Episode 750: Gloria (1980)

Guest Co-Hosts: Judith Mayne, Andrew Rausch

John Cassavetes may be known for his raw, improvisational indie dramas, but with Gloria (1980), he delivered something entirely different—a gritty urban thriller with a heart, starring the incomparable Gena Rowlands who plays the titular Gloria, a tough, no-nonsense woman with mob ties who suddenly finds herself the reluctant guardian of a young boy targeted by gangsters after his family’s brutal murder. Armed with nothing but attitude and a pistol, Gloria hauls the kid through the hostile streets of New York City, dodging bullets, hitmen, and her own complicated past.

Mike is joined by returning guests Judith Mayne and Andrew Rausch to explore the film’s unconventional blend of gangster tropes, maternal instinct, and Cassavetes’s offbeat sensibilities. We dig into Rowlands’s powerhouse performance, the film’s strange place in Cassavetes’s career, and its legacy as a cult favorite that paved the way for countless “reluctant protector” thrillers.

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Music:
"Gloria" - Laura Branigan

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Episode 749: O Pagador de Promessas (1962)

Guest Co-Hosts: Robert Bellissimo, Philip Marinello

Mike is joined by Robert Bellissimo and Philip Marinello to explore O Pagador de Promessas (1962), the landmark Brazilian drama from director Anselmo Duarte. Also known internationally as The Given Word, the film adapts Dias Gomes's acclaimed stage play into a sharp critique of institutional power.

The story centers on Zé do Burro (Leonardo Villar), a simple farmer who treks over 20 miles into Salvador while bearing a heavy cross—honoring a vow to Saint Barbara after his donkey, Nicholas, falls ill. What begins as a devout act of gratitude becomes a battleground of bureaucracy, media exploitation, and religious gatekeeping. Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Duarte’s film remains a bold and timely meditation on class, faith, and the politics of devotion.

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Music:
"Candomblé" - Mariana Aydar

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Episode 748: The Exterminating Angel (1962)

Guest Co-Hosts: Rob St. Mary, Miguel Llanso

What happens when a lavish dinner party refuses to end? Mike is joined by filmmaker Miguel Llansó (Crumbs, Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway) and critic Rob St. Mary to unpack the surreal social satire of Luis Buñuel's The Exterminating Ange (1962). In this sharp and strange masterwork, a group of upper-crust guests find themselves mysteriously unable to leave a post-opera gathering—days pass, civility erodes, and Buñuel’s absurdist lens skewers class, ritual, and the thin veneer of order.

From sheep in the parlor to the creeping dread of inaction, we discuss the film’s dream logic, religious and political interpretations, and its place in Buñuel’s legendary career. Whether you’re trapped by tradition, status, or just polite company, The Exterminating Angel remains one of cinema’s most biting allegories—and we’re not letting you leave until we’ve talked it through.

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Music:
"Exterminating Angel" - The Creatures

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Episode 747: Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers (1972)

Special Guests: Jeff Copeland, Sandra Scoppettone
Guest Co-Hosts: Rahne Alexander, Elizabeth Purchell

We wrap up Maudit May with a look at Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers (1972), a once-lost independent musical that’s recently been restored and released on Blu-ray by the American Genre Film Archive. Directed by Robert J. Kaplan and written by Sandra Scoppettone, the film stars Holly Woodlawn as Eve Harrington, a young woman from Kansas who moves to New York City in search of something more—only to find herself in a strange world of characters who, like her, share names with familiar figures from classic Hollywood.

Joining Mike to explore the film’s unconventional structure, layered references, and cultural significance are co-hosts Elizabeth Purchell and Rahne Alexander. The episode also features interviews with screenwriter Sandra Scoppettone and Jeff Copeland, author of Love You Madly, Holly Woodlawn, who help contextualize the film’s production and its star’s place in the broader history of queer and underground cinema.

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Music:
"Get it On" - Bette Midler and Mike Lincoln
"Strawberry, Lilac, and Lime" - Bette Midler

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Episode 746: The Brave (1997)

Special Guest: Paul McCudden, Charles Evans Jr.
Guest Co-Hosts: Jedidiah Ayres, Spencer Parsons

The Projection Booth continues its spotlight on rare and elusive cinema with The Brave (1997), Johnny Depp’s feature directorial debut and a film shrouded in mystery since its limited release. Adapted by screenwriter Paul McCuddin from a novel by Fletch author Gregory McDonald, The Brave tells the harrowing story of Rafael, a Native American man who agrees to sacrifice himself in a snuff film to provide for his impoverished family.

Joining Mike to dissect this bleak, emotionally charged drama are returning co-hosts Spencer Parsons and Jedidiah Ayres, along with special guests screenwriter Paul McCudden and producer Charles Evans Jr. They discuss the film’s challenging adaptation process, its Cannes debut, and the complicated legacy that followed. We dive deep into The Brave's haunting themes, and controversial reception.

