Episode 630: Raising Arizona (1987)

Special Guest: Joseph McBride
Guest Co-Hosts: Keith Gordon, Rob St. Mary

We wrap up a month of discussion around comedic film with one of the best, The Coen Brothers's second film, Raising Arizona (1987). It's the story of repeat offender H.I. McDunnough (Nicolas Cage) and his wife Ed (Holly Hunter ), a childless couple who steal one of the quintuplets from Nathan Arizona (Trey Wilson) and, hell, you know who he is.

Rob St. Mary and Keith Gordon join Mike to talk about the film while Professor Joseph McBride discusses his book, The Whole Durn Human Comedy: Life According to the Coen Brothers.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 630: Raising Arizona (1987)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Raising Arizona on Blu-Ray

Music:
All Music by Carter Burwell

Watch:

Episode 629: Ninotchka (1939)

Special Guest: Joseph McBride
Guest Co-Hosts: Otto Bruno, Robert Bellissimo

Otto Bruno and Robert Bellissimo join Mike to look at Ernst Lubitsch's 1939 film, Ninotchka. Written by Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Walter Reisch, and based loosely on a story by Melchior Lengyel, the film stars Greta Garbo as the titular Ninotchka, a stern Soviet sent to Paris to supervise the sale of jewels seized from a Russian noblewoman, Grand Duchess Swana (Ina Claire).

Professor Joseph McBride -- author of How Did Lubitsch Do It? and Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge -- talks about these two talented men and what happened when they worked together.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 629: Ninotchka (1939)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Ninotchka on Blu-Ray

Music:
"The Red Blues" - Cole Porter

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Episode 570: Arsenic & Old Lace (1944)

Special Guests: Joseph McBride, Charles Dennis
Guest Co-Hosts: Sylvia Hubbard, Kat Ellinger

We’re wrapping up Screwball month with a look at Frank Capra’s Arsenic & Old Lace. Released in 1944, though shot several years before that, the film stars Cary Grant as Mortimer Brewster, a drama critic and avowed bachelor who has found the love of his life in Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane) who lives right next door to his kind-hearted aunts, Abby and Martha. There’s just one thing…. Abby and Martha have a terrible habit of poisoning their single, lonely old men boarders.

Sylvia Hubbard and Kat Ellinger join Mike to discuss the film while special guest Joseph McBride (Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success) talks about Frank Capra while Charles Dennis reveals just a few of the things he's uncovered for his upcoming book There's a Body in the Window Seat!: The History of Arsenic and Old Lace.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 570: Arsenic & Old Lace (1944)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Arsenic & Old Lace on DVD
Buy Unmasking Frank Capra by Joseph McBride

Music:
"End Titles" - Max Steiner
"There Is A Happy Land" - Lewis Family
"Run Runaway" - Slade

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Episode 567: Ball of Fire (1941)

Special Guest: Joseph McBride
Guest Co-Hosts: Kat Ellinger, Maitland McDonagh

We are kicking off a month of screwball comedy discussion with a look at Howard Hawks’s 1941 film Ball of Fire. Written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, the film stars Gary Cooper as one of an octet of professors who are writing an encyclopedia. Cooper is writing an article on slang only to find that he’s very deficient. In an effort to bolster his research he comes across Sugarpuss O’Shea (Barbara Stanwyck). The moll of a vicious gangster, she’s on the lamb and holes up with the professors. And, of course, hilarity ensues.

Kat Ellinger will be around all month. Maitland McDonagh guest hosts on this episode and Professor Joseph McBride dishes about his books on director Howard Hawks.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 567: Ball of Fire (1941)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Ball of Fire on DVD
Buy A Song is Born on DVD
Buy Hawks on Hawks by Joseph McBride
Buy Focus on Howard Hawks by Joseph McBride
Subscribe to Maitland McDonagh's substack

Music:
"Drum Boogie" - Gene Krupa

Watch:

Symphony in Slang from Lee Presson on Vimeo.

Special Report: Other Side of the Wind Redux

Special Guests: Bob Murawski, Joseph McBride, Josh Karp
Guest Co-Hosts: Ken Stanley, Rob St. Mary

On this special episode of The Projection Booth we're looking at Orson Welles's The Other Side of the Wind (2018) again. Way back in May 2015, four years ago, it was still something of a dream that this film would ever get completed and shown to the world. There were rumors but there had been rumors before.

Rob St. Mary and Ken Stanley join Mike to discuss finally seeing the forty-year-in-the-making film. Josh Karp (author of Orson Welles's Last Movie: The Making of The Other Side of the Wind and Joseph McBride (author of Whatever Happened to Orson Welles?) return to give their thoughts on the film while Michigan's own Bob Murawski discusses the incredible task of completing Welles's fragmented film.

