Cinema Social Club

S01E06: Cavalcade

Cameron, Glenn, Sarah and Elisa Season 1 Episode 6

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0:00 | 1:14:42

Join us this week as we discuss the merits of the 1933 (melo)drama Cavalcade, winner of the 6th Best Picture Academy Award.  We also talk about some bad casting choices and some wonderful actresses.

SPEAKER_02

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Cinema Social Club. I'm Cameron, and joining me on this episode and skewing the demographics wildly upward are Glenn and Elisa. Sarah is away on an excused absence. And on this episode, we visit the sixth Academy Awards best picture winner, Cavalcade. And we have a question posed by Glenn, which we will come to in a little bit. But first, some entertainment news. And what's that in the sky? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Supergirl. And also it's not in the sky anymore. It's crashed and burned. And DC Studios is expecting a $100 million loss on one of their first pictures in the newly rebooted DC universe. Meanwhile, in an interview promoting Minions and Monsters, Jesse Eisenberg spoke about turning down the sequel to this social network, saying not doing it and being able to perform Aaron Sorkin's words feels, quote, almost like you're letting America down, end quote. I don't wish to speak for America, but on behalf of this podcast, Jesse, don't worry about it. Totally forgiven. And finally, on behalf of Cinema Social Club, I'd like to wish a very happy birthday to Mr. Mel Brooks, who turned 100 years old. Yay. He really seems to be aiming to make that 2,000-year-old man a reality. And now, a quick look at this past weekend's box office top five. At number five, and just about to drop out, it's Steven Spielberg's latest alien flick, Disclosure Day, starring the hardest working man in show business, Josh O'Connor. On a side note, I've made a recent discovery that one of the most Googled things in regards to Josh O'Connor is why is Josh O'Connor's ears like that? No amount of success can heal those kind of scars. At number four, it's a new entry, which I think because I'm just reading the name of the title, I'm skirting the podcast language guidelines. It's Jackass, Best and Last. As this has been, by a wide margin, the lowest box office opening of any of the films in the franchise. It may not be the best, but it probably bank on it being the last. And at number three, and now sneaking into the top five grossing films of the year, it's the horror film obsession. At number two, despite predictions of a future overall box office loss, it's Supergirl. A $37 million domestic box office take is not exactly chipping away at the approximate $180 million budget. And finally, at number one for a second week and already in the top five box office earners for the year, it's Toy Story 5. And with your entertainment news wrap-up out of the way, and before we move on to our review for this week, I will turn it over to Glenn, and he's going to introduce our podcast discussion topic for this week. Glenn.

SPEAKER_04

Thank you, Cam. I have been thinking this past week about I saw a movie that what had an actor in it who was, I thought, badly miscast, and I thought it would be a nice topic to discuss if we can think back on all the films we've seen over the years and films we know about where you had any actor in it who really should not have been cast in that role, and possibly who would have been better cast in that role. The movie I had seen was because it's on TV constantly, um, Jack Reacher, with Tom Cruise as the title character of Jack Reacher, who, if you are aware of the character at all from the novels, he is described as a giant, uh, a behemoth of a human, like six six foot seven inches tall, two hundred and eighty pounds of pure muscle. And little Tommy Cruz, not exactly a giant of a man, but cast as Jack Reacher.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, this seems very cruel that this podcast uh contains one of Tom Cruise's biggest fans on the face of the planet, and she's not here to defend him.

SPEAKER_04

I want to I want to hear her defend him as Jack Reacher. That's what I want to hear, because that's just not a good casting job. That's that's Tom Cruise, you know, who I think maybe possibly had a producing credit in that as well, basically doing a vanity project. Now, did he uh do a bad job as a tough uh character? No, he didn't. But he should not have been Jack Reacher. Specifically, Reacher is supposed to be a monster of a human being. And they did a much better job with the limited series that's been on, starring Alan Richson, who is actually like 6'3 or 6'4 and quite muscle-bound. So he looks more like the character did. So I was wondering what you what you thought. I know there's one that always pops up that everybody can think of, but some of your thoughts on you know who is badly miscast. I've got a few more in mind, too.

SPEAKER_00

I think this is a hot topic. And when I watch films, I constantly say they were miscast, and it should have been so and so. It's hard for me to pull one right out of a hat right now, but the first thing I think of is Liam Neeson as the Leslie Nielsen character.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, that just shouldn't have been made full stop, but yeah. Yeah, well, yeah, he was miscasting.

SPEAKER_00

But he was and I like him in a lot of things that he does, but but that was horrible.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, I've liked him in funny roles, but that's not one of them.

SPEAKER_04

I think I waited at least an hour into that movie for a laugh.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_04

And I couldn't find any.

SPEAKER_00

No, it wasn't funny. Yeah, and I hate to see him, you know. He's very funny in the Lego movie.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Is he just a voice? But he's a voice. Good cop, bad cop.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_02

Um and he's he's good in love, he's one of the better sort of vignettes in love, actually, although not one of the funnier ones. Correct. But a nice one. Correct.

SPEAKER_00

And I like him in love, actually. I like him in all the taken's, even though I don't think I mean they're not great films, but they're any.

SPEAKER_02

Uh the uh The Conqueror. I would argue that John Wayne is kindly kind of miscast in anything where he's not a cowboy.

SPEAKER_04

A cowboy or a military manager.

SPEAKER_02

Well, even in some of the military worlds.

SPEAKER_04

Well, that's true. Yeah. I think the in the longest day he was never miscast. Yeah. But yeah, John Wayne. Um, I'm gonna go to also Mickey Rooney as Mr. Uh Yunioshi.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Well, actually, that shouldn't have been a role, period. Correct, yes. I mean, that was just no matter who was in that role, it was just a racist stereotype.

SPEAKER_00

In what movie?

SPEAKER_04

In the Uponies. Mickey Mickey Rooney was cast as the upstairs neighbor, the Asian neighbor.

SPEAKER_00

As an Asian neighbor.

SPEAKER_04

He plays a Japanese neighbor, and it's just and it is as racist as you could possibly have. Big round coke bottle glasses, buck teeth, everything. It was it was pitiful. And it sh even at the time, that was racist. Like it was it's racist in any time, but I just can't see how that one flew. Yeah, they just should have not broadcast that role. Period. Um and and speaking of that, Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Wrong for the role. Um you've said that before. Well, it's it's Truman Capote, right? Correct, yeah. Who wrote the novel and she's she's a prostitute. She's a sort of a lower class kind of well, I guess uh escort, I should say.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And they cast like the most, you know, striking young you know, woman in the world.

SPEAKER_02

It's like my fair lady meets pretty woman. Yeah, basically, I just don't think she should have been cast.

SPEAKER_04

And I think they they could have found an actress that was, you know, still had some dignity to her to her bearing and demeanor, but not, I mean, it's Audrey Hepburn. You know, you think of her wearing just diamonds and white gloves and a cigarette and a, you know, well, what she did in that with the cigarette holder and all that. But she's yeah, I think she's miscast.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, I think hot take. I think if Audrey Hepburn was a better actress, she could have pulled it off. I don't know that she's the best actress in the world. That's a good point.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um, she did some interesting things sort of later-ish in life.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but I has she ever won an Academy Award for anything?

SPEAKER_04

She won. She must have won. Did she win for um oh gosh, she blind. Um the night the night. Wait until dark. Wait until dark. Was that what it was?

SPEAKER_00

I think it was called. Was it called Wave?

SPEAKER_04

Or something about it?

SPEAKER_00

I love it.

SPEAKER_02

So I'm that's a very good film.

SPEAKER_00

Surprise I can't remember the name clearly. I'm pretty sure it is.

SPEAKER_02

Um, that's a great she won one uh best actress. Oh, for Roman Holiday. Roman Holiday.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02

Which is a film, again, not my favorite film, but I don't really like the pairing of Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn don't work for me either. But uh my first thought randomly as this topic is actually uh Kevin Costner in Robin Hood.

