Adapted by Preston Sturges from Ferenc Molnár's play and directed by William Wyler, The Good Fairy (1935) is a screwball fairy tale built on mistaken identities, comic misfortune, and the peculiar moral logic of someone who genuinely wants to do good but hasn't quite figured out how the world works.
Luisa (Margaret Sullavan) has grown up knowing nothing of the world outside the orphanage walls. When she's finally released into Budapest society, she proves as well-meaning as she is naïve — and as prone to catastrophe as she is to kindness. A chance encounter with the wealthy and lecherous Konrad (Frank Morgan) sets off a chain of complications, chief among them the lie that she's already married. The problem is that she isn't, but she soon will be — to a bookish, bearded lawyer named Dr. Sporum (Herbert Marshall) who has no idea any of this is happening.
The film showcases the range of Margaret Sullavan's screen presence — radiant and funny and heartbreaking in equal measure — alongside Frank Morgan's gloriously stammering comic turn.
The episode also looks at the 1947 remake I'll Be Yours, starring Deanna Durbin, and the 1951 Broadway musical adaptation Make a Wish, with music by Hugh Martin and a book co-written by Sturges and Abe Burrows.
Collision as courtship. Self-destruction as intimacy. Fatih Akın's Head-On (2004) opens with two suicide attempts and spirals into a sham marriage between Cahit (Birol Ünel) and Sibel (Sibel Kekilli), German Turks who weaponize matrimony to escape themselves. What begins as a performance of tradition mutates into volatile love, violence, prison, exile, and a reunion that refuses catharsis.
Keith Gordon and Rahne Alexander join Mike to unpack Akın’s fusion of Sirkian melodrama, Fassbinder fatalism, and arabesk despair.
Australia month crashes to a delirious halt with 1997’s Welcome to Woop Woop. Directed by Stephan Elliott and adapted from Douglas Kennedy's The Dead Heart by screenwriter Michael Thomas, the film strands American grifter Teddy (Johnathon Schaech) in a surreal outback shantytown ruled by Daddy-O (Rod Taylor) and fueled by show tunes, superstition, and mob justice. Susie Porter co-stars as Angie, who drags Teddy into the warped social rituals of Woop Woop—Dog Day, asbestos mines, pineapple Christmas, and a kangaroo called Big Red.
Ben Buckingham and Rahne Alexander join Mike to dissect the film’s Cannes infamy, its grotesque fairy-tale politics, and Elliott’s post-Priscilla swing for the fences.
Special Guests: Sara Paretsky, David Aaron Cohen, Nick Thiel, Jeff Kanew, Warren Leight Guest Co-Hosts: Dahlia Schweitzer, Rahne Alexander
Noirvember 2025 keeps rolling as Mike teams up with author Dahlia Schweitzer and artist Rahne Alexander to crack open V.I. Warshawski (1991), Jeff Kanew’s glossy take on Sara Paretsky’s groundbreaking detective. Kathleen Turner commands the screen as V.I., whose night on the town swerves into murder, a dead former Blackhawks star, and a teenager who refuses to stay out of danger.
This episode brings together an incredible lineup: Sara Paretsky, creator of the V.I. Warshawski novels; screenwriters David Aaron Cohen, Nick Thiel, and Warren Leight; and director Jeff Kanew. They share the inside story of adapting an iconic literary detective, shaping Turner’s formidable on-screen persona, and navigating the film’s winding path from page to screen.
Along the way, we dig into Chicago’s cinematic grit, the film’s place in early-’90s studio genre filmmaking, and—yes—we spoil who killed Boom Boom and finally reveal what the initials V. I. actually stand for.
Special Guests: Payton McCarty-Simas, Adam Lowenstein Guest Co-Hosts: Father Malone, Rahne Alexander
George A. Romero trades zombies for suburban malaise in 1971's Jack’s Wife (AKA Season of the Witch, Hungry Wives), a spellbinding portrait of domestic despair and occult liberation. Jan White stars as Joan Mitchell, a disenchanted housewife drifting through a fog of loneliness and repression until she finds power--real or imagined--through witchcraft.