Correction: Per Bob Murawski, the section with the mannequins was not done via CGI!

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Special Report: Other Side of the Wind Redux" on Spreaker.

Bonus Interview with Bob Murawski:

Listen to "Special Report: Other Side of the Wind Redux: Bob Murawski" on Spreaker.

Links:
Watch The Other Side of the Wind on Netflix
Buy Orson Welles's Last Movie by Josh Karp
Buy What Ever Happened to Orson Welles? by Joseph McBride
Buy Making Movies with Orson Welles by Gary Graver (with Andrew Rausch)
Read more about Other Side of the Wind at WellesNet
Buy the Other Side of the Wind script (in English and French)
Read more about Kael Vs. Kane

Music:
"Music to Watch Girls By" - Tony Hatch
"Music to Watch Girls By" - Les McCann
"Music to Watch Girls By" - The Ventures
"Fruit and Icebergs" - Blue Cheer

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Episode 399: To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Special Guest: Joseph McBride
Guest Co-Hosts: Lutz Bacher, Ken Stanley, Paula Guthat

We conclude our discussion about Ernst Lubitsch with a discussion of his 1942 film To Be or Not To Be, the story of Joseph and Maria Tura (Jack Benny and Carole Lombard), two actors in Poland who are in a current run of Shakespeare’s Hamlet though working on a new play called Gestapo. The new play never happens on stage but they’re able to act it out in real life after Poland falls to the Nazis. The film is one of the first films to openly lampoon Nazis, made in a time before Pearl Harbor -- though released afterward -- in a time when mocking Nazis wasn’t as acceptable as it should have been.

Recorded at the studios of Podcast Detroit, Paula Guthat, Ken Stanley, and Lutz Bacher join Mike to talk about this stellar comedy of manners. In the first of a two-part interview, Joseph McBride talks about his latest book, How Did Lubitsch Do It?

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 399: To Be or Not To Be (1942)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy To Be or Not To Be on Blu-Ray
Buy The Mel Brooks Collection on DVD
Buy Fireball: Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3 by Robert Matzen
Buy The Big Screen Comedies of Mel Brooks by Robert Alan Crick
Buy How Did Lubitsch Do It? by Joseph McBride
Buy Herbert Marshall: A Biography by Scott O'Brien
] Buy Kay Francis - I Can't Wait To Be Forgotten - Her Life on Film and Stage by Scott O'Brien
Buy Ernst Lubitsch's American Comedy by William Paul
Buy Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise by Scott Eyman
Read Ernst Lubitsch: 10 essential films by David Parkinson
Visit the Ernst Lubitsch fan site

Music:
"To Be or Not to Be (The Hitler Rap)" - Mel Brooks

Watch:

Episode 398: Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Special Guest: Joseph McBride
Guest Co-Hosts: Lutz Bacher, Ken Stanley, Paula Guthat

The first of two episodes focusing on Ernst Lubitsch, this week we're discussing Trouble in Paradise (1932). The film stars Herbert Marshall as Gaston, a gentleman thief who initially connects with Lily (Miriam Hopkins), a highly skilled pickpocket, before the two begin the long con with Madame Mariette Colette (Kay Francis), the owner of a Parisian perfume company. Unfortunately for Gaston, and Lily, and Madame Colette, things aren’t so easy when it comes to the fleecing...

Recorded at the studios of Podcast Detroit, Paula Guthat, Ken Stanley, and Lutz Bacher join Mike to talk about this stellar comedy of manners. In the first of a two-part interview, Joseph McBride talks about his latest book, How Did Lubitsch Do It?

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 398: Trouble in Paradise (1932)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Trouble in Paradise on DVD
Buy How Did Lubitsch Do It? by Joseph McBride
Buy Herbert Marshall: A Biography by Scott O'Brien
] Buy Kay Francis - I Can't Wait To Be Forgotten - Her Life on Film and Stage by Scott O'Brien
Buy Ernst Lubitsch's American Comedy by William Paul
Buy Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise by Scott Eyman
Read Ernst Lubitsch: 10 essential films by David Parkinson
Visit the Ernst Lubitsch fan site

Music:
"Trouble In Paradise" - Charles Agnew
"Trouble in Paradise" - The Crests

Watch:

Episode 363: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

Special Guests: Kenneth E. Hall, Joseph McBride
Guest Co-Hosts: Jon Cross, Ben Buckingham

We travel back to the days of yesteryear with a look at the 1962 film from director John Ford, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The film stars Jimmy Stewart as Ransom Stoddard, a lawyer who comes out west only to get robbed by the titular Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). The film also stars John Wayne as Tom Doniphan, a man of action and the living embodiment of "The Old West".