SPEAKER_03

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, really Kevin Costner in most things, but Kevin Costner and Robin Hood would be on my list.

SPEAKER_00

That's horrible.

SPEAKER_04

I just don't know why you would ever cast anything but a British actor in that role, period. Because Americans are no good at doing the accent.

SPEAKER_02

They cast Russell Crowe, he's not British either.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, well, you know, but uh we're Americans, we can't tell the difference between Australian and New Zealand and a British accent half the time.

SPEAKER_02

Or South African at that rate. But yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So, but yeah, to cast an American, also who is a kind of a wooden actor to begin with.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you know, yeah, really.

SPEAKER_04

And whose accent comes and goes mostly goes.

SPEAKER_02

You know, I mean Kevin Costner is another one of those that at his peak, I thought he was the worst actor. Like when he was the most successful, I thought is when he did his worst acting. He's gotten better, much better.

SPEAKER_04

Interestingly, I liked him in um Man of Steel. He didn't have a man of steel. Really good in Man of Steel.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um I think this is this is a hot take, too, but you have to know a little bit about the novels. Um, Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon in any of those movies, Angels and Demons. Yeah, but they're not great books, yeah. But he just he doesn't fit the what the character was described as very well in there. And I don't know, it I don't really buy him. I think somebody like Sam Neil or somebody else would have been more familiar.

SPEAKER_02

Although I feel Tom Hanks was sort of playing a Sam Neil in that film.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

They had the weird wig on him. Well, it probably was his hair, but it looked like a wig.

SPEAKER_04

It looked like a wig.

SPEAKER_00

It did. It did. It did.

SPEAKER_04

Um, yeah, I don't know. There's there's been so much over the years where you think, why did they put this person in this role? Or and again, a lot of times it'll be they'll put somebody who is supposed to be uh from a certain country, or even if it's British, they'll put an American actor in there. Or they'll put how many British actors have now played Superman? Yes, who's an American actor? Basically all, yeah, except for the Lakers. It's like, you know, wow, but now haven't they done a good job? I think so, but it's weird that I think it's funnier that the British can play Americans so much easier than we can.

SPEAKER_02

Strictly speaking, Superman is not American.

SPEAKER_04

He's he's well, he's an alien. Correct. I mean, so really he could be whatever. But he's for truth, justice in the American realm. Grew up in Kansas, you know, Smallville.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um, so it's funny when they cast people from other countries or you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_02

Uh I mean, uh, there's uh I know you have issues with the casting in like I mean, there's some well beloved film apocalypse. Now I know you have problems with some of the casting. I have problems with I mean, I like Martin Sheen. Yeah, I don't know that he's the right person for that role.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um, and actually Marlon Brando in that, I think, is a a bad casting choice. A waste. Well, a waste and also bad casting choice. Agreed.

SPEAKER_00

But is Marlon Brando in later years even that good anymore? Because didn't we talk about him?

SPEAKER_02

Well, yeah. Uh he can be.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. We talked about him being miscast in um Are you thinking The Freshman?

SPEAKER_04

No. Because I thought he was perfect in the freshman, obviously.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but the freshman, he's just playing one of his other characters. Yeah. So he's doing it. You couldn't really make that movie without casting him.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, but he did it with such great comedy chops, I think. He he walked a fine line on that one.

SPEAKER_00

He was he was in a Roman bath in his house somewhere. Was he in the departed? No.

SPEAKER_02

Could have been.

SPEAKER_00

No.

SPEAKER_02

No, you are thinking of the departed, but you're not thinking of Marlon Brando, you're thinking of Jack Nicholson.

SPEAKER_00

No, but but he had a cameo role as a bad guy. Um, in and I'm not saying it was the departed. I can't remember.

SPEAKER_02

Well, he was dead by the time he made the departed.

SPEAKER_00

But but things I've seen him in as an older actor, I think he's often doesn't do a very good job.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, he was well, he wasn't older than The Godfather. He was made made to look older. Well, he wasn't young, young, but he was 48 years old.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I like him better when he was younger, but I think he's miscast in in roles later in life, just because he's who he is.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I mean, I think I think there's a lot of act. Robert De Niro suffers from that from time to time as well. Yeah. I think Robert De Niro suffers from the fact that he's thinks he's a comedian. They keep putting him in comedies. He's decided he's only doing comedies now, and he's not very good at them.

SPEAKER_04

No. Um, I find Dustin Hoffman to be uh miscast a lot of times in films, too, where he's well Dustin Hoffman's a tricky one because he's a very unique looking and sounding and acting person.

SPEAKER_00

So you do think he was cast well in Tootsie, right?

SPEAKER_04

In Tootsie, yeah, because he was he was playing himself just about.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I thought he was playing a neurotic actor.

SPEAKER_04

The other actor that could have done that, well, except for uh the way he looks, is Richard Dreyfus. They're both insufferably you know self-important actors. Yes, yes, interchangeable really.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. Although I much rather see Dustin Hoffman than in in that movie. I'm glad he he did get it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. And and there's always the ones where they'll they'll put somebody who with no acting ability in a major role. And I I look at Wonder Woman when it came out with Galgadote. Yes, who looked, you know, looked fine. Yeah, and the movie did really well and was a I thought it was a good movie, but my gosh, there's nothing there. No, and the more you see her in films, the more you realize she's not an actress.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, agreed completely, completely.

SPEAKER_04

So I don't know. Lots of good. Although she must have acted before then. She did.

SPEAKER_00

She was mostly a model, but I don't think she's that great.

SPEAKER_02

Um, yeah. I mean, it's I there's a lot of like personal takes on my part that I don't like them in the roles, but but they people like them in the role, like I sure I don't think Joaquim Phoenix is that great as Johnny Cash, but everybody else does, so I'm clearly in the minority there.

SPEAKER_04

I agree with you. I didn't I thought he was miscast there.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I even think Reese Witherspoon was miscast in that. Yes, I definitely agree. They both for Mark in that one.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I could have thought of a lot better. And that happens a lot of times.

SPEAKER_04

They'll just go with who's the, you know, who's the hot topic or who's the hot person right now. We get it, we have to find a vehicle for him.

SPEAKER_02

Talk about miscast Napoleon. Yeah, well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Maybe the worst casting choice I've ever heard of.

SPEAKER_00

Correct.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Not only is he poor in it, he's also about 30 years too old.

SPEAKER_00

You are correct.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, so it happens quite a bit. I don't know. And there's no there's no end to it. It's always happened.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um, I mean, Gary Cooper got cast in roles he shouldn't have been cast in, and that was a long time ago.

SPEAKER_02

I have my problems with Gary Cooper.

SPEAKER_04

Don't we all?

SPEAKER_02

I mean, he does stoic very well, but that's about his only note. Uh I think there was a point where he could have potentially been a comedic actor.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But for some reason, they said, no, you're this role. And he he that's just what he played for the rest of his. And I there's a hint there that he could have potentially been. It's a bit like Clark Cable. Clark Cable could have been a comedic actor and was in some things, as we'll find out in a future episode.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Uh yeah, so there's, I mean, there's a there's I mean, tons of endless.

SPEAKER_00

I like to hear what's feel like I'm a I'm a casting director on the couch saying, nope, nope, you gotta go.

SPEAKER_02

Well, you must be a joy to watch movies like this.

SPEAKER_00

But usually I will, if I'm gonna oust you from your role, I will replace you because I always can think of someone right away that I think would be better at it.

SPEAKER_04

And I think we all kind of do it, especially if it's an actor we don't particularly like to begin with, um, and they just seem wrong for the role. Yeah, I it happens quite a bit. And funny enough, I mentioned Sam Neil as as Robert Langdon. I actually did, I mean, I like Sam Neil as a as a probably as a good human being and as an actor. And as a winemaker, and as a winemaker, I did not think he was the right person to be in Jurassic Park playing that role. I th he was absolutely the wrong person to be in that role, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but see, you're probably basing that on the book. I am. Whereas 99% of the people who saw the Jurassic Park film probably never read the book.

