32:05 Discussing Jerry Lewis
32:48-36:08 Sponsorship Section
36:56-48:39 Jerry and the Critics

48:39-1:07:48 Favorite Jerry Moments

1:08:56-1:10:51 Close / Outtake

Episode #68 - Stephen Cone (Beloved)

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"I'm always just thinking about trying to get life right."

There are no curtains in the films of Stephen Cone. Well, there are literal curtains, but Cone never attempts to hide the surfaces of his characters, or really paint into anything than what they truly are. The Chicago based filmmaker sits down with Peter on the eve of the local premiere of his award-winning new film, Henry Gamble's Birthday Party. Stephen traces his cinephilia from Kentucky to New York to Chicago, discusses his respects for the craft of criticism, and explains his approach to collaborative sets and trust in making films like The Wise Kids and Black Box. Finally, the two dive into the show's third Jonathan Demme film, his adaptation of Toni Morrison's post-modernist novel Beloved. Declared a vanity project when initially released, the two explore the relationship between Demme and his actors, crafting an unflinching, truly humanist portrait of the American South by embracing subjectivity in the post-slavery era.

0:00-3:13 Opening

4:34-8:23  Establishing Shots - Excerpts from Remembering Chantal Akerman
9:09-56:36 Deep Focus - Stephen Cone

57:02-59:34 Mubi Sponsorship
1:00:50-1:18:45 Double Exposure - Beloved (Jonathan Demme)

1:18:50-1:20:27 Close 

More from Stephen Cone. Watch The Wise Kids on Netflix, Hulu+, Amazon, or iTunes. Watch Black Box on YouTube, Vimeo, Amazon, or iTunes. Visit the website for Henry Gamble's Birthday Party and watch the trailer.
Watch Beloved on Amazon or iTunes.
Follow Stephen on Twitter.

Episode #43 - Dave Kehr (The Whistler)

Photo Credit: Ray Pride

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"The real benefit of auteurism was taking the pressure off this endless search for stand alone masterpieces...there was an entire range of cinema not being addressed."

There are those who search out the most majestic works of cinema, and those who would rather search under the cracks for oddities and beyond. Dave Kehr, the former critic of the Chicago Reader and New York Times, and now a programmer at the Museum of Modern Art, certainly fits the latter bill. In his brief conversation with Peter, Dave talks about his origins as a cinephile in Chicago, the challenges of keeping the archive alive in the face of the digital programming switchover, and his recent series at MoMA—Lady in the Dark—dedicated to various crime films made at Columbia Pictures from the 30s to the 50s. Finally, the two investigate one series in particular, The Whistler starring Richard Dix, which features the former silent actor in terrifying and fatalistic situations, only to be reincarnated again and again.

0:00-1:27 Opening 

2:49-8:12 Establishing Shots - Boyhood and Dazed and Confused

8:55-48:47 Deep Focus - Dave Kehr

51:07-1:01:15 Double Exposure - The Whistler Series (William Castle, Lew Landers, and George Sherman)

1:01:18-1:04:04 Close / Outtake

Read Dave Kehr on his website and check out his NYTimes Column. Purchase When Movies Mattered here. You can Follow Dave on Twitter here. 

Purchase a box set of all eight Whistler films or watch some on YouTube, including The Whistler, The Power of the Whistler, and Mysterious Intruder.