Down in the depths of precode cinema, where Shelly likes to spend torrid nights, there’s a depiction of how a department store can be a little Peyton Place, and how Warren William is never to be trusted. The great precode lothario stars with very young Loretta Young and Wallace Ford (who we just saw as a middle-aged creep in The Breaking Point) as her love interest. Aside from the sleaze, it’s kind of fun to see how a department store works in the 1930s....

Here are Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift at their hottest, with an adaptation of Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy. Just as in Night of the Hunter, Shelley Winters maybe ought to watch her back. George Stevens directs, and here, he’s beginning his epic period. In the 50s, he’ll direct Giant and Shane, among others. This one is full of melodrama and social aspiration and also has a bunch of Oscars, including Stevens’ first for directing. It’s nice to look at....

Johnny Guitar (1954): It’s unusual, it’s weird, and it’s unlike any other film made by these stars. And it’s our first LTS western. Because maybe your show runner has a slightly twisted appreciation for the genre. Nicholas Ray, whose directorial chops we last experienced with In A Lonely Place, directs Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden and Mercedes McCambridge. It’s a story that centers female characters, and gives Joan a chance to stomp around in great western wardrobe. Poor Sterling Hayden is...

Every once in awhile, your host takes a flier, choosing a film for us to watch that I’ve seen once or twice, if at all. Also arising from the 2022 draft episode is this English romance from 1945. It’s from the filmmaking team of Powell and Pressburger, and stars Wendy Hiller, so on credentials alone, it’s worth your attention. A young woman travels to the Hebrides to marry an older, wealthy man. But circumstances change her thinking...

Gene Kelly was at the height of his powers in 1951, starring in musicals for MGM, and choreographing some of them. Here, Vincent Minelli directs, but the dancing is by Kelly. Leslie Caron makes her film debut, and the rest of the cast has a decidedly continental vibe. The film is “inspired” by George Gershwin’s 1928 musical of the same name, but the writing credit here goes to Alan Jay Lerner, aka half of the celebrated Lerner and Lowe musical composing team. An American in Paris won a...

Unlike the mid-40s film that first brought us Bogie and Bacall, The Breaking Point is a relatively faithful adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s story, To Have and Have Not. This one stars John Garfield (in one of his final films) and Patricia Neal. Michael Curtiz directs, but if that suggests a routine Warner Bothers potboiler (I love those) it is not. Garfield is a boat captain talked into doing some smuggling. There’s a love triangle and an ending that’ll just wrench you....

This 1936 film is based on the well-known novel of the same name, by Sinclair Lewis. It’s the story of a successful middle-aged man (Walter Huston) who wants something new from his life. That’s what his wife (Ruth Chatterton) wants, too, but their ideas are very different, and not compatible. And there’s Mary Astor, living her best life in an Italian villa, being all awesome and stuff. It’s fun to watch these three actors work. The writing is good, too. William Wyler (who we last heard from...

If the Jeopardy answer is “A Christmas-themed film of the mid-1940s”, you might expect the question to be “What is ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’” or “What is ‘Miracle on 34th Street.’” But on this year’s LTS holiday episode, those questions would be wrong! Our movie this year comes with stars like Victor Moore and Don DeFore, not Jimmy Stewart or Donna Reed. But our little holiday movie has a lot to recommend it. There’s found family, a budding love story, a challenge to capitalism and...

I hear that Alec Guinness made a couple of movies in the 1970s or 80s that you may know. This is not that. This is a classic Ealing Studios comedy in which Alec plays eight characters. Because it’s a British comedy, I was not surprised to find that it dealt with social class. Robert Hamer directs, and Dennis Price is the actual star. This episode is full of connections to other things we like. Everyone brought the trivia....

This is a disturbing film: also a good one. Charles Laughton’s only directorial outing focuses on a con man (and worse) terrorizing a pair of children as they run from him. He’s attempting to secure some money he covets, and to shut up those meddling kids. Robert Mitchum is our charismatic villain and star, along with Shelley Winters and silent luminary Lillian Gish, also turning in worthy performances. Buckle up, friends. You’ve been warned. Ish....