SPEAKER_04

Never read the book and just saw that.

SPEAKER_02

And he's very good if you take away the book.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Because he's not like the character in the book, right? But he's very much like the character from the film.

SPEAKER_04

Right. And of course, they made another character in the movie.

SPEAKER_02

Well, also Richard Attenborough's character is nothing like he is in the book.

SPEAKER_04

Horrible, horrible. He's like the hell with my grandkids.

SPEAKER_02

But actually, I find that difficult in the film. Yeah. Because his character's never well developed enough. I know. So you're never quite sure whether he's supposed to be like super greedy, but he's also like very avuncular. So is he a good guy?

SPEAKER_04

But and because he used to basically run flea circuses, you know. And then you've won the book, yeah. And then you sort of in the movie, he talks about flea circus. He tells the story about the circuses, but then you sort of feel bad for him in the end, yeah, which you don't in the book. No, no, you can't wait for him to die in the book. Yeah. He's horrible in the novel. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, and Cam, we know that you thought that the wife of Chief Brody and Jaws was miscast.

SPEAKER_02

So I don't, I never said that. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

She looks a thousand years older than him.

SPEAKER_02

No, no, that's the that's the woman whose son was killed in. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. She is miscast. She is miscast. She is true.

SPEAKER_00

Sure, sure. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

No, I have no problem with the wife. She seems fine.

SPEAKER_00

My mistake.

SPEAKER_02

She's barely in it, but she seems fine. Although they did leave a part out of the Jaws movie as well, because in the book, the Richard Dreyfus character and his wife have an affair.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, the Chief's Chief's wife and Bruce.

SPEAKER_00

Seriously.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_00

Wow. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

And I guess when they cast Richard Dreyfus, they're like, well, that's not believable. Yeah. Probably got that out of it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, that was that was a good trim. That was that was worth trimming that.

SPEAKER_02

Well, there's a lot of stuff in the Jaws book that's I mean, the Jaws book is sort of a dime store pulp novel. Yeah. It's a bit like psycho, really. Movie better than book. A movie better than book. And The Godfather, actually, I would argue. I agree. Um, that's a topic for another day.

SPEAKER_04

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_04

Um miscastings in there?

SPEAKER_02

In The Godfather?

SPEAKER_04

Only in Godfather Part Three, I guess.

SPEAKER_02

Ton of miscastings in Godfather Part Three. And actually, you sort of accept a lot of them because she's so badly cast. Yeah. That the other one's sort of skirt on. I would argue Andy Garcia's probably badly cast in that film, but compared to her, he's okay. Seems fine. Yeah. And actually, I think, I mean, there's a lot of people. And and the people who were fine in the first two really don't bring like Diane Keaton's not great in Godfather Three. I would argue Al Pacino's not. I mean, he's doing the best in three, but he's not that great in three. Yeah. And yet there's parts of three I really like. I do too. But it does not for a filmmaker. No?

SPEAKER_00

No, it's worth it.

SPEAKER_02

Well, number three is one of those things where compared to the first two, it's terrible. Compared to the films made in 1990, it's one of the better ones. Like it's a really good film. It the problem is that it's two older brothers are two of the best American films made.

SPEAKER_00

But I know you both have talked very highly about three, as opposed to.

SPEAKER_04

I I think it's a good movie.

SPEAKER_02

I think it's good. I don't think it's great. I think it's good.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. And when he did and God he went back and fixed the ending, though. He did he did make changes. Coppola went back, fixed a terrible ending to that movie. And his daughter, Sophia, is just not a good actress in it. I may have only seen it with the I have the uh I have the the fixed ending version of it with uh I don't want to give it away.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, are you talking about the very, very last show? Very, very ending. Okay, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Spoiler. No spoiler alerts here. And with that discussion out of the way, we move on to our review of the evening. And our film this week is the 1933 film Cavalcade, the sixth best picture winner, directed by Scottish director Frank Lloyd, who, for deep-cut film trivia nerds, became Scotland's first-time Oscar winner for this very picture. He won Best Director. The film is based loosely on a play written by incredibly English Noel Coward. The film takes place in London and features an almost entirely British cast, but as the film was made in Hollywood by Fox Studios, it escapes being the first British film to win Best Picture. The film is a slice-of-life drama which follows the ins and outs of a family from New Year's Eve 1899 to New Year's Day 1933. It would also, unfortunately, be noted as one of the favorite films of a certain Austrian corporal who ended up in a position of power in Germany around the same time period. But we can't let that affect our opinion of the film, which I will now call upon my co-hosts to share. This this I go into this one probably least knowing what people's views on it are going to be. Is all right of the six films we've done so far. Because I suspect I'm going to be on a slightly different wavelength, as at least at least one of the units.

SPEAKER_00

I think you might be. Well, but now I'm not sure. I I I will start by just flat out saying I enjoyed it. Um again, I think it was, I know it was supposed to be over a period of time. I think there were some very slow points that could have been sped up a little bit. And I know we've discussed the older films and how you know people went to the theater and were glued and wanted to be there for however long to really be immersed in it. Um I I would have liked to have seen more of the families clash with the um You want the upstairs downstairs at all. Kind of, yeah. I think that would have been a better plot than to to cover all the ground that they covered. But that's just kind of in a nutshell. I did enjoy what I watched.

SPEAKER_04

I might have enjoyed it a little bit less. Um in fact, for the first the first almost half of the movie, I was I was bored. Um I kept getting care. Well, we all got characters confused. That happens sometimes. But I I was terrible trying to keep track of who Joey, Bobby, Robert, you know, were like who they were talking about. And the one woman who always showed up with um the the the rich lady, I guess, which it was her just her neighbor, her friend. Like I couldn't figure out who she was, and did she have any kids, and we or was she just the lady next door kind of thing? So I was having trouble keeping track of people, didn't really understand what they were trying to go for until almost the end of the movie. It it really took me till nearly the last two scenes of the movie to grasp what they were going for with this.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and see, I had the benefit of going into it and knowing it was Noel Coward. Yeah, and Knoll Coward is basically it's all about class system. And this film is basically a critique of the class system, yeah. And also England's involvement in the sociopolitical war things of the early.

SPEAKER_00

See, I felt I I felt like it it focused way too much on the wars than the socioeconomic classes. And I and I thought that's a good idea. I was more interested in in a character study. Well, you would be interested in all of Noel Coward's all of the rest of his stuff that he's I don't mind the war as a backdrop to the whole thing, but I I feel like they didn't, if that was their intention, I think they missed it. Well um deep to to be more deep about it. Yeah. I was looking for more deep study.

SPEAKER_04

I was I didn't think there was very much of the class clashing that happened. It was there. Now, I also you probably would have had, I mean, again, audiences in 1933 going to be much more familiar with what's going on. Well, I was still young then. I was I hadn't figured it out.

SPEAKER_00

Um but it's especially Bob's age.

SPEAKER_04

Especially British.

SPEAKER_02

I'm heavily outnumbered by the AARP crowd on this episode.

SPEAKER_04

It's right, Sunny. Watch it. Um, so I think people would have understood better what they were what they were watching. I was, I think what I ended up liking about it was that they did put the class issues in the context of going from period to period to period, including through wars, and seeing how upstairs, downstairs dealt with life, war, ups, downs, good, bad, good luck, bad luck, all that, and doing it and and uh highlighting it every other year. Yeah. So I kind of like the way that was done. That was a really smart thing to do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Seems very play like there's also something to be said about the fact that it did sort of highlight, and I'm assuming this probably was true in real life, that the class system part of it is really emphasized in the interwar periods and drops away during the war periods, which it probably would have more or less. I mean, there's always going to be a class issue in, but the fact that it they they go everyone goes through these wars together, but then it automatically goes back to this is our rigid class system that we have to snap back into as soon as conflict is resolved.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, the uh the thing that kind of made it strike home to me was one of the scenes at the very end with Fanny and I can't remember her name. No, the mom.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, Fanny's mother's name.