Joseph McBride and Kenneth E. Hall discuss the works of John Ford while Jon Cross and Ben Buckingham join Mike to talk about Liberty Valance and revisionist Westerns.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 363: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)" on Spreaker.

Bonus: Joseph McBride Interviews John Ford

Copyright © 1970, 2018 by Joseph McBride

Links:
Buy The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance on Blu-Ray
Buy The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance by Dorothy M. Johnson
Listen to Jon Cross's Miscellaneous Plumbing Fixtures

Music:
Soundtrack by Cyril Mockridge
"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" - Gene Pitney

Watch:

Episode 222: Rock 'N' Roll High School (1979)

Special Guests: Allan Arkush, Dean Cundey, Russ Dvonch, Clint Howard, Joseph McBride, PJ Soles, Richard Whitley, Mary Woronov, Dey Young
Guest Co-Host: Adam Schartoff

School's out for summer and we're talking Rock 'N' Roll High School, the 1979 film starring The Ramones. Riff Randell (PJ Soles), a rock & roll fan, wants to get her song to The Ramones. Meanwhile, her friend Kate Rambeau (Dey Young) searches for her first love. It's a tale of loud music, exploding mice, pizza and wheat germ.

We're joined by a host of Rock 'N' Roll High School alumni from director Allan Arkush to cinematographer Dean Cundey to writers Russ Dvonch, Richard Whitley, and Joseph McBride to stars PJ Soles, Dey Young, Clint Howard and Mary Woronov.

Also part of the discussion this week is Adam Schartoff of Filmwax Radio.

We also talk about some of the subsequent Rock 'N' Roll films: Rock & Roll Hotel, Rock 'N' Roll High School Forever and Shake, Rattle and Rock.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 222: Rock 'N' Roll High School (1979)" on Spreaker.

Listen/Download Bonus Interviews Now:

Listen to "Bonus Interview: Rock N Roll High School Cast and Crew" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Rock N Roll High School on Blu-Ray
Buy I Want You Around: The Ramones and the Making of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School by Stephen B. Armstrong
Buy End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones on DVD
Buy Ramones Mania on CD
Buy Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone by Marky Ramone
Buy Swimming Underground: My time at Andy Warhol's Factory by Mary Woronov
Buy Soggy Bottom, USA on DVD
Visit the official Dey Young website
Visit the official Joseph McBride website
Visit the official Ramones website
Follow P.J. Soles on Twitter
Follow Clint Howard on Twitter
Read about Rock & Roll Hotel by Dale Brumfield
Read all about the Rock & Roll High School soundtrack and video releases
Read Allan Arkush's Criterion Top Ten
Watch the whole Siskel & Ebert Cult Film episode
Listen to a Ramones Concert from Ann Arbor, 1981
Listen to the We Hate Movies episode on Rock & Roll High School Forever
Listen to our episode on That Guy: Dick Miller
Hear more Joseph McBride on The Projection Booth
Hear more Clint Howard on The Projection Booth
Hear more Dean Cundey on The Projection Booth
Be sure to check out Filmwax Radio

Music:
"Rock & Roll High School" - P.J. Soles
"Rock & Roll High School" - The Ramones

Watch:

Episode 217: The Other Side of the Wind

Special Guests: Josh Karp & Joseph McBride
Guest Co-Host: Andrew Rausch

We’re kicking off “Maudit May” with a discussion of Orson Welles’s The Other Side of the Wind. A film some fifty years in the making, it has yet to be completed and released.

The film stars John Huston as Jake Hannaford, an aging film director who is working on an artsy fartsy film to try to stay relevant with New Hollywood. Most of the film takes place on Hannaford’s seventieth birthday where he’s surrounded by sycophants, critics, friends and former friends. Populated by a star-studded cast, the film is a treatise on filmmaking, aging, and machismo.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 217: The Other Side of the Wind" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Orson Welles's Last Movie by Josh Karp
Buy What Ever Happened to Orson Welles? by Joseph McBride
Buy Making Movies with Orson Welles by Gary Graver (with Andrew Rausch)
Read more about Other Side of the Wind at WellesNet
Buy the Other Side of the Wind script (in English and French)
Read more about Kael Vs. Kane
Buy Andrew Rausch's books
Hear more of Andrew Rausch on the show
Listen to our Saint Jack episode
Listen to our Magnificent Ambersons episode
Listen to our Othello episode
Read about the Netflix Acquisition
Hear Peter Jason's memories of working with Orson Welles on our They Live episode

Music:
"Cast Your Fate to the Wind" - Vince Guaraldi Trio

Watch:

Episode 185: Othello (1951)

Special Guest: Samantha White
Guest Co-Host: Joseph McBride

We conclude Shakespeare September with our look at Orson Welles's Othello. Filmed over a period of four years, the production was plagued with financial problems but ultimately proved a triumph of ingenuity over resources. The second of Welles's Shakespeare films, Othello is yet another of his works that has been tampered with.