Rahne Alexander and Father Malone join Mike to dig into Romero’s haunting mix of feminist allegory, surreal dream logic, and kitchen-sink psychology. Mike interviews Professor Adam Lowenstein about Romero’s Pittsburgh years and scholar Payton McCarty-Simas about her new book That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film.
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.
Starting 2025 with a bang, we're diving into Todd Haynes's groundbreaking feature film debut, Poison (1991). Co-hosted by the fabulous Rahne Alexander and Kyler Fey himself, this episode unpacks the audacious triptych of tales—Hero, Horror, and Homo—that propelled Haynes to indie cinema stardom. Bold, provocative, and unapologetically queer, Poison challenges conventions and leaves an indelible mark on the New Queer Cinema movement. Join us as we explore the film’s layered narratives, its haunting aesthetics, and its enduring impact.
Released in 1994, The Coen Brothers' The Hudsucker Proxy stars Tim Robbins as Norville Barnes, a graduate of Muncie Indiana’s business school. He gets a job at Hudsucker Industries whose CEO, Waring Hudsucker (Charles Durning), happens to join the great hereafter the day Norville begins work. After a mix-up, Barnes goes all the way from the mail room to the boardroom and becomes the new interim head of the corporation.
Rahne Alexander and David Kittrredge join Mike to discuss the ins, the outs, and the what-have-yous about this oft-overlooked tribute to classic screwball comedies told only in the way that the Coen Brothers (and Sam Raimi) could tell it.
Special Guest: Rachel Talalay Guest Co-Hosts: Dahlia Schweitzer, Rahne Alexander
Rahne Alexander and Dahlia Schweitzer join Mike to discuss Rachel Talalay's 1995 comic book adaptation, Tank Girl. The film stars Lori Petty as the titular heroine who takes on the Department of Water & Power in a post-Apocalyptic wasteland populated by scavengers, oppressed citizens, and mutant kangaroo men.
The trio discuss the film's mysterious R-rating, the path to the silver screen, and more. Director Talalay dishes about the behind-the-scenes turmoil she and the film endured.
We continue a month of requests with one from listener Jordan Nash, 1985's Walking the Edge. Written by Curt Allen and directed by Norman Meisel, the film stars Nancy Kwan, as Christine Holloway, a woman whose son and husband are slaughtered by Joe Spinell as Brusstar and his gang of goons. She’s rescued by a cuckolded taxi driver who’s in dutch to the mob, Jason Walk, played by Robert Forster.
Spencer Parsons and Rahne Alexander join Mike to discuss Václav Vorlícek's How to Drown Dr. Mracek, the Lawyer (1975). Co-written by Projection Booth favorite Milos Macourek, the film stars Jaromír Hanzlík as the titular Dr. Mracek, a lawyer who is unwittingly trying to displace a group of water sprites from their homes.
We continue our Czechtember month of murder and mayhem with Oldrich Lipsky's 1971 film Four Murders are Enough, Darling. The film stars Oldrich’s brother, Lubomir, as George Camel, a teacher who is mistaken for a murderer by two rival gangs who are fighting for a million dollar check.
The movie is the second filmed adaptation of the book by Ninad Brixy, Entry Forbidden to the Dead.
Special Guest: Tom Stanton Guest Co-Hosts: Otto Bruno, Rahne Alexander
Otto Bruno and Rahne Alexander join Mike to discuss the 1937Archie Mayo film, Black Legion. Based loosely on the actual racist terrorist organization from Detroit, the film stars Humphrey Bogart as Frank Taylor, a man who gets passed over for a promotion by one of those darned immigrants. He does the only thing that makes sense by joining a hate group and trying to bolster his manhood with violence.