SPEAKER_04

Um not Fanny's mother. Uh oh wait, not Fanny. Uh not Fanny. Oh gosh. The woman whose husband got run over by the uh Oh, Fanny's mother. Fanny's mom. Yeah. So when Fanny's mom was talking with Joey's mother mother at the end.

SPEAKER_02

So Fanny's mother used to work for Joey's mother. And then the class, they sort of slightly jumped up in class. Even though we never really move up in class.

SPEAKER_04

Oh no, you're never gonna if there's peerage involved, you're never gonna get to that same level.

SPEAKER_02

She made they made some money.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. So it didn't it didn't really sink in for me until until then, until she sort of rejected her.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um until Joey's mom really rejected the case.

SPEAKER_02

Well, she kind of rejected her. She sort of passively or aggressively rejected her. Yeah, but she's like, it's not my decision to make, you have to talk to my son.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, when they when their two children were thinking about getting married, and then of course they didn't have to worry about it after a certain point.

SPEAKER_00

But I thought she passively rejected her throughout. I mean, even when you think so. Well, even when they the mother, uh Joey and Robert's mother, or not Robert, the her son.

SPEAKER_04

Uh Edward. Edwards.

SPEAKER_00

When she went to the quote recital at the house, I mean, she was like just I think there to be polite, but she couldn't wait to get out.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, there was tension there too, right? But the problem there was that uh Fanny's mother, we should probably figure out these people's names. But Fanny's mother's character was really trying to act above herself. She really was. Well, I think she was like she was really putting on sort of this.

SPEAKER_00

She was, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But I think I think And that's probably what rubbed her the wrong way. Right.

SPEAKER_00

But I think she always sort of was not real nice to Ellen.

SPEAKER_04

Ellen Bridges. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Ellen.

SPEAKER_04

Um and they were such good friends.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, they made a point of saying at the beginning they were very good friends when they when there was a employer-employee relationship.

SPEAKER_04

It was interesting.

SPEAKER_00

Uh but I think once that relationship was broken, and she was trying to move up.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Especially at the end.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I think I think what what's what's the mother's the main character's name?

SPEAKER_04

Um, that was um Jane Marriott.

SPEAKER_02

I think Jane's character is of the old British afraid of people making money and overtaking them who don't necessarily by that period, the aristocracy of England was only powerful because they had positions that had been handed down to them. Most of them were money-wise, the money had gone. Yeah. So when these when these up-and-coming people were starting to challenge the class system by making loads of money, but weren't of the same class background, right? It became fairly personal to them because this is a danger to their sure to their existence, yeah. And and new money did come across uh like the way that Ellen is portraying herself in some of it. New money became almost as sort of elitist and dismissive and terrible as more in fact, more so than old money, which is actually still true.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, it is well, they don't they didn't like the fact that old money was based on no merit whatsoever. It was, you know, it was just passed down from one generation to the next. That was a good thing.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, well, well, it was based on merit from about 500 years ago.

SPEAKER_04

Exactly. Yeah, also I've realized why I really liked Ellen. I kept thinking of all the actors and actresses in the movie. I liked her so much, and I was just realizing I've seen her in so many things. Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Adventures of Robin Hood. I mean, she's gonna say I thought the actress Una O'Connor, I was like, but she's always playing a much more over-the-top character. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, she's pretty over at the top in this.

SPEAKER_04

She's this is way restrained compared to like, especially in The Invisible Man, where she's just literally running around screaming her head off the whole time.

SPEAKER_00

It's not about the old the original Invisible Man, yeah, yeah. Not the new one.

SPEAKER_02

Claude Rains. Yeah. Okay. It's so good. That is the that is the best version of that film. Uh so I realize I like her. But he's not in this. Um, yeah, I think, and I struggled for not quite as long as Glenn. I would say the first 15 minutes for me were pretty rough because there was a lot of stage acting from from one character. Well, from Jane in particular. Everybody else is fine. And Jane, weirdly, the actress, was fine for large swaths of the film. But there were certain periods where well, no, it was it was when she was playing Distraught that she would really go into this sort of over-the-top, stage acting, melodramatic, looking off into the distance, putting her hand on her forehead, sort of Diana Winyard. I've got the vapors acting.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, yeah, I need a fainting catch.

SPEAKER_02

Which which sort of very silent movie kind of broad acting.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and kind of no one else was doing that.

SPEAKER_02

Right. Correct. Like certainly her husband, uh, he was playing it relatively straight.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um, and actually, I thought he was one of the better characters in the film. I think he was one of the better actors in the film.

SPEAKER_04

He needed more screen time. Okay, he did.

SPEAKER_02

He did wander off through large periods. But again, I think that's pretty true to life. I mean, the the father of the house would have been pretty hands-off in that time period. Um, but it's unclear that he he must have had a job. Well, like he didn't necessarily have to have a job. I mean, if he was a very old aristocracy, he probably didn't have a job, but he did leave for periods of time. Well, and he was a military man, he was a full-time army guy. So um, yeah, in terms of there was some interesting camera camera work, some interesting cinematography. I actually thought the part that I thought was going to well, how could I have thought it was going to be bad because I hadn't seen it yet? The part that I was for the first like seconds or so, like the war scenes, I'm like, this is a weird way to do this. But then, like when it became increasingly more psychotic, I'm like, oh, this is actually a really interesting way of doing this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So if it's if you're speaking about what I commented about, the superimposed the transition through World War One. Right. And I thought it was terribly distracting. Um, I know that it must have been very interesting to be able to do that cinematography-wise, but um, I thought even though it caused anxiety uh the way it was filmed, I didn't care for it at all. Yeah, I mean, it did get across anxiety, yeah, but it annoyed me. Sorry. That's fair.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Uh yeah, I thought it was brilliant. Um it sort of reminded me. I fall somewhere in between. It bizarrely reminded me of the Willy Wonka's scene with when the Gene Wilder character going through the tunnel and all of these crazy images are flashing before you, which is sort of what they were going for here. Yeah. And there was like very subtle, like the crucifix starting the part of it as the war got further and further along, and and the changes in people's visual facial images as it went along.

SPEAKER_04

Right. Even the changes in the faces of the three women who were singing the recruiting songs got more and more like psychotic as it went on.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it was really interesting. Yeah. Uh I arguably that was some of the best filmmaking in it, I felt.

SPEAKER_00

But I feel I feel like just in general, if I could sum it up, is that I think it didn't this, I know you don't integrate. I think it didn't pick a lane, and I think it didn't go deep enough into what I think it should have. So I was left feeling um, feeling down, like I was cheated.

SPEAKER_02

But I also feel this movie has similar parallels to Grand Hotel, whereas it is literally just you're dropped in the these people's lives, and this is a slice of their life. And this is, you know, for better or worse, probably what it was like to be in one of those households in and it's a very specific yeah, it's a very specific level of society that you're dropped into. Right. You're not dropped into like the east end of London.

SPEAKER_03

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

You're dropped into sort of slightly fading upper middle class, upper class aristocracy. They do, and they even mention about things changing, things are changing and well, and and that and again the mod they do a second montage at the end of the film, yeah, where you really start to realize that this is sort of the the I'm thinking it's the characters, because they they have their they're their goodbye where they're talking about the past of England and the future of England, and then they have this model, this montage of things that's right where you you can see how crazy things change in such a short period of time. Yeah, and these two poor people, this old couple on the couch, and how they're just basically gonna be steamrolled over by what's coming in the future, yeah that that they're thankfully probably not gonna make through.

SPEAKER_04

But and and interestingly for us, so we see that ending even differently than audiences then did because we know we literally know what's coming in just two years.

SPEAKER_02

Literally, the last scene of the film takes place during the year the film is made. So to them, it's current day.

