P.S. I'm off to read "The Brick Foxhole"

by Nathaniel R

We hope you loved listening to the Smackdown Podcast and discussing various 1947 movies this month. It means a lot when you watch, vote, listen, and share these events. Another round of applause to our returning guests Dana Delany (she previously guest-starred on "1973"), Angelica Jade Bastién (she previously guest-starred on "1941"), and the newbies, actor Patrick Vaill (Netflix's upcoming Dash & Lily) and lyricist Tom Mizer (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel S3). Dana wanted to send a note to listeners that she was sorry for accrediting the direction of To Kill a Mockingbird to Richard Brooks rather than Robert Mulligan... the names just got jumbled because it was Richard Brooks who wrote "The Brick Foxhole" which she was also discussing.

I was so into this conversation that now I have ordered a copy of "The Brick Foxhole" to understand Crossfire in a fully homosexual way. I didn't know until the panel educated me that the movie changed the issue from Homophobia to Anti-Semitism! 

Up next in our supersized Smackdown summer: "2002" on Wednesday June 17th  -- Chicago, The Hours, Adaptation, About Schmidt -- and "1957" on July 6th, so queue up Peyton Place, Witness for the Prosecution, Sayonara, and The Bachelor Party.

THE FULL 1947 CONVERSATION ICYMI
At the bottom of this post 👇 or on iTunes.

1947 Discussion

Smackdown '47: Anne, Ethel, Marge, Celeste Holm and noir goddess Gloria Grahame

IT'S HERE! Welcome to the Supporting Actress Smackdown, a summer festival in which we investigate Oscar shortlists from years past. 1947 was a fine cinematic vintage and Oscar made room for a ghostly judge's wife, a countrified mother of 15, a jaded dance hall girl, a single New York City fashion editor, and a righteous rock of a mother in the Supporting Actress race. What's most historically interesting about this particular set is that it's a who's-who of character actress superstars of the 1940s. Get this: all but one of them won this category and received multiple nominations within an eight year span from the mid 40s to the early 50s.

THIS MONTH'S PANELISTS
Here to talk about these five nominated turns and the movies and Oscars of 1947 are, in alphabetical order: critic Angelica Jade Bastién (Vulture), actress Dana Delany (China Beach, Desperate Housewives), lyricist and librettist Thomas Mizer (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel), and actor Patrick Vaill (Broadway's Tony-winning revival of Oklahoma), And, as ever, your host at The Film Experience, Nathaniel R. Let's begin...

1947
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST  
The companion podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this article or by visiting the iTunes page...

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Review: The High Note

by Chris Feil

Are VH1 Movies That Rock still a thing? The kind of movie that the VH1 programming gods connected through the vague thematic tissue of music, casual comfort viewing meant to be consumed on repeated Sunday afternoons, structured flawlessly to pause for snack breaks? It’s as if those gods had carved The High Note from gold for how much the film embodies that vibe.

The film centers around a music icon Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross) and her assistant Maggie (Dakota Johnson). As Grace attempts another relaunch of old music, Maggie’s music producer ambitions clash against Grace’s tried-and-true formula for success - and the star’s wariness that her assistant might be using her coattails. But Maggie begins to grow her producer chops (and a little romance) with a fledging singer songwriter (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), and struggles to balance her goals with her loyalty to her demanding boss within an uncrackable industry...

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Who's Next to the Triple Crown?

by Eric Blume

I’m sure we’ve all found ourselves in some sort of YouTube hole at some point during lockdown.  Mine has led me to rewatching snippets from Tony Awards ceremonies from about a decade ago.  I had completely forgotten that Eddie Redmayne had won a Tony for his work in the play Art, which is strange because I saw his performance in that show and he was staggeringly good.  He absolutely deserved that Tony.

I then realized that since he has since won an Oscar, he is only an Emmy away from the Triple Crown of Acting.  This triple-crown honor (you can see the actors who have won all three big awards of the Tony, Oscar, and Emmy here) has been nabbed by only 24 actors in the history of show business awards!  It’s a very elusive accomplishment and prestigious list of people. In just the last five years, though, there's been a lot of movement -- we've recently seen Helen Mirren, Frances McDormand, Jessica Lange, Viola Davis, and Glenda Jackson all secure this title.

That got me to thinking:  wow, it seems highly likely that Eddie Redmayne would find a big role in a series or miniseries to win that Emmy and be in this company?  He’s young, still at the top of his game, and while I don’t think he’s quite in the league of the other major actors who have won all three, he is surely a likely candidate.

But who are some others...

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Nightmare Alley (1947)... and (2021)

by Nathaniel R

Greg Hildebrandt riff on a Nightmare Alley posterThe urge to remake is an arguable scourge on cinema but much of what there is to argue about is who is doing the remaking and why. Oftentime the motivations are corporate cynical "cash grab for lazy audiences who will only look at new things... especially if they sound famliar". When true auteurs go there, though, especially with films that aren't enormously famous, there's more room for debate about intention and possibility and aesthetic necessity. The best possible outcome is that we get two very different equally strong films and the "new" model stirs up more interest and appreciation for the OG.

We hope that will be the case when Guillermo Del Toro finishes Nightmare Alley in... 2021? (Production was halted due to COVID-19). The original Nightmare Alley (1947), is a beautifully shot circus noir that's ripe for both rediscovery and reinterpretation...

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