Special Guest: Rhonda Jo Petty Guest Co-Hosts: Jill Nelson, Rahne Alexander
Our exploration of adult films continues with a look at Little Orphan Dusty. The credits say the film was co-directed by Bob Chinn and Jacoov Jacoovi thought there’s a little controversy about that. Released in 1978, the film stars Rhonda Jo Petty as the titular Dusty, a woman attacked by a gang of bikers who eventually is rescued by Frankie (John Holmes), an artist who tries to help Dusty after a traumatic rape. Unfortunately, those bikers are really damned persistent...
Jill Nelson and Rahne Alexander join Mike to discuss the controversial film, its litigious advertising campaign, and its odd sequel (which co-stars Eric Edwards). Rhonda Jo Petty talks about making the film and her relationship with co-star John Holmes.
Special Guest: Lisa Gottlieb Guest Co-Hosts: Rahne Alexander, Jim Laczkowski
Directed by Lisa Gottlieb, Just One of the Guys (1985) stars Joyce Hyser as Terry Griffith, a reporter for her school paper who feels she’s being discriminated against by her teacher when it comes to a potential summer internship at the Sun-Tribune. In order to prove that she has what it takes she goes undercover as a teenage boy.
Special Guest: Jacqueline Bisset Guest Co-Hosts: Rahne Alexander, Andrew Nette
#Shocktober2021 continues with a look at Paul Wendkos’s The Mephisto Waltz (1971). Based on the novel by Fred Mustard Stewart, the film stars Alan Alda as Myles Clarkson, a pianist turned author along with Jacqueline Bisset as Myles’s wife Paula who isn’t a big fan of Myles’s new friend, the crotchety professional pianist Duncan Ely (Curd Jürgens), who harbors a dark secret.
Rahne Alexander and Andrew Nette join Mike to discuss the film, its similarities to Rosemary's Baby, and how this and other supernatural flicks paved the way to the '80s "satanic panic".
Czechtember continues with a look at Otakar Vavra’s (1970). Based on the 1963 book by Václav Kaplický, the film looks at the paranoia of a witch hunt in Moravia during medieval times. And, being released in 1970, the film also looks at the persecution of women as well as show trials in the Communist system.
Special Guests: Trent Harris, Brad Besser Guest Co-Hosts: Rahne Alexander, Bill Ackerman
On this very special episode of The Projection Booth we're looking at the films of Trent Harris, specifically The Beaver Trilogy (2000) which includes a documentary segment about Utah native "Groovin' Gary" along with two narrative remakes (starring Sean Penn and Crispin Glover in the Gary role). We also look at the documentary about The Beaver Trilogy from director Brad Besser called The Beaver Trilogy Part IV.
Bill Ackerman and Rahne Alexander join Mike to discuss the Beaver Trilogy films as well as Harris's Rubin & Ed and Plan 10 From Outer Space.
We're kicking off Czechtember 2019 with a look at Jan Schmidt's End of August at the Ozone Hotel (AKA Konec srpna v Hotelu Ozon). Released in 1967 the film is another in a collaboration between Schmidt and screenwriter Pavel Jurácek (who we discussed on our Case for a Rookie Hangman episode. Jurácek wrote the screenplay which has a group of women trying to survive in the post nuclear apocalypse. The film moves at a slow but determined pace and should not be viewed if you’re sensitive to animal cruelty.
Kat Ellinger and Rahne Alexander join Mike to discuss the film as well as some other "quiet apocalypse" movies.
Who would have thought that there were things left unsaid in the first episode about Death Game?
On this very special episode, Mike fills in a few things that were learned about Peter Traynor's Death Game and Eli Roth's Knock Knock. He also gets the inside scoop from Dyan Traynor about her father's work.
Additionally, the episode boasts a "table read" of the original script of Mrs. Manning's Weekend by Jo Heims from an original screenplay by Tony Overman and Michael Ross.
The Cast:
(Agatha) Jackson: Heather Drain
Donna: Rahne Alexander
George Manning: Dave Pace-Bonello
Harvey / Delivery Man: John Walker
Karen Manning / Mrs. Phipps: Marisa Young
Guest Co-Hosts: Rahne Alexander, Federico Bertolini
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