SPEAKER_04

That's like the year Hitler came to power. Yeah. And but people then watching that film didn't know what was coming. Nope. Um, we do, and so like it's much more powerful them not knowing what the future's holding, but the holding on to the future. It's just weird that we get to see.

SPEAKER_00

And they're looking forward to a bright future. Future, yeah. And and things are over now, and things are gonna get back to normal.

SPEAKER_02

Although in that montage, it's clear that the filmmakers are saying this is all gonna happen again.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And by 1933, it was starting. You could sort of start to I mean, if you were prescient, you could see the writing on the wall. Right. There were problems, there were problems, and you and one would hope things had not been resolved the way to make that mistake again. Incorrect.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, but now we're starting to realize well, yeah, because they were talking about politicians and everything, and now yeah, you had the different people uh soapboxing talking about the different uh ways we could go.

SPEAKER_02

But there were also people in 1933 who honestly thought what the couple did was that it I'm optimistic and things are gonna be fine. And yeah, it's interesting. 2026, yeah, you absolutely knew things were not going to be fine, and really things were not gonna be good for England uh again for for another 30 years. I would say not even like the 60s were kind of a rough period for England as well. I mean, it's when they sort of gave us a lot of cultural things, but it was still uh not not great, and the 70s certainly were pretty dark period for England into the 80s. Yeah, I mean it's been a it's been a it's been a long time. At least they weren't rationing food in the 70s and the 80s. That's well, yeah, except they weren't also they also weren't picking up garbage in the 70s, so and they were closing the mines in the 80s, so it was uh it was a rough place. Anywho, we could probably move on to our uh uh four main categories of rating to figure out where we're going to live this film as a reminder. We have four categories which we rate out of five, so the total film can have a total out of 20, and those categories are visuals, story, acting, and rewatchability. And we will we have to collectively decide amongst ourselves, and we will start with visuals. Obviously, some of the visuals worked better for some of us than they did for others, but yeah, go ahead. Although you did like the costumes.

SPEAKER_00

Uh God did I love the costumes. How did you know that?

SPEAKER_02

Because you said it while we were watching the film. Yeah, I didn't take a Sherlock and heard you say the word.

SPEAKER_00

I loved seeing the presentation of the Victorian era. I loved then seeing the presentation of the 20s through the costumes.

SPEAKER_02

But you hated the Edwardian era.

SPEAKER_00

No, but I liked that too. But but just through the costumes I thought were absolutely stunning, through the music, uh, through uh the homes that they lived in. I I just and I and I absolutely agree that that cinematography was probably amazing. I just didn't care for it. So visuals for me were pretty high.

SPEAKER_02

Um it also just looked good.

SPEAKER_00

It did look like it. It looked good. It did look good. I I'm gonna go with a three for visuals.

SPEAKER_04

Okay. I'm I was less impressed overall uh by the whole film visually, but parts of it I thought were gen genuinely.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, some of it is just staged like a play, yeah. And they literally went and filmed the play in order to take ideas for the film.

SPEAKER_04

That's that's I maybe some of that bothered me that I thought they could have done better because they did do some beautiful camera movements in certain segments. When they went to whatever that ball was, yeah, um that was fantastic. But it looked like it to me, that looked like it came from a different movie from a lot of it, because they spent a lot of it in that room. They even talk about so much has happened to us over the years in this room, and and that's very stage play-like, where they're gonna sit there and face the face the audience and do their thing. So, in that regard, I thought, man, they could have done more visually with this.

SPEAKER_02

And that's sort of still true to this day. You can always kind of tell when a lot of people have expenses thought the same thing.

SPEAKER_04

Um, but then they would go and they'd they'd be aboard the Titanic, or then they'd be talking about the war and going to different places. And again, it was good. But I mean, so you gave it a three.

SPEAKER_00

I did.

SPEAKER_04

I I don't know if I'd I don't know if I'd give it a three or a like a two and a half. I'm I'm gonna be generous and give it a three. For the time, I gotta put myself in the time period. It it did what they wanted to do. It's a three.

SPEAKER_02

Um, I'm probably a little hotter on the visuals, but uh I don't know that I'd go four, but I'd probably go three and a half.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, but we can do three. I will say the one nitpick. Okay. Okay. Okay, we'll do three and a half. I will say the one nitpick I have about it, which I'm just remembering now, uh, they misidentified the uh uh Titanic uh registration location because they had uh I think it said Southampton. It did a Belfast? No, it's it was registered Liverpool. It was not built in Liverpool, right? But the headquarters of Whitestar was in Liverpool. It was actually, I think, built in the Southampton. But the ship itself said Liverpool.

SPEAKER_04

It left from Southampton.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04

But it did.

SPEAKER_02

Uh and I think it actually stopped in Liverpool before it went. Might have. But the ship itself said Liverpool on the back because South because White Star was a Liverpool company.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Um, anyways, nothing to do with it, I think. One nitpick. Story. I w Another thing I would point out, which is kind of related. To the story, which I found interesting, is the musical number at the end where she sings the song in the 20s.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Is because they have they have musical numbers scattered throughout. Because Noel Coward famously also quite a good songsmith. But the fact that the the tone will shift in the musical numbers as the movie goes along subtly to the her last song being really kind of dark, even though it's bookended by this band that's playing like 1920s jazz, like dance, dance, jazz. But her song is quite melancholy.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Compared to even the first musical number they had, which was all sort of upbeat, kind of. I felt that was an interesting bit of storytelling as well.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Uh story. Again, you have to consider the fact that this is like the Grand Hotel. It's kind of it is what it is. You're following a family, for better or worse.

SPEAKER_00

I think for for what they did. I think the plot was good. The storytelling made sense to me. I liked how it went over a series of years. Um I like I said, I just was a little disappointed, and maybe I'm thinking, you know, I would have liked it just a completely different movie about something the same. And I I should grade it on what I watched. And I I would probably give it a two and a half for a story. Or I could push a three if anybody wants to push a three.

SPEAKER_02

Uh you may have to, because I'm giving it a higher than that. Uh the forest the forest Gumpian element of it, I like too, how it introduced sometimes relatively subtly, events that were historically very important into their lives. And it sort of was the reason that the vignette shifted in some cases.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I like the nod to the Titanic to the death of Queen Victoria. Yeah. Uh they they helped.

SPEAKER_02

They helped.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Official declaration of war.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_04

I think the story is a good story. I don't know if I liked the execution so much. So just story alone, I mean, it's Noel Coward. I mean, you know he's gonna do a good a good story. I'm just not convinced they executed it effectively for me, just watching it. So, like, I I didn't love the story the way they presented it to me.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

I understand the meat that's on the bones there that and and the the work that Noel Coward did to put into it. I just I don't know. I honestly it's a it's probably the weak weakest point for me.

SPEAKER_02

And probably would have been better as a stage play.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't go higher than a two and a half on the story, uh on the way they presented the story. I think it's a good story badly told. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Uh I mean, I'm probably a three because I probably like the story better than my two elderly co-hosts who lived through it. So I would have thought they would have liked it a lot more. But um but we can go two and a half. It makes the math easy. Uh acting. Now, again this is much like Grand Hotel in this there's one main acting role that I felt was not as good, but everyone else quite good. Yeah. So how how do you judge that? And actually, unlike Grand Hotel, I thought there were parts where she was very good.

SPEAKER_04

I agree.

SPEAKER_02

And parts that were where she wasn't. Whereas in Grand Hotel, I thought that acting was bad basically throughout the film.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. I think the actress who played Jane was hit or miss, like much like you. Times where I thought she was quite good, and and in particular, just facial expressions, watching other characters talk, or even interacting with them, when she would almost go on like monologues, she lost me completely. Because she just about turned to the audience.