For me, this movie answers some important LTS questions: what did that Ernst Lubitsch guy direct besides To Be Or Not To Be? How was Herbert Marshall ever a romantic lead? And finally, where are the precodes? It’s been forever! TIP also give me the chance to introduce Kay Francis and Miriam Hopkins, the fashion-forward queen of Warner Brothers before Bette Davis, and Miss Davis’ later southern belle nemesis in several films - respectively. Trouble in Paradise is a romantic triangle comedy...

For this episode, we’re breaking format a bit. Instead of focusing on one film, we’ll talk about several: all from the silent film era. It’s not a draft, but each panelist has picked a movie, and we’ve all watched them! Our guide is guest host, Micki Maynard!...

Nicholas Ray directs Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Graham. Bogie is Dix Steele, who should not be confused for Captain Picard’s hollowdeck alter ego, Dixon Hill. (Am I the only one who does that?) Bogie is not a detective, but a screenwriter suspected of murder. In A Lonely Place is considered one of the best film noir made, and Bogart and Graham give excellent performances....

It’s the age-old story: Boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl get married, girl’s psychosexual hangups put strain on their marriage, girl may or may not begin turning into a large murderous panther because of an ancient family curse … you know, the usual. Horror auteur Val Lewton and ace director Jacques Tourneur spin a low budget into shadow-drenched, spine-tingling gold in a creepy classic that takes the time to care about its characters, and brilliantly lets sound,...

We watch Billy Wilder’s story of a silent film queen’s life in middle age and the screenwriter who stumbles into her world. Noir, melodrama, dark humor, horror. It’s all here in this classic, staring Gloria Swanson. She’s all of 46 when she made this movie, but a has-been like her character. This episode is full of excellent trivia and unexpected connections made by our super-smart panel....

Probably the best of the Sturges comedies, The Palm Beach Story is part romance, part screwball comedy, part drawing room comedy. The performances sparkle, the movie looks great, and the plot is inventive. Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert are our delightful stars. And I get to talk about Mary Astor some more. Don’t miss this one, kids....

Fair warning: this recap of a Preston Sturges film from 1937 also features Barbie content....

Shelly talks with the “czar of noir” about his new book, his favorite films noir and what’s happening at Turner Classic Movies....

Who would dare comment on the inherently propagandistic aspects of the war effort, right in the middle of World War II? That would be Preston Sturges. A soldier is discharged from the Army because he has hay fever, but is declared a war hero when he returns to his hometown. Eddie Bracken and Ella Raines (last seen on LTS in Phantom Lady) are your stars....

The Summer of Sturges continues with a movie that’s not in a class with The Lady Eve. But we still need to talk about it. World-renown conductor Rex Harrison suspects his much younger wife (Linda Darnell) of cheating on him, and he dreams up three different ways to punish her for it....

We begin the summer of (Preston) Sturgess celebration with a true classic. Director and stars were at their best here, and it’s a treat to watch LTS’ favorite dame work her magic on Henry Fonda. I have four more Sturgess offerings coming up, but this one is hard to beat....

Audrey Hepburn is iconic as Holly Gollighty. Is there more to say? Of course. That’s why we have a podcast....

The Lubitsch Touch applied to Nazi occupation? You bet. Carole Lombard and Jack Benny star as members of an acting troupe in Poland, scrambling after the Nazis arrive. It’s funny and serious all at once, with great performances. The film was released two months after Lombard died in a plane crash, and would have earned good will, had the subject matter not been a rough go for Americans of the time....

We return to Huston (John) and Bogart, but there’s also Lauren Bacall, Claire Trevor (Oscar winner for this), Edward G. Robinson and more. The cast is trapped together in a Florida hotel, awaiting a hurricane. It’s a film noir, so there are secrets and gun play, plus the eventual storm to contend with. And a boat....