Framing Media #6 - Christina Lane on Producer Joan Harrison, The Mistress of Suspense

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Today's episode features Christina Lane, an Associate Professor of film studies and chair of the cinema department at the University of Miami and author of Feminist Hollywood: From Born in Flames to Point Break and Magnolia. We discuss her new book, Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, The Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock, which narrates the oft-forgotten tale of one of the studio era's most notable female pioneers. As Lane explores, Harrison played a multi-faceted role in the 1930s and early 1940s for director Alfred Hitchcock that cannot be understated, and then went on to become one of the "girl producers" of the 1940s with fascinating noirish thrillers like Phantom Lady, Dark Waters, and Ride the Pink Horse. Through it all, Lane relishes in the details of the nimble yet prodigious navigator of the studio system, and in particular, her unique transition to television and central role as a proto-showrunner on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. As Lane suggests, Harrison was much more than a "gal Friday," and instead someone who balanced personal toil, political scrutiny, and of course, the misogyny of Hollywood—rarely receiving the credit due to her talents, and offering inspiration for us all today.

Episode #108 - James Naremore (A Cottage on Dartmoor)

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"My cinephilia began with directors, and I still defend that old fashioned way of working."

When Peter first began studying criticism, one person seemed to have the aspirational career he wanted: James Naremore. Not only was he able to teach the history of cinema, but he had written some of the most influential books on Orson Welles, screen acting, and film noir. Now Professor Emeritus at Indiana University, Bloomington, Naremore continues to write and research while still blending a line between film criticism and film academia, but always with a rigor and appreciation that makes him entirely unique. James sits down with Peter to talk about going from English literature to film studies, to his appreciation of classical criticism, and the politics of writing a study of Charles Burnett. Finally, they talk about a rarity that few have seen: the 1929 British silent film A Cottage on Dartmoor, which represents one of the great "last breaths of silent techniques" before sound would change filmmaking, which even gets its own strange cameo in the movie!

0:00-4:10  Opening
5:12-11:34 Establishing Shots — Edmond O'Brien The Noirish Chameleon
12:18-49:18 Deep Focus — James Naremore
49:54-54:04  Sponsorship Section
54:47-1:08:48 Double Exposure — A Cottage on Dartmoor (Anthony Asquish)

1:08:53-1:10:31 Close 

Episode #103 - Jared Case at The Nitrate Picture Show (Dead Reckoning)

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"It's not just the study of the narratives in the film, but the technique, process, and manual handling, which brings them into your hand."

The skyline of Rochester is filled with the industrial ghosts of the 20th century. However, the haunt is a more than a pleasant one, and perhaps the essential keeper of its history is the George Eastman Museum—a glowing monument to the history of both photography and the moving image. Jared Case has worked the Museum for over 18 years, and in particular has helped steer what has quickly become one of the go-to destinations for cinephiles: The Nitrate Picture Show. Peter attended the 4th iteration of the festival dedicated to the silvery, flammable material that preserved up cinema half-century, and then sat immediately down to discuss with Jared the work behind the scenes of such a wondrous event. Jared also explains the nuances of cataloging motion pictures, the development of a Technicolor database, and how to bring film preservation to the masses. Finally, the two look at John Cromwell's devilish noir Dead Reckoning with a witty Humphrey Bogart and the black hole of evil that is noir's most bad, bad girl, Lizabeth Scott. And as a bonus, Peter takes a tour of the Eastman Museum's frigid vaults to examine their 24,000 reels of film with Deborah Stoiber.

0:00-4:00  Opening
5:23-28:20 Establishing Shots — Touring the Nitrate Vaults With Deborah Stoiber
29:05-1:15:39 Deep Focus — Jared Case
1:16:41-1:20:29  Sponsorship Section
1:21:35-1:41:38 Double Exposure — Dead Reckoning (John Cromwell)

1:41:56-1:43:387 Close

Episode #73 - Eddie Muller (Gun Crazy)

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"The more people who are involved in this, they'll open the film cans."