SPEAKER_02

Well, it was real again, it was really any time she was worked up where she was she was stressed out or angry about something, right? Is when she lost the plot acting-wise. But like her scenes with her friend, her neighbor friend, yeah, were all quite good. Her scene at the end with the husband. Yeah. I mean, she's those she was good in. It's just there was like two or three scenes where she's doing the full-on, sort of over-the-top hammy.

SPEAKER_04

Most of the other acting was good. You don't get um a lot with Edward and the other the woman who drowned the uh on the Titanic with his wife.

SPEAKER_02

I guess I thought that's but I thought the one scene they had together was convincing.

SPEAKER_04

I like them. Yeah, I thought that was that was good acting. I thought I thought uh Mr. Marriott was great throughout the entire film. Yeah, you know, every time.

SPEAKER_02

And by the way, the age acting, quite good as well.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I I agree. So I I thought the honestly, I thought the acting was pretty good, except for one person in parts. Yeah, I would give it at least a three and a half. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I have to agree with both of you. Uh, I thought the acting was really very well done. I thought even the two young boys did a really good, good job as children. Yeah. Yeah, but then I also liked them as grown-ups. But yeah, mom, mom, for the same exact reasons you guys have pointed out. Um, I even liked the quote downstairs staff. I liked the people who was killed, I liked.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, me too. And I thought he did a good job acting his downfall. Yeah, so to speak.

SPEAKER_00

I think acting overall, I I would definitely do three and a half. I I could again push a little further.

SPEAKER_02

Uh yeah, because I'm I'm probably at a four. I do, I would have liked more of sassy joey. Yeah. We had like one scene of sassy joey, yes, and then it became sappy I'm in love, Joey. Yeah. I would have liked more of sassy joey.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02

Uh because I think the sassy joey in that one scene is basically gold coward. The rest of it is kind of um, uh, but I would I would be willing to give it. I was convinced by everyone, so I would I'm probably more of a four, but I wouldn't go three and a half. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

We don't we don't do three point seven five, right? No. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02

That would make the maps very tricky. We just round up at that point, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Are you okay with three and a half?

SPEAKER_02

Uh no, because I already typed in a four. Yeah. I'm okay with it. Glenn said round ups.

SPEAKER_00

I'm fine with four because I think so as well.

SPEAKER_02

Uh and rewatchability. I think this is an interesting one because I I think I probably would re-watch it. Yeah. Because there's stuff in it that I probably missed because you're spanning a large period of time.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um, and there again, there are scenes that I quite liked, and there are character developments that now I know about them. I want to see how they I'd be more interested in seeing how they played out once you knew the direction it was going in. Because if it's your first time watching it, you may not even realize that this is the relationships these people have, and this is how they're supposed to be. And like the class thing, I didn't really quite appreciate until about a quarter of the way in when I realized it was an old coward play. And then I'm like, oh, this is probably more class-based. I should be paying more attention to the subtleties of that. And I think a lot of the front end of the film was probably about that, but in a subtle way that I wasn't paying attention to. Because that's when you get the relationship between their the workers and the agreed.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And we were probably too busy with her over overly dramatic acting that we weren't paying attention to the more so what do you give it at?

SPEAKER_01

Um reach of watchability. I'm probably at a I'm between a three and a three and a half. I'm gonna go three, I think.

SPEAKER_00

I also am going with a three. I would probably re-watch it at some point for the same reasons you would. Um and I like I said, I really did enjoy the whole thing. I know of not a soul that I would recommend this movie to.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I think not a soul. I think for these early films, I don't think you can really judge it on that because I wouldn't show any of these to anyone because it's just not the type of movies that people are going to be able to appreciate in this day.

SPEAKER_00

But we've said about it. Unless you're a film nerd, in which case you've already seen them. Yeah, if you're a film nerd. Yeah, but they would have already seen them. You might have missed something, you know. But if you're not, you're not going to appreciate it. Um, and yeah.

SPEAKER_02

These are not films made for a modern viewing audience. The masses are not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So did I say three and a half?

SPEAKER_02

You said three, I think.

SPEAKER_00

You said three.

SPEAKER_04

I I can't, I'm I have a lower re-watchability than either of you on this one. I I can't, I mean, for me, I wouldn't go higher than a two and a half on it. If if I say that I want to re-watch it so I can pick up on things I missed the first time, I'm not re-watching it for the right reason. I'm not re-watching me watching it because I liked it. I'm re-watching it because I missed out on some stuff.

SPEAKER_00

I want to study it a little more.

SPEAKER_04

And that's not that's not just for this film, that's not working for me. So I'd say a two and a half, but that's you guys both gave it three, so we're gonna bump that up to a did you give it a three and a half?

SPEAKER_02

I gave it a three.

SPEAKER_00

You gave it a three?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, I was between a three and a three and a half.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So you go with three? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So that places cattle pretty high at 13 out of the 20, which which is a sort of middle ground. Okay. It is higher than two of the films and lower than three of the films. So and much higher than one in particular.

SPEAKER_04

Becoming the film we've got to do.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, the inside joke there is uh the Broadway melody has a grand total of 1.5, which is remarkable, seeing as it's out of four categories and then managed to get a 1.5.

SPEAKER_00

Could ever do worse. Oh my god I can't imagine.

SPEAKER_02

Well, we've got a long road ahead of us. Uh and finally, with that out of the way, we turn to our fun and game segment. And in honor of the World Cup, which at the time of this recording has just gotten into the round of 32, we will be doing a bracket. Bracket, bracket, bracket, bracket. Okay, because everybody loves a bracket. And this is a relatively straightforward and easy one. And in fact, we've probably done it on previous incarnations of the podcast. Yeah. And we're sort of uh we're lucky Glenn is here because he would have been around for all of these.

SPEAKER_00

So that means he's gonna win. I should just go.

SPEAKER_02

Well, it's not a competition, it's a bracket. So you're picking who you like better out of the two, and then we'll have a finale.

SPEAKER_00

A finale with fireworks and stuff.

SPEAKER_02

In your own mind, I'm sure there's always set them off. Uh, so the categories here are it's the top 16 females and top 16 males of the AFI 100 stars list. Oh boy. And having looked at the 100 AFI stars list, I realized how very skewed it is to early Hollywood. I bet it is because there is, well, I will say this in the because there's I think it's like the top 50, it's 50 males and 50 females. I think on the list of the top at least 20 of both, there's only one person who's still alive. Wow.

SPEAKER_00

Wow, so super skewed.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and then and I think it's Sophia Loren.

SPEAKER_04

Holy moly.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, so that gives you some idea. So some of these names go way, way back.

SPEAKER_04

Way back.

SPEAKER_02

So we're we're we're gonna do 16 females against each other, and then we're gonna sorry, women, and then 16 males against each other, and then whoever wins for both brackets will put those two up against each other, male versus female. Oh, and I think we've done this before, and I suspect I know what the outcomes are going to be, but you never know because the seeding is different. So um, some of them may skirt through. I think the first one I could probably do by the way, do you want to do females first or males first?

SPEAKER_00

Females.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, okay. Uh I in that in which case I suspect I know who's going to just manage to get through on the first round here.

SPEAKER_04

Can we just give it to her now and then go to her against Jack Lemon?

SPEAKER_02

Uh potentially. I think that's what happened last year. It is. But Jack Lemon is not on the male. It's not on there. Oh. He's too young. Okay. Um, so and by the way, these are seeded in the order they are listed in the AFI 100. So number one seed, if you know how to bracket works, number one seed goes up against number 16 seed in a bracket. So number one on the list goes up against number. It's unfair in the first round, but that's how brackets work.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, so in the first round, we have Catherine Hepburn against Vivian Lee. It's Catherine Hepburn. You're allowed to have opinions, at least.

SPEAKER_00

It's just your opinion. Yeah. We're not saying who's who's better, who's yeah.

SPEAKER_02

No. I mean, AFI has already decided that for you, apparently, but but it's your own personal judgment in this case. AFI says Catherine Hepburn is the greatest female star of all time. But that opinions vary. Because I know a lot of people who don't really like Catherine Hepburn that much.