We're joined by Welles scholar Joseph McBride of our Magnificent Ambersons and Executive Action episodes and we talk to Samantha White of the Shakespeare in Detroit company.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 185: Othello (1951)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Othello on Blu-Ray
Buy Making Movies with Orson Welles by Gary Graver & Andrew Rausch
Buy the soundtrack by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino
Watch Filming Othello at Archive.org
Buy Whatever Happened to Orson Welles by Joseph McBride
Buy Peter Bogdanovich and Jonathan Rosenbaum's This Is Orson Welles
Read Jonathan Rosenbaum's review of the Othello "restoration"
Find out more about Shakespeare in Detroit
Like Shakespeare in Detroit on Facebook.
Keep up with news on Welles's Othello at Wellesnet

Music:
"Othello" - Verdi
"Breaking Us In Two" - Joe Jackson

Watch:

Episode 143: The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Special Guests: William Friedkin, Joseph McBride, Christopher Welles Feder, Peter Bogdanovich, Jonathan Rosenbaum
Guest Co-Hosts: Roger L. Ryan, Rob St. Mary, Justin Bozung

An episode two years in the making...

Orson Welles's follow-up to Citizen Kane adapted Booth Tarkington's Pulitzer prize-winning novel about industrial progress and the loss of innocence set against a tumultuous family, the Ambersons.

Welles infamously lost control of The Magnificent Ambersons before its final release. We'll examine its production, its destruction, and attempts to restore what many consider Welles's forgotten masterpiece.

We're joined by guest co-host Roger L. Ryan. And...there's a special appearance by Mondo Justin!

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 143: The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy The Magnificent Ambersons on Blu-Ray
Visit a comprehensive Magnificent Ambersons website
Read Mike Thomas's The Decline & Fall of The Magnificent Ambersons
Read David Kamp's Magnificent Obsession
Buy Jonathan Rosenbaum's Discovering Orson Welles
Visit the Jonathan Rosenbaum website
Buy Joseph McBride's Whatever Happened to Orson Welles?
Buy Joseph McBride's Orson Welles
Visit the Joseph McBride website
Buy Peter Bogdanovich's This is Orson Welles
Buy Robert L. Carringer's The Magnificent Ambersons: A Reconstruction
Buy Chris Welles Feder's In My Father's Shadow: A Daughter Remembers Orson Welles
Read ‘The Magnificent Ambersons’: The Fascinating Story of Orson Welles’ Studio-Tainted Masterpiece at Cinephilia and Beyond
Read ‘Magnificent Ambersons’ reconstruction to use animation for lost scenes by Ray Kelly
Learn more about the fan edit Orson Welles & I
Download The Magnificent Ambersons audio book
Visit the WelleNet website
Special thanks to Peggy Daub of the Special Collections Library at the University of Michigan

Music:
The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo - Charles Coburn
The Union Forever - The White Stripes (Redd Blood Cells mix)

Sources:
Hollywood the Golden Years: The RKO Story
BBC Four - Arena, The Orson Welles Story
This is Orson Welles

Watch:

Episode 141: Executive Action (1973)

Special Guests: Donald Freed, Alex Cox,
& Joseph McBride

In honor of the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination, we're looking at Executive Action, one of the first films to tackle the events of 11/22/1963.

We also talk about related films such as JFK, Flashpoint, The Price of Power and more.

Our special guests include Donald Freed, co-author of the book on which the film was based, filmmaker/writer Alex Cox, author of The President and the Provocateur: The Parallel Lives of JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald, and Joseph McBride, author of Into the Nightmare: My Search for the Killers of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J. D. Tippit.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 141: Executive Action (1973)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Executive Action on DVD
Buy Oliver Stone's JFK on DVD
Buy Flashpoint on DVD
Buy The Price of Power on DVD
Watch Mark Lane's Rush to Judgment
Hear more of Donald Freed on our "Secret Honor" episode
Visit the Donald Freed website
Buy Alex Cox's The President and the Provocateur
Visit the Alex Cox website
Read more about Errol Morris vs. Alex Cox
Buy Joseph McBride's Into the Nightmare: My Search for the Killers of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J. D. Tippit
Visit the Joseph McBride website
Read more about the 1973 Chilean Coup
Buy the various Trials of Lee Harvey Oswald
Watch Frank Sinatra in Suddenly
Watch the trailer for TimeQuest
Watch the trailer for Virtual JFK

Music:
November 22nd, 1963 - Destroy All Monsters

Watch:

Case Not Closed: The Zapruder Film from Alex Cox on Vimeo.