For all you proper film enthusiasts who would like to peruse the films of TruStory FM’s entertainment podcasts by release year. Get ready for a firehose of film history in these here stacks.
Cary Grant knew Frank Capra was busy casting for his new film, an adaptation of the Broadway hit Arsenic and Old Lace, and he knew that Ronald Reagan and Jack Benny had both turned the lead role down, so he told Capra he was interested and available. Capra was thrilled, and they set to work.
How different is this version than the 1940 version? Did Ingrid Bergman deserve her Academy Award? And why was MGM trying to gaslight the world? Tune in to this week’s show to get these answers and more!
“Ministry of Fear” was Fritz Lang’s third film of four anti-Nazi movies that he made, but it feels less anti-Nazi and more just straight up Hitchcockian thriller. And while Lang didn’t like the final result of the film and Graham Greene, who wrote the novel on which the movie’s based, also didn’t like the film, it’s a very fun film to watch and feels a bit like Lang lite. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we wrap up our Lang series with his 1944 film, “Ministry of Fear.”
Nobody knew they were making films noir when the genre started in the 40s — it wasn’t until much later when the French dubbed this new run of American films that had a darker bent with snappy dialogue, lots of shadows and femme fatales film noir. Billy Wilder was setting out to make a crime thriller; he didn’t realize at the time that his film “Double Indemnity” would be considered the first real film noir. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we begin our Film Noir series with Wilder’s brilliant film from 1944.