SPEAKER_00

I put Catherine Hepburn on equal standing as Julie Andrews.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, okay. Well, we have one on the podcast. Vivian Lee. Okay.

SPEAKER_04

You're a tiebreaker.

SPEAKER_02

Well, was not expecting that curveball. Thank goodness I'm going with Katherine Hepburn because I've already written her name in. Also, to be honest with you, Vivian Lee, she's okay.

SPEAKER_00

I she's fine. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02

There's a reason she's 16, and that's probably high for me. But uh next up, we have Marlena Dietrich, who is number two on the YAFI list.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Uh no, sorry, she was number nine. Okay. Number C and number nine. Up against number eight on the list, which is Judy Garland.

SPEAKER_00

Oh.

SPEAKER_02

Vastly different characters.

SPEAKER_00

I'm gonna go with Judy Garland. Vastly different talents. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um well, yeah, different kind of talent. Different kind of talent. Although they were all sort of all they were both sort of all-arounders. I know. They both sang, they both danced, they both acted. I think they're both excellent. I think they were both better at everything than acting.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I mean I think they were both better entertainers than they were. That's what I'm trying to think.

SPEAKER_04

Like, okay, so they were both really good as entertainers. Who did I like as an as an actor, like acting?

SPEAKER_02

And I guess we didn't really specify, but I guess we are basing it on acting rather than overall.

SPEAKER_04

I mean, I I know she was a child star that grew up into an ad almost she died young, an adult star, but well, young-ish.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

I actually prefer Marlena Dietrich as an actress.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I'm sort of with you on it.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I So did you already write that?

SPEAKER_02

No, I haven't written anything. And you you said Judy?

SPEAKER_00

Uh-huh. Yeah. Judy. Yeah, it's probably a judge.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, well, A, that's from a film that she's not in, and B, he never said it. Uh next up we have number five seed Greta Garbo, who was in a previous film that we've reviewed on the story podcast. And I don't think any of us particularly cared for her in the film. But again, that's just one film.

SPEAKER_00

The It Girl.

SPEAKER_02

And in fact, I did No, she's not the It Girl. Clara Bow is the It Girl.

SPEAKER_00

Oh.

SPEAKER_02

And in fact, I did mention Greta Garbo, the fact that we watched Greta Garbo in Grand Hotel. Yeah, she did. She's in Grant. Oh, you were in Grand Hotel. She's in Wings. Clara Beau.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, I thought she didn't see Grand Hotel.

SPEAKER_02

You didn't see Grand Hotel. But I didn't see Greta Garb.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So I mentioned to somebody that we watched Greta Garbo in the Grand Hotel, and they're like, oh, that's not the role you need to see her in. Did you see? Right? Ninochka? Yeah. Yeah. And I said, yeah. That's that we didn't watch that. They're like, oh no, that's the one you have to watch.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So Greta Garbo up against number 12 seed Claudette Colbert.

SPEAKER_04

I like Claudette Colbert. I do as well. Yeah. She's I think she's better. Oh, and she's she's got good, she's funny. She's good.

SPEAKER_02

She's got chops, as they say.

unknown

Chops.

SPEAKER_02

Greta Garbo, I feel, was more of a I can't even say entertainer. She was more of a symbol. Symbol. She was an icon. Icon. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's why I'm picking her.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Boy, you're not having much luck getting people through on this. Uh next up. Well, one day you'll agree with us. Next up, we have uh 13-seed Grace Kelly up against four-seed Ingrid Bergman.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that's a no-brainer.

SPEAKER_02

Ingrid Bergman also. Ingrid Bergman.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Grace Kelly also icon.

SPEAKER_02

But although I think Grace Kelly was a good actress. She's a good actress. She just left early. Yeah. Ingrid Bergman had some very interesting roles later in life. She did. Which kind of boosts her score a little bit. Yeah. I would argue almost unrecognizable roles.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Where she's really not the Ingrid Bergman you're expecting. Uh next up we have the number three on the list, Audrey Hepburn, which I think is wildly wildly high for Audrey Hepburn. Uh up against number 14, Ginger Rogers.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, I I'm Ginger Rogers all day long. I think she is phenomenal.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. Well, I think she's a phenomenal dancer. Oh, I think she's a very good actress. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

See, I you say her name, and I just think dancer. I can't even think of a movie she was in where if she wasn't dancing.

SPEAKER_04

She acted in every movie she was in, but as well as dance.

SPEAKER_00

Predominantly then dance. Like she didn't act in a movie and not dance, did she, in anything? When she was older. Yeah, I think she did.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. I I probably didn't see it.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, it wasn't like Gene Kelly, where Gene Kelly had a career, a separate career that was just him as an actor versus him as a dancer. Grace Kelly is predominantly known as a dancing actor. Ginger Rogers. Ginger Rogers is predominantly known as a dancing actress. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And and I love Audrey Hepburn.

SPEAKER_04

See, I think and I think of Audrey Hepburn. I think she's wonderful. I think she's classy, all that stuff. Again, sort of like an icon.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

I I tend to find her quite boring in a lot of ways.

SPEAKER_00

I'm gonna go with Ginger Rogers.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Glenn? Yeah. Ginger Rogers.

SPEAKER_00

For that reason, she is a little boring. I just always like her.

SPEAKER_01

Because she's in, isn't is she not in charade? Oh no, no, no, wait. Yeah, charade. Cary Grant. Yeah. I can't get through that film. I just find it so tedious. And I get it. People love that movie. They love it. Yeah. And like Walter Mathow's fine in it, but it's I just find it she's so dull in it. Um, next up, number 11, Barbara Stanwick.

SPEAKER_02

Up against number six, Marilyn Monroe. A Stanwick. Now it's a better one. Again, Marilyn Monroe slides in, I guess, under the icon. Yeah. Not to say that she wasn't a good actress. Decent actress when she when she when she bothered to do it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Yeah. And she actually had good comedic skills.

SPEAKER_02

She had good comedic skills. She had decent dramatic skills.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It's just, I think, the personal side of it kind of.

SPEAKER_04

But Barbara Stanwyck was just, she was Powerhouse. Powerhouse. Yeah, absolutely phenomenal in everything she did.

SPEAKER_00

Agreed with everything you said about Barbara Stanwyck.

SPEAKER_04

She was, I find I always found Barbara Stanwyck both the type of character. She played characters who allured me and also could scare the crap out of me. Like she was really good.

SPEAKER_02

It just sounds like she played women.

SPEAKER_00

So I go for Barbara also. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Next up we have the number seven on the list, Elizabeth Taylor, both actress and icon, I would argue. Correct. Up against number 10, Joan Crawford, who we just recently saw in the Grand Hotel.

SPEAKER_04

Who's good in the Grand Hotel?

SPEAKER_02

Good in the Grand Hotel, better in other things, much worse in other things.

SPEAKER_04

Here, I run hot and cold with Elizabeth Taylor. Same.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, Elizabeth Taylor was also in a lot of bad things. She was. But I later in life.

SPEAKER_04

But I have I have a hot take on her and Richard Burton in um Cleopatra? No, who's afraid of Virginia Wolf? And when I see them in that, all I all I see when I see her performing in that is look at me acting.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, I don't like her in that. I do like Richard Burton in that. I think he's doing a great job. I think she's and she wins the Oscar for it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I just think that was so bad. So she runs real hot and cold for me. I thought she was really good as Cleopatra. She is very good at Cleopatra. I thought she was a good young actress. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um she runs cold and cold for me. So I definitely forgot who she's up against.

SPEAKER_04

I know. Joan Crawford.

SPEAKER_00

I think Joan Crawford is amazing in everything I've seen her. Elizabeth Taylor is more iconic.

SPEAKER_04

I think Joan Crawford You've obviously never seen Trog thanks to the couple. I was gonna say right up until the end, Joan Crawford's career was well, she's not gonna win Best Mother Award, but you know.

