Fade to Chat: Golden Age Cinema

Alfred Hitchcock traps a wheelchair-bound photographer in one apartment with a view of his neighbors' windows, and turns the audience into accomplices in a possible murder.

FILM ESSENTIALS

Director/Producer: Alfred Hitchcock

Screenplay: John Michael Hayes, from Cornell Woolrich's 1942 story "It Had to Be Murder"

Stars: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr

Cinematography: Robert Burks | Editor: George Tomasini | Costumes: Edith Head

Studio: Paramount Pictures | Runtime: 112 minutes

Premiere: August 4, 1954 (New York); U.S. release September 1, 1954

Budget: about $1...

Marty Jencius and Cindy Rotz, joined by guest Brian Flanigan-Arthurs, dig into Orson Welles's debut masterpiece, the film long crowned the greatest ever made, to ask whether it still earns that title today.

FILM ESSENTIALS

- Director/Producer: Orson Welles (his first feature)

- Screenplay: Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles

- Release: May 1, 1941 (RKO Palace Theatre, New York)

- Runtime: 119 minutes, black and white

- Studio: RKO Radio Pictures / Mercury Productions

- Cinematography: Gregg Toland | Editing: Robert Wise | Music: Bernard Herrmann<...

Marty and Cindy take a Time Warp back to the flop that became the world's most famous midnight movie, and unpack the cast, the chaos on set, and the cult that grew around it.

FILM ESSENTIALS

Director: Jim Sharman

Screenplay: Richard O'Brien and Jim Sharman, from O'Brien's 1973 stage musical

Producers: Lou Adler and Michael White

Stars: Tim Curry (film debut), Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick

Supporting: Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, Meat Loaf, Charles Gray

Cinematography: Peter Suschitzky | Music: Richard Hartley, songs...

Marty Jencius and Cindy Rotz tackle James Whale's wickedly funny, surprisingly tender sequel, the film many critics rank above the original Frankenstein, and ask how a Bride with under five minutes of screen time became an icon.FILM ESSENTIALSDirector: James WhaleScreenplay: William Hurlbut (story by Hurlbut and John L. Balderston), based on Mary Shelley's novelStars: Boris Karloff as the Monster, Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein, Elsa Lanchester as the Bride and Mary Shelley, Ernest Thesiger as Dr. Pretorius, Valerie Hobson as ElizabethStudio: Universal PicturesCinematography: John J. MescallMusic: Franz Waxman | Makeup: Jack Pierce | Effects: John P. FultonRuntime: 75 minutes, black and...

Marty Jencius and Cindy Rotz follow Humphrey Bogart's Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall's Vivian Rutledge through rain, blackmail, and a plot nobody can fully explain, and ask whether a movie needs to make sense when it has this much style.

FILM ESSENTIALS

- Director/Producer: Howard Hawks

- Screenplay: William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, and Jules Furthman, from Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel

- Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers

- Supporting: John Ridgely, Dorothy Malone, Elisha Cook Jr., Bob Steele, Regis Toomey, Peggy Knudsen

...

Marty and Cindy pick up where The Thin Man left off, same train, same song, same peignoir, for a New Year's Eve in San Francisco, a murder, and a very young Jimmy Stewart.

Panelists: Marty Jencius (host) and Cindy Rotz (co-host)

FILM ESSENTIALS

• Director: W. S. Van Dyke

• Screenplay: Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett, from an original story by Dashiell Hammett

• Stars: William Powell (Nick), Myrna Loy (Nora), James Stewart (David Graham), with Elissa Landi, Joseph Calleia, Penny Singleton, and Skippy as Asta

• St...

Marty Jencius and Cindy Rotz cross the border into Orson Welles's fever-dream noir, where a car bomb, a crooked cop, and a studio recut collide in one of the most argued-over films in Hollywood history.

THE ESSENTIALS

Director: Orson Welles

Screenplay: Orson Welles, from the novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson

Producer: Albert Zugsmith | Universal-International

Stars: Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, Marlene Dietrich, Dennis Weaver

Cinematography: Russell Metty

Music: Henry Mancini

Running time: 93 min (1958...

Marty Jencius and Cindy Rotz take on Hitchcock's Notorious, the spy romance in which a government man recruits the woman he loves, hands her to a Nazi, and watches.

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

- Episode: FTC045 | Hosts: Marty Jencius and Cindy Rotz

- Director/Producer: Alfred Hitchcock — his first credit as his own producer

- Screenplay: Ben Hecht, loosely from John Taintor Foote's "The Song of the Dragon"

- Stars: Cary Grant (Devlin), Ingrid Bergman (Alicia), Claude Rains (Sebastian), Leopoldine Konstantin (Madame Sebastian), Louis Calhern (Prescott)

...

An alien envoy lands in Washington with a warning for the entire planet, is shot before he can deliver it, and goes to ground as an ordinary boarder named Mr. Carpenter while an eight-foot robot waits at the ship.

FILM INFORMATION

- Director: Robert Wise

- Screenplay: Edmund H. North, from Harry Bates' 1940 story "Farewell to the Master" (Fox paid Bates $500 for the rights)

- Stars: Michael Rennie (Klaatu), Patricia Neal (Helen Benson), Hugh Marlowe (Tom Stevens), Sam Jaffe (Prof. Barnhardt), Billy Gray (Bobby), Lock Martin (Gort)

A Kansas farm girl swept by a tornado into the magical land of Oz teams up with a Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion to seek help from the Wizard, only to learn she had the power to go home all along.

SHOW ESSENTIALS

Director:Victor Fleming (uncredited: Cukor, Vidor, Thorpe, Taurog)

Stars:Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke,Margaret Hamilton

Studio:MGM  | Runtime: 101 min  |  Released: Aug 25, 1939

Format:Sepia B&W (Kansas) / three-strip Technicolor (Oz)

Awards:Best Original Song ("Over the Rain...

When inventor Clyde Wynant vanishes days before hisdaughter's wedding and his secretary turns up murdered, retired detective Nick Charles is pulled back into the case by his unflappable wife Nora — solving it, cocktail in hand, with a dinner-party unmasking and his unbothered terrier Asta in tow.

Show Essentials

Director: W.S. Van Dyke

Stars: William Powell(Nick Charles), Myrna Loy (Nora Charles), Maureen O'Sullivan (Dorothy Wynant)

Based on: DashiellHammett's 1934 novel The Thin Man

Release: May 25, 1934 ·91 minutes · Black-and-white

Recognition: 98% onRotten Tomatoes · 4 Academy Award nominations, including Best Pictur...

Cindy and Marty discuss a 37-year-unsolved decapitation, a decaying Louisiana mansion, and an aging recluse who may — or may not — be losing her grip on reality: Robert Aldrich's follow-up to Baby Jane pits Bette Davis against phantom harpsichords, a scheming cousin, and a plot to have her committed.

Essential Elements

Director/Producer: Robert Aldrich
Stars: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten; with Agnes Moorehead, Mary Astor, Victor Buono, Bruce Dern
Screenplay: Henry Farrell & Lukas Heller
Release: December 16, 1964 | Running Time: 133 min | Black-and-white
Awards: 7 Academy Award nominations — a horror-genre record...

Fade to Chat: Golden Age Cinema dives into David Lean's Oscar-sweeping WWII epic The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), unpacking the true story behind Colonel Nicholson's fateful bridge, the blacklisted writers who never got credit, and the real-life POW camp commander the film reimagined.

FILM OVERVIEWThe Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) | Director: David LeanStars: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue HayakawaBased on Pierre Boulle's 1952 novel | Runtime: 161 min
Awards: 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (Guinness)

In a Japanese POW camp in occupied Thailand, Colonel Nicholson clashes...

A dying-but-defiant barrister takes on one last case: an amiable inventor accused of murdering the wealthy widow who adored him, with only his cool, unreadable wife standing as his alibi. Billy Wilder's courtroom thriller twists and twists again on its way to one of classic Hollywood's most famously guarded endings.

Essential ElementsDirector: Billy WilderStars: Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles LaughtonBased on: Agatha Christie's short story and 1953 stage playRelease: December 17, 1957Running Time: 116 minutesAwards: 6 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture; 100% on Rotten Tomatoes; AFI's #6 courtroom drama

Trivia

Marty Jencius and Cindy Rotz check into the most famous brownstone in movie history. Blake Edwards' 1961 adaptation of Truman Capote's novella gave us Audrey Hepburn in Givenchy, Henry Mancini's "Moon River," and a heroine who insists nobody belongs to anybody. We talk about the girl Capote actually wrote, the ending Hollywood grafted on, the Mickey Rooney performance nobody can defend, and why a movie this charming keeps making us uneasy.

THE FILM

• Directed by Blake Edwards; screenplay by George Axelrod from Capote's 1958 novella

• Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebse...

Marty and Cindy share some trivia and context from the first Pink Panther movie

Film Essentials

Director: BlakeEdwards  |  Stars: David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine, Claudia Cardinale |  Music: Henry Mancini  |  Runtime: 113 min  |  Box Office: $10.9 million

Exiled Princess Dala carries the world's largest diamond, the "Pink Panther," to a ski resort where jewel thief Sir Charles Lytton (posing as "the Phantom") and bumbling Inspector Clouseau converge. Chases, romance, and a courtroom twistfollow, ending with an innocent man framed and the real thief free.

Trivia HighlightsPeter Ustinov was the original Clouseau but quit day...

Director/Screenplay: John Huston (based on the 1927 B.Traven novel)  Stars: Humphrey Bogart (Fred C. Dobbs), Walter Huston(Howard), Tim Holt (Bob Curtin), Bruce Bennett (James Cody), Barton MacLane (Pat McCormick), Alfonso Bedoya (“Gold Hat”)Cinematography: Ted D. McCord  | Music: Max Steiner  Studio: Warner Bros.   Runtime: 126 min  | Black and White  |  Released January 1948

Two broke drifters, Dobbs and Curtin, team with old prospector Howard to dig for gold in Mexico’s SierraMadre. As the gold piles up, Dobbs’s paranoia curdles into obsession, and the mountains take back what they gave.

Huston read Traven’s novel in 1935 and spent 12 y...

Marty and Cindy review the film adaptation of Agatha Christie's favorite work.

Title: And Then There Were None (1945)

Director: René Clair | Screenplay: Dudley Nichols

Stars: Barry Fitzgerald · Walter Huston · Louis Hayward · Roland Young · June Duprez · Mischa Auer · C. Aubrey Smith · Judith Anderson · Richard Haydn · Queenie Leonard

Music: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco | Distributed by: 20th Century Fox

Running Time: 97 minutes | Black and White | Released: October 30, 1945

The Source Material

Christie's novel was first published in 1939. By the 1970s, And Then There Were None became the...

Cindy and Marty settle on a favorite large cast comedy, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

Film Overview

• Title: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) | Director: Stanley Kramer | Screenplay: William & Tania Rose

• Stars: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, Jonathan Winters

• Supporting: Jimmy Durante, Peter Falk, Buster Keaton, Don Knotts, Jack Benny, The Three Stooges, Edie Adams, Carl Reiner, ZaSu Pitts, and more

• Budget: $9.4M | Box Office: $60M | Format: Technicolor / Ultra Panavision 70

• Runtime: 192 min (premiere...

Cindy and Marty talk about a favorite childhood movie and Marty remembers Black and White scotch

THE FILM - Father Goose (1964)

Director: Ralph Nelson  | Screenplay: Peter Stone & Frank Tarloff

Based on the short story “A Place of Dragons” by S.H. Barnett

Stars: Cary Grant as Walter Eckland  |  Leslie Caron as Catherine Freneau  |  Trevor Howard as Commander Houghton

Cinematography: Charles Lang  | Music: Cy Coleman  |  Runtime: 118 min

Box Office: $12.5 million  | Released: December 1964

February 1942. Commander Houghton of the Royal Australian Navy coerces Walter Eckland — a whisky-soaked American beachcomber who wa...

Marty and Cindy review the great film noir classic.

Film Overview

Title: The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Director: John Huston | Screenplay: John Huston (based on Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel)

Stars: Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade | Mary Astor as Brigid O'Shaughnessy | Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo | Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman

Supporting Cast: Gladys George, Barton MacLane, Lee Patrick, Ward Bond, Jerome Cowan, Elisha Cook Jr., Walter Huston (uncredited cameo)

Cinematography: Arthur Edeson | Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

Budget: $375,000 | Box Office: $1.8 million | Running Time: 101 minutes

Release...

Cindy and Marty talk about High Society, a musical pairing of Sinatra and Crosby with Grace Kelly .

Title: High Society (1956)

Director: Charles Walters

Screenplay: John Patrick (based on The Philadelphia Story, 1939 play by Philip Barry)

Stars: Bing Crosby as C.K. Dexter Haven | Grace Kelly as Tracy Samantha Lord | Frank Sinatra as Macaulay “Mike” Connor

Supporting Cast: Celeste Holm, John Lund, Louis Calhern, Louis Armstrong and His Band

Cinematography: Paul C. Vogel

Music: Cole Porter (original score) | Orchestrations: Conrad Salinger & Nelson Riddle | Cond...

Marty and Cindy converse about the male urge for infidelity after seven years of marriage as depicted in The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Title: The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Director: Billy Wilder

Screenplay: George Axelrod & Billy Wilder (based on Axelrod's 1952 Broadway play)

Stars: Marilyn Monroe as The Girl | Tom Ewell as Richard Sherman

Supporting Cast: Evelyn Keyes, Sonny Tufts, Oscar Homolka, Robert Strauss, Carolyn Jones

Cinematography: Milton R. Krasner

Music: Alfred Newman (with Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 featured prominently)

Studio: 20th Century-Fox...

Cindy and Marty chat about a gothic-style thriller The Spiral Staircase.

◆ THE SOURCE MATERIAL

- Based on Ethel Lina White’s 1933 novel Some Must Watch; major changes include mute heroine, new setting, and added spiral staircase (inspired by Mary Roberts Rinehart).

- Originated with David O. Selznick (planned Ingrid Bergman); sold to RKO to finance Duel in the Sun (1946); retained profit share and gifted Dorothy McGuire a convertible.

- Screenplay by Mel Dinelli (first produced work); early title: The Silence of Helen McCord.

◆ SIODMA...

Marty and Cindy speak about their impressions of the Depression-era comedy My Man Godfrey

TRIVIA & PRODUCTION NOTES

Source Material

Based on Eric Hatch's 1935 serial "1101 Park Avenue," first published in Town & Country. Co-screenwriter Morrie Ryskind had already co-written Animal Crackers and A Night at the Opera for the Marx Brothers and shared the 1932 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Casting

Universal's original choice for Irene was Constance Bennett. Director La Cava would only accept her if Powell came from MGM — and Powell would only sign if Ca...

Marty and Cindy look at the most famous movie about an imaginary 6' 3.5" rabbit

◆ THE SOURCE MATERIAL

Play by Mary Chase; premiered November 1, 1944 at the 48th Street Theatre — Frank Fay as Elwood, Josephine Hull as Veta

Ran 1,775 performances through January 1949 — fifth longest Broadway run to that point

Won Chase the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Drama — the fourth woman to receive it

In the original draft, Harvey was an invisible canary written for Tallulah Bankhead; the rabbit and púca concept came in rewrites

A púca is a sh...

Marty and Cindy converse about the theatric nature of All About Eve

All About Eve1950 • 138 minutes • 20th Century-FoxWritten & Directed by Joseph L. MankiewiczProduced by Darryl F. Zanuck

Principal Cast

◆ THE SOURCE MATERIAL▸ The film is based on "The Wisdom of Eve," a roughly three-and-a-half-page short story by Mary...

Marty and Cindy cover a hidden favorite with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, 1963 Charade

Charade - Production & Development

• Original script (The Unsuspecting Wife) was rejected by seven studios before Peter Stone serialized it in Redbook—then all wanted it.

• Cary Grant initially declined; Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood were considered before Grant returned.

• Filming began Oct 1962 in Paris; ski scenes shot Jan 1963 in Megève, French Alps.

• Grant (59) objected to the age gap; script revised so Hepburn’s character pursues him.

• Peter Joshua was named after dir...

Marty and Cindy review a little thought of Christmas comedy movie about escaped convicts and holiday redemption.

Origins & Production

• Based on Albert Husson’s French play “La cuisine des anges” (1952); Paramount bought rights weeks after the Paris premiere

• Broadway adaptation “My Three Angels” (Sam & Bella Spewack) ran 344 performances at the Morosco Theatre in 1953

• Working title: “Angels Cooking”; filmed mid-1954 but not released until July 7, 1955

• Spewacks sued Paramount in Nov. 1955, claiming their stage version was used scene-by-scene without credit

• A 1989 remake (De Niro, Sean Penn, Demi Moore; dir. Neil Jo...

Cindy and Marty talk about the early family comedy about a arrogant but loving father, Life With Father.

From Broadway to the Screen The original play opened November 8, 1939, and ran 3,224 performances — the longest non-musical run in Broadway history, a record it still holds. Warner Bros. paid $500,000 plus 50% of profits for the film rights, a record sum for a stage property at the time. The playwright, his co-author, and Clarence Day's widow all had veto power over every aspect of the production — not a word of dialogue could be cut without their approval.

The Red Hair Prob...

Marty and Cindy review one of the 60’s best screen musicals about the farce of corporate advancement.

FROM BROADWAY TO HOLLYWOOD

The Broadway production opened October 14, 1961, ran 1,417 performances, and won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Actor for Robert Morse. It also won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize in Drama—only the fourth musical to receive that honor.

Robert Morse, Rudy Vallee, Ruth Kobart, Sammy Smith, and Michele Lee all recreated their Broadway roles for the film. It was Michele Lee's feature film debut.

The Mirisch Company paid $1,000,000 for the f...

Marty and Cindy break down one of Cindy’s favorite suspense film, The Bad Seed from 1956

THE BROADWAY CONNECTION

•       Five original Broadway cast members recreated their roles on screen, including Nancy Kelly (Tony winner for the role) and Patty McCormack—director LeRoy insisted on them over bigger Hollywood names.

THE PRODUCTION CODE FIGHT

•       Warner Bros. paid $300,000 for the rights despite PCA warnings. The Code forced a complete reversal of the original ending—Rhoda had to die and Christine had to survive. Three different endings were reportedly shot, and the last five...

Marty and Cindy talk about one of the rest trend setting rom-coms of the 30’s, It Happened One Night.

FILM OVERVIEW

·       Title: It Happened One Night

·       Release Year: 1934

·       Director: Frank Capra

·       Screenplay: Robert Riskin

·       Source Material: “Night Bus” (Samuel Hopkins Adams, 1933)

·       Studio: Columbia Pictures

·       Starring: Clark Gable (Peter Warne), Claudette Colbert (Ellie Andrews), Walter Connolly (Alexander Andrews), Roscoe Karns (Oscar Shapely)

·       Runtime: 105 minutes

·       IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025316/

ACADEMY AWARDS AND “GRAND SLAM” HISTORY

·       The first film to sweep...

Marty and Cindy lament over the Hitchcock 80 minute  apartment thriller, Rope. 

Rope (1948)

Production & Filming

Marty and Cindy talk about the Cold War comedy Dr. Strangelove and all the trivia associated with the movie.

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Source Material: Red Alert by Peter George

Starring: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens, James Earl Jones

Genre: Political satire / Black comedy

Setting: The Pentagon War Room, a B-52 bomber, and Burpelson Air Force Base

Peter Sellers & Performance

·       Paid $1 million—55% of the film’s budget.

·       Originally cast in four roles but did not play Major Kon...

Marty and Cindy chat about the home building comedy, Mr. Blanding Builds His Dream House

Director: H.C. Potter

Starring: Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas

Genre: Domestic comedy / social satire

Setting: New York City and rural Connecticut

Based on the semi-autobiographical book by Eric Hodgins, the story draws directly from the author’s own disastrous attempt to build a house in Connecticut.

Hodgins was editor of Fortune magazine, bringing a professional-class perspective to postwar domestic anxiety.

The house bu...

Marty and Cindy review the Peter O’Toole and Audrey Hepburn caper comedy How to Steal a Million

Production Background

·       Directed by William Wyler, known for balancing sophistication, romance, and meticulous visual composition.

·       Produced during a transitional era in Hollywood when glossy romantic capers were giving way to grittier New Hollywood films.

·       Shot largely on location in Paris, giving the film an authentic European atmosphere rarely matched by studio backlots.

·       The film blends genres: romantic comedy, heist film, and art‑world satire.

Casting & Performances

·       Audrey Hepburn star...

Cindy and Marty review the Hitchcock mystery Dial M for Murder

Film: Dial M for Murder (1954)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Based on: Frederick Knott’s stage play (and earlier television version)

Starring: Ray Milland (Tony Wendice), Grace Kelly (Margot Wendice), Robert Cummings (Mark Halliday), John Williams (Chief Inspector Hubbard), Anthony Dawson (Charles ‘Swann’ / Captain Lesgate)

Setting: Primarily one London apartment—by design

Cast Notes

The film’s tension depends on performance contrast: Ray Milland plays Tony as charming and measured—until the ma...

Marty and Cindy review a favorite rom-com, The Awful Truth, with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne.

Title: The Awful Truth (1937)

Director: Leo McCarey

Screenplay: Viña Delmar, based on the play by Arthur Richman

Studio: Columbia PicturesRuntime: 91 minutes

Genre: Screwball Comedy / Romantic Comedy

Cary Grant — Jerry Warriner      

Irene Dunne — Lucy Warriner

Ralph Bellamy — Dan Leeson

Alexander D’Arcy — Armand Duvalle

Mr. Smith the Dog — Played by Skippy

Jerry and Lucy Warriner divorce after mutualsuspicions of infidelity.

Their divorce dec...

Cindy and Marty look at the classic film noir Double Indemnity and have a new appreciation for excessive smoking in movies.

Double Indemnity was released in 1944 by Paramount Pictures and directed by Billy Wilder. The screenplay was written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, based on a novella by James M. Cain. The film stars Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson and is widely regarded as the defining work of film noir.

Production & Development

• Based on a real 1927 murder involving Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray, whose crime centered on an...