What's Streaming from 1944?

Not too damn much, that's what! 

Whenever we prep for a Smackdown The Film Experience becomes newly alarmed at how scarce the availability of 20th century film titles actually is online. Streaming culture has somehow convinced people that everything you might ever want to see is easier to access than it's ever been. Alas, the further back in time you go, the less there is for your eyeballs as we move away from analog. Of course streaming is more convenient so we hope Hollywood will magically decide to make all their vaults available. We can dream!

Laura dear, I cannot stand these morons any longer. If you don't come with me this instant, I shall run amok.

But if you want to steep yourself in 1944 beyond the 5 films featured in the next Smackdown, here's what you can stream should you have any of these memberships...

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NYFF: Joan Didion's Magic Years

by Jason Adams

"Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends."

The instant. Not "an" instant, which is how most of us would sort that sentence. When writing of her husband's death in her book The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion said "the" instant, and in Joan Didion's wake nothing else seems right. Because it is not just any instant. It's the one that changed your life. At most, depending on how long we live, we might get a couple. Joan Didion, at 82, has had her own intimate yet earth-quaking share. And Joan Didion, as ever, is here to distill them down into apple crisp sentence form for us.

Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, the new documentary on the author, was directed by Didion's nephew, the actor Griffin Dunne, and he makes similar Didion-esque economy of Joan's handful of instants...

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Happy 50th to The Jungle Book (1967) -- Who is your avatar within?

by Nathaniel R

Rudyard Kipling's collection of stories "The Jungle Book"  was first published in 1894. It's been adapted so many times now, you always have to specify which version you're talking about. The most famous and widely seen is surely Disney's 1967 animated version which opened in movie theaters 50 years ago on this very day. It's been a childhood staple for decades now with Disney only just barely trying to replace it with that inferior but wildly successful live-action CGI hybrid replica. When I was a wee toddler it was my favorite Disney movie (it's long since been replaced but holds a special place in my heart).

Today's crucial reader survey / comment party:
Which character do you most relate to... and which do you wish you were a little more like?

Let's hear from the lot of you for a wide sampling of our particular online jungle here at The Film Experience. Your options, in order of their appearance, are...

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Soundtracking: "Big Mouth"

Chris takes on the original songs of Netflix's new raunchy delight...

Have you caught up to Netflix’s newest and filthiest animated series Big Mouth? From the minds of Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, it’s a take-no-prisoners look at puberty that’s actually rather sweet and thoughtful between cringeworthy, painfully reminiscent laughs. Now before you relegate it to the crass animated rung of less imaginative programs, take note that the show is quite surprising on many fronts - not least of which is its hilarious original songs.

The important role of music in youth is a recurring theme of this column but Big Mouth catches its young characters in an interesting middle ground, musically speaking. The onset of grown up hormones often means your musical tastes are growing up as well, leaving behind simpler tunes. Think of the show's musical stylings like a logical, but naughty progression from Schoolhouse Rock or Free to Be... You and Me: packed with valuable life lessons and annoyingly catchy. But rest assured, these NSFW tunes sound exactly right for characters pushing themselves to be more grown up - and all the pain of adulthood that awaits.

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