SPEAKER_00

There's a movie called Trog that she's in.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, she plays an evil scientist who's creating a sort of Troglodite.

SPEAKER_00

Oh god. The whole storyline already sounds hideous. Yeah, she's real bad in it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, she was horribly miscast. It should have been Audrey Hepburn. Oh god. Um, I want to go with Joan Crawford. Okay. Sorry, Liz.

SPEAKER_02

You're also Joan Crawford. Oh, yeah. I probably actually would have gone Elizabeth Taylor on this one.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Paul Newman's rolling over in his grave right now because he loved the heck out of her. I did not like her.

SPEAKER_02

Um don't like the fact that she basically ended Richard Burton, but two marriages to Elizabeth Taylor will do that. That'll do it too. Uh next up we have 15 Mae West up against number two ranked Betty Davis.

SPEAKER_04

I think it's easy for me, but it's easy for me. It's Betty Davis.

SPEAKER_00

It's Betty Davis. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Mae West could do one thing well, and that's it.

SPEAKER_02

And she did it very early.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Yes. She tried to do it way late in her career.

SPEAKER_02

That intro, yes, with about an inch and a half of makeup on. Uh so we move on to the final eight, I guess. Uh Catherine Hepburn is pitted against Marlena Dietrich.

SPEAKER_04

I know what Elisa's gonna do.

SPEAKER_00

Marlena Dietrich.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. And I'm gonna go Catherine Hepburn. And and she's somebody who bugs me in some movies. Like there's there's movies she's in where I don't like her.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

But I look at her career and think, best of mine.

SPEAKER_02

I don't love early Catherine Hepburn. Like even bringing a baby. I don't love her.

SPEAKER_04

Well, that's I was thinking of that in particular.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. But like I love her. I think she's very good in the Philadelphia story. But again, I think she's sort of playing herself in the Philadelphia story more than she is in Britain.

SPEAKER_04

I look at her later. Well, not even later. So you go, you go African Queen, good character there, and then you go later, where she's in uh Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and then like Rooster Codburn with John Wayne.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, well, and on Golden Pond.

SPEAKER_04

On Golden Pond.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Wonderful.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, she she ages well. Yeah. Catherine Hepran does.

SPEAKER_04

And then that movie we saw with Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

With I mean, I can't remember the name of the film. It was James Spader. Yeah, it was like, no, it was not James Spader, it was somebody else.

SPEAKER_04

It was made for TV. Somebody like that, though.

SPEAKER_02

It was made for TV. She was great. She was very good. I mean, she was arguably the best thing in that film, but that's not really saying a whole lot. Uh next up we have Claudette Colbert up against Ingrid Bergman. If you're hearing a humming noise, that's something like interference in the studio. Sorry. It's keeping Glenn's beer going.

SPEAKER_04

That's my college fridge still still going.

SPEAKER_00

Repeat, por favor.

SPEAKER_02

Uh Claudette Colbert up against Ingrid Bergman.

SPEAKER_00

I just I just love Ingrid Bergman. Claudette Colbert is is great, but I just love Ingrid Bergman.

SPEAKER_02

A bunch of foreigners.

SPEAKER_00

So I'm going with Ingrid.

SPEAKER_04

I would go with Ingrid Bergman as well.

SPEAKER_00

I just like that one.

SPEAKER_02

Uh well, there's already two votes, but it probably would have been my vote as well. Uh next up, Ginger Rogers up against Barbara Stanwyck. I don't know. That was wildly different.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

For me, it's Barbara Stanwyck.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I I would agree. It's Barbara. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Just because I want to write the initials BS again. Next up, we have Joan Crawford pitted against Betty Davis.

SPEAKER_03

Oh.

SPEAKER_02

Or Beth Davis, depending on who you're talking to.

SPEAKER_04

I mean, and look at what they were able to do.

SPEAKER_02

Um that that is that is a quite a pairing, the two of those. Uh-huh. This is probably the worst, the worst two people you could ask me to pick. Absolutely despised each other.

SPEAKER_00

Fabulous. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04

I have to go with Betty Davis. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02

I have to go with Betty Davis. Do you ever watch the series that they did on the two of them? No. So the guy who does the like series on Hollywood sort of scandal things. I forget his name.

SPEAKER_01

Like scandals and things, or yeah. Well, he does, he did this, he did.

SPEAKER_02

I forget, I can I can't remember what the show was called. But he does, there were like maybe three or four seasons. The one was based on true Truman Capote and his swan.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, and the swans.

SPEAKER_02

And then the first season was based on Joan Crawford and Betty. I know what you're talking about. And it was so good. But they are so evil to each other. Yes. Just vicious.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

In the most sort of Hollywood caddies sort of love it. And even later, like at even to the end of their lives.

SPEAKER_00

To the end, yeah, the bitter end. I'm gonna go with Betty.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I mean, Jordan Crawford would not like that for that.

SPEAKER_00

That was horrible to have to choose. Yeah, that's tough.

SPEAKER_02

But I mean, whatever happened to Baby Jane is a terrifying film.

SPEAKER_00

I that is one of my other favorite films.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, first of all, it's good. Second of all, that speaks very highly about you. I'm gonna watch it tonight. But it is it is so bizarre. Yeah, um so in the final four, we have Catherine Hepburn up against Ingrid Bergman.

SPEAKER_04

Alright, this this might change.

SPEAKER_00

I'm still still gonna go with Ingrid.

SPEAKER_04

I think last time, I'm I know last time I went with Catherine Hepburn all the way, but these two never came up against one another, as far as I remember. And boy, Ingrid Bergman, especially later in her career. And even watching her daughter now, who's well, you can't well into her.

SPEAKER_02

But I'm just thinking, no, she reminds me of she had a daughter that was great.

SPEAKER_04

She reminds me of what she did later in her career.

SPEAKER_02

It doesn't hurt that she looks quite like her. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um, I gotta go with Ingra Bergman.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

I'd and I'd rather I'd rather watch her all day long.

SPEAKER_02

Barbara would be quite proud.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um, and Barbara Stanwyck up against Betty Davis.

SPEAKER_00

Betty Davis for me.

SPEAKER_04

I'm gonna make you break the tie. I'm gonna go with Barbara Stanwick. I'm on a Barbara Stanwyck kick, apparently. Yeah, I just I just re-watched um uh double indemnity.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah, right with uh the world's most boring actor that that's in everything. He's literally like he's the Disney dad of actors, and yet he's in so many films and is quite good at all of them, but he is like he's sort of a Gary Cooper type. Yeah, where it's like we need an actor with no personality for this role. Uh and finally, Ingrid Bergman up against Betty Davis.

SPEAKER_00

Oh man. How hard is this? This is horrible.

SPEAKER_04

I think I got I have to think of who I would rather watch, whose movies I enjoyed them in more. Like when I think about them in various films, I I I think uh I prefer Ingrid Bergman.

SPEAKER_00

If I think of it that way, I would too.

SPEAKER_04

It's just like preferenced.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. If you had to had to binge one day, it would be one or the other, it would be probably Ingrid Bergman. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So you're both voting Ingrid Bergman. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Well, that would seal the deal then.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So the winner of the sweet 16, or the the sweet 32, not 32. The winner of the women. The women, the women 32 is Ingrid Bergman. Congratulations. And with that, we're gonna save the men for the next time. Very good.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Uh and with that, I'm afraid we've reached the end of another episode of the Cinema Social Club. If you'd like to write in and I don't know, threaten us with never listening again, you could do so by emailing cinemasocialpod at gmail.com. That's cinema socialpod at gmail.com. Uh, thanks to my two co-hosts who could bother showing up tonight, and also to Sarah, who is probably doing something much better with her time. And uh join us next week when we'll be looking at another Osky Oscar winning picture, and I believe it's one that Glenn is going to especially like. But until then, on behalf of the rest of my co-hosts, it's a goodbye for me. Goodbye.