If one were to imagine the cinema of the 1940s, the likely images would be of lonely streets, men in trenchcoats, and slender blondes lighting cigarettes while drenched in shadow. The French coined a term for it: film noir, and since then it has been a gateway drug for many cinephiles interested in classical Hollywood's most lurid pictures. Eddie Muller has been called the Czar of Noir, and he deserves the title: he heads programming for Noir City, a San Francisco based film festival that presents the city with the best of noir movies, and then heads the Film Noir Foundation to discover those lost works that no one even knows. Eddie talks about his entrance into the world of film in SF's many rep screenings and his tutelage under avant-garde artists George Kuchar, before turning to writing about the world of grindhouse movies and this lost genre. Finally, Peter and Eddie look at one of the canonical films of this era, Gun Crazy, and explore the strange production story behind one of the most violent-obsessed movies ever made.

0:00-2:36 Opening

3:52-10:40  Establishing Shots - Lewis Klahr's Sixty Six / Garrel Giveaway Winners
11:25-55:06 Deep Focus - Eddie Muller

55:35-59:24 Sponsorship Section
1:00:27-1:22:36 Double Exposure - Gun Crazy (Joseph H Lewis)

1:22:41-1:24:36 Close / Outtake

Check out Eddie Muller's personal website, as well as the site for the Film Noir Foundation and Noir City.
Eddie's books include Grindhouse: The Forbidden World of Adults Only Cinema, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir, The Art of Noir, and Gun Crazy: The Origin of American Outlaw Cinema.

Episode #55 - Jan-Christopher Horak (Her Sister's Secret)

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"Our philosophy here is to try to re-create the original look of the film."

Film, both the art and the physical medium, will only survive as long as there are those willing to protect and restore it. This is the job of Dr. Jan-Christopher Horak, a film scholar and head of the archive at the University of California, Los Angeles, which hosts its 16th Festival of Preservation this month. Dr. Horak discusses his route into the archive, from his graduate work uncovering the genre of German exile filmmakers, to his other historical work on the early American avant-garde and recently on Saul Bass. The discussion then goes into the heart of the archive—its history as an institution, its practices (both film and digital), and most importantly, its exhibition to audiences. Finally, the two look at Edgar Ulmer's Her Sister's Secret, a family melodrama that might not contain the usual German expressionism of the director, but subtly breaks patterns of morality against the conventions of Hollywood.

0:00-2:52 Opening

4:18-11:16 Establishing Shots - Abel Ferrara's Pasolini

12:00-1:00:07 Deep Focus - Jan-Christopher Horak

1:03:22-1:14:12  Double Exposure - Her Sister's Secret (Edgar G. Ulmer)

1:14:15-1:15:56 Close 

The UCLA Festival of Preservation Runs March 5th-March 31st at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles. More information here.
Check out Dr. Horak's books The Lovers of Cinema: The First American Avant-Garde 1919-1945 and Saul Bass: Anatomy of Film Design. More information on him can be found at his UCLA home page.
Follow the UCLA Film Archive and Dr. Horak on Twitter.
Her Sister's Sister will play at the Billy Wilder Theater March 14th at 3pm on 35mm. It is also available on Amazon Prime. 

Episode #38 - Sam Adams (The Long Goodbye)

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"You have to follow your star for what's exciting or offensive to you about this movie...writing about what interests you the most produces the best criticism."

Sam Adams may not be in the center of the criticism landscape from his home in Philadelphia, but his presence at the editor for the Criticwire blog has made his dialectic voice a reasoned and fascinating one in a world of polemics. In this latest episode, Peter sits down with Sam to talk about his first interest in criticism through his desire to talk through a film, his participation in the experimental Flaherty seminar, and his thoughts on the strange world of television criticism and its constant evolution. Finally, the two work through Robert Altman's 1973 hazy noir The Long Goodbye and consider how the director's comedic take on the Chandler hero with Elliot Gould might in some ways be more noir than most revisionist works.

0:00-1:25 Opening 

2:46-9:13 Establishing Shots - Mann Noirs / Donations

9:59-1:15:19 Deep Focus - Sam Adams

1:16:45-1:42:42 Double Exposure - The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman)

1:42:45-1:44:40 Close / Outtake

Read Sam Adams at Criticwire, The Dissolve, The AV Club, and The Philadelphia City Paper.
Follow Sam 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.