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Bonus: Charles Evans Jr Interview:

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Buy The Brave on Blu-Ray (Verify Region)
Buy The Brave by Gregory McDonald

Music:
Songs from Avenue B by Iggy Pop

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Episode 745: Ángeles y querubines (1971)

Guest Co-Hosts: Miguel Llanso, Aaron Peterson

Mike is joined by podcaster Aaron Peterson (The Hollywood Outsider) and filmmaker Miguel Llansó (Crumbs, Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway, Infinite Summer) for a conversation about Rafael Corkidi’s elusive 1971 feature debut Ángeles y querubines (Angels and Cherubs). Once presumed lost, this visually ravishing curio from Mexico’s surrealist wave plunges into Edenic allegory, spiritual symbolism, and vampiric resurrection. The trio explores how Corkidi’s background as cinematographer on El Topo and The Holy Mountain shaped his arresting compositions—and why his directorial efforts remain both transfixing and narratively confounding.

From telepathic puppets to exploding fruit and bite-marked lovers, Ángeles y querubines drifts between religious critique and mystical dream logic. Expect reflections on Corkidi’s artistic lineage, the politics of Mexican Catholicism, and the fine line between visual poetry and ponderous indulgence. This is Maudit May at its most daring—cinema that challenges, alienates, and haunts.

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Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Read The Bedlam Files about Corkidi
Buy Angels and Cherubs on DVD-R

Music:
All music from the soundtrack by Nacho Mendez

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Hans Crispin Stole Jerry Lewis Film That Had Been “Lost” for 45 Years

I'm not sure just how much of this article I believe as I spoke with someone a year ago who works at the Library of Congress and they told me that there is no finished/edited version of The Day the Clown Cied and that all that exists are fragments. But... only time will tell.

In the 1970s, legendary American film star Jerry Lewis shot a movie featuring several of Sweden’s biggest actors. Then it vanished without a trace—until now.

Italian director Roberto Benigni is said to have been inspired by the script of the missing film when he made the classic Life is Beautiful.

Inspired, yes—but he never saw the film. That much is confirmed by actor and TV personality Hans Crispin (yes, Angne from Angne och Svullo).

“You and the photographer are the 23rd and 24th people I’ve shown it to. In 45 years! And I have the only copy. I stole it from Europafilm in 1980 and dubbed it to VHS—in the attic where we used to copy porn at night,” he says.

Hans Crispin decided to tell the story and screen the film for Kulturnyheterna’s Caroline Hainer, a film critic, a few weeks ago. She and the magazine Icon recount the tale in the issue released today (May 28). After that, Kulturnyheterna got to see the film Crispin stole 45 years ago.

But let’s start from the beginning—

The legend of Jerry Lewis’s lost film begins in 1972, when he came to Stockholm to shoot The Day the Clown Cried. A film that stood in stark contrast to the screwball comedies that had made him famous in the 1960s.

But The Day the Clown Cried was something else entirely. Jerry Lewis plays a German clown named Helmut Dork who, during World War II, tries to entertain children in a concentration camp. He makes them laugh all the way to the end—in the gas chamber.

A long list of Sweden’s top actors at the time were hired to play prisoners and Nazi commanders: Lars Amble, Ulf Palme, and Sven Lindberg. Harriet Andersson plays Jerry Lewis’s wife.

But the production ended abruptly. Jerry Lewis left Sweden with the final film reels and decided the film would never be shown. In the mid-2010s, he admitted why: it turned out too badly.

“A Myth”

In 2024, the German documentary From Darkness to Light was screened at the Venice Film Festival. Martin Scorsese appears and refers to the film as a myth.

Online forums call The Day the Clown Cried the Holy Grail of film history. Fragments and clips have been found and stitched together by dedicated enthusiasts. Many hoped a copy of the film might reside in the Library of Congress in Washington, where Lewis donated materials late in life—on the condition that they not be made public until 2025. But on New Year’s Day this year, only a script and partial reels with separate audio were found.

“Ha! I’ve got an original script too,” says Hans Crispin—“in fact, several of them.”

Originally published by SVT Nyheter on May 27, 2025.

Episode 743: Move (1970)

Special Guests: Paula Prentiss, Elliot Gould
Guest Co-Hosts: Mike Sullivan, Emily Intravia

Mike White is joined by Mike Sullivan and Emily Intravia to take a long-overdue look at Move (1970), the surreal, seldom-seen New York comedy directed by Stuart Rosenberg. Fresh off his success in M*A*S*H Elliott Gould stars as Hiram Jaffe, a would-be playwright stuck writing porn and walking dogs while waiting for the movers who never arrive. As his mundane reality refuses to budge, Hiram plunges into a chaotic interior world filled with absurd fantasies, sexual misadventures, and psychological spirals.

Adapted from Joel Lieber’s novel (and screenplay), Move attempts to blend urban anxiety, dream logic, and dark comedy—resulting in a disjointed but oddly fascinating time capsule of early ’70s male neurosis. Paula Prentiss co-stars as Hiram’s patient wife, while Geneviève Waïte plays a mysterious blonde who may or may not exist. The film mixes scenes of everyday tedium with dreamlike sequences involving rogue movers, hallucinated frogs, and even a fantasy duel, never quite committing to whether it's satirizing New York life or the fragile male ego.

Our hosts dive into the film’s tonal shifts, its place in Gould’s post-M*A*S*H career arc, and why it remains overlooked despite its stacked cast and studio pedigree. The episode also features brand-new interviews with stars Elliott Gould and Paula Prentiss, who reflect on the film’s production, reception, and what it means to them in hindsight.

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Music:
"Move" - Larry Marks

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