Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / White Christmas (1954) - Michael Curtiz | Houselights #211: Special

Transcript

White Christmas (1954) - Michael Curtiz | Houselights #211: Special · Houselights: A Film Director Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the ned Palty.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Hello everybody to home, and welcome to House Lights Christmas
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Edition with nineteen fifty four's White Christmas, directed by Michael Curtis.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Now today we're not starting the House of Curtis. We're
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: just we just went in an excuse to talk about
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: a holiday movie, to talk about a Christmas movie, and
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: what better way than to do it With Bing Crosby,
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Danny k Rosemary Clooney, and Vera Ellen. I am your
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: co host Tristan Rudel, and with me, as always is
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: expert in canine dentistry, Darren Moser, and a man twenty
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: five years older than his female co star, John Mills.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Well, it's honestly thirty five the magic of makeup. Mm mmmm,
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: I passed for twenty five older.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: I could see the white in your hair.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Yes. So, of the three of us, we are recording
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: this in December, and I am the only one who's
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: actually experiencing a white Christmas and it's snowed today. I
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: live in Illinois. I live in northern Illinois, and you
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: guys live on either coast and talking about being Chile fifty.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Degrees Disney Disney properties mm hmmm hm.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: So I want to know. You know, as we normally do,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: we talk about where we first encountered this film. And John,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: I want to start with you. When did you first
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: watch this.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Film I encountered, John, Yeah, I camped out. I wanted
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: to be there for the latest bing Crosby Flick. I
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: was camped out on the sidewalk.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, this division was huge. I remember they were
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: talking about it all.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: Over you know, you can't you never beat it. That's
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: where the pinnacle of film industry technology was was VistaVision.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: It's all been downhill since then. Nobody knows the magic
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: of seeing that. I encountered this on video at some point,
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: probably in the late nineties early two thousands. I had
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: a girlfriend at the time who was obsessed with like
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: nineteen fifties sort of like culture sort of stuff like
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: that was her vibe, and so like, I undoubtedly encountered
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: this while I saw high society for the first time
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: and all of those sorts.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Of movies who love high society.
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: Controversial take there, Tristan, really controversial. But you know, so
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: this would have been in that tranch of movies I
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: encountered for the first time around then, this, you.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Know, I mentioned Michael Curtis at the beginning, and I
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: feel like I didn't really give him his due. Now
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: he's the man, that guy whatever, you know, the man
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: directed Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood and Mildred Pearce.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: I think we maybe we should go into that a
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: little bit. I mean, I guess we just did. But yeah,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: maybe we will do The House of Curtis sometime down
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: the road, but we're not starting it now. But Darren,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: you know, is this was this a Moser family favorite?
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: What what was this?
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Oh? Yeah, it's one of those that's just always been around.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: So it's really hard for me to place the memory
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: of when I first watched it. We were actually talking
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: about some of the main stars, and I can remember
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: when I first saw Court Gesture with Danny Ka, which
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: came out the year after this, basically a Dandy k
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: vehicle to Danny kay it up to the eleventh But
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: for this one, yeah, it probably was just like either
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: renting again, renting from Blockbuster, or catching it on television.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: You know, would have been in the in the rotation.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: But yeah, it's it's hard, really hard to place because
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: for me, it's like saying the first time you watched,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: it's a wonderful life. Like it's kind of just an
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: institution that's kind of been there, like maybe you remember,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: but it's more like it's just.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Always been and always will be. I was I didn't
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: see this until I got married to my wife. This
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: was this was not one that we watched growing up.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: This was not a Redell family favorite. My mother actually
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: hates musicals and so I was not exposed to musicals
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: a lot growing up. And my wife's family is all
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: about the musical, like the older the better. And so
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: when she when I told her I'd never seen White
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Christmas before, she looked at me like I was some
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: godless commie and I was like, Okay, well I guess
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: what that guess I know what we're going to do tonight.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: And we watched The Glory that is VistaVision, and it
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: was I fell in love with it immediately. I was like,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: oh man, this is this is a good movie. I
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: don't know if people know this, but it was, you know,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: like I immediately fell in love with Bing Crosby and
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: Danny k and it was so much fun just to
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: see all the colors, the dancing, it was just it's
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: such a fun movie. It's so heartwarming, there's so little drama,
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: and it's just an excuse to sing and dance. And John,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: I can really hear you.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: Sorry, I was typing you. Sorry, I was typing a
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: note to you that my daughter just said she's getting
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: back at ten forty five instead of eleven.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: So sorry, Right, we'll kick it in a gear then
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: this will not be a long episode, all right. So
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: this is just such a fun movie. It's just it's
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: so heartwarming and it's comfort food. It's like mac and
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: cheese for the soul. And John, I want to know, like,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: when you think of this movie, what pops into your head?
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Is it them singing snow on the train? Is it
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Danny k dancing with Verry Ellen for the first time?
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Is it sisters? What is it what pops into your head?
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Probably sisters because my mom and her sisters sang it
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: at my grandparents' fiftieth wedding anniversary party that they had,
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: and that was the first time I'd ever heard that song.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: And then when I saw this movie, I was like, Oh,
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: that's what it's from, and you know, that is definitely
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: going to be the tune that pops in my head.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: And I mean, you know, everybody knows white Christmas. Okay, yes,
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: but that's the one that's there for.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Me, Darren, the same question.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: So it's funny as you know, being a film major
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: and such. Also my wife was at the time that
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: we met in university. It's so funny because anytime someone
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: mentions white Christmas, it's like a compul that we have
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: to mention, well, you actually know, white Christmas actually came
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: from the earlier film A Holiday Inn. But like, again,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: it's the fact that nobody asked for.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: But it's but okay, there's always that person in the room, Darren,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: there's always that person.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I am that person I failed to admit. But yeah,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: oh gosh, I'd say your favorite moment is hard because
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: it's just it's such a well told story. And I
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: also love the fact that it's obvious. I mean, it's
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: obviously heavily shot on on soundstage, but it's in that
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: era where like the sound stages were ginormous, so you
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: just you're like, oh, yeah, it's the inn. It's like, no,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: the inn is inside. Everything is inside. The outside is inside.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Like it's so the snow was literally asbestos. It's it's
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, there's there's people shaking the asbestos from the rafters.
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: For things they wish they had back, decisions that maybe
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: you could have you'd walk back now. Yeah.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Now, speaking speaking of the sound stage, that's one thing
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: that I genuinely love about older movies is the gigantic
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: sound stage, the size of an airplane hangar, and it's
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: supposed to exist in the General's barn. I genuinely, unronically
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: love that. It's like a tartis.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: You look at the outside of the barn and then
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: you go inside and you're like, this is bigger than
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: it should be.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: The General has a fly system and a psych like
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: this is crazy.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but see that that just.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Brought that up by train. They brought the whole show
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: on the road.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: And yeah, but see, I think stuff like that is
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: charming when you go back and you watch these old
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: movies because movie audiences didn't care about that very similitude
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: back then. It's sort of like they they everybody knew
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: it was artifice, and so it was like, that's why
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: the whole VistaVision thing is big is because it's like
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: we're presenting it to you larger than ever before. Like
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: people were going there. It was like the old you know,
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: side show Hawker Circus act sort of thing. It's like
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: the movie was the big show, and so it was
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: like you didn't care that it didn't make sense because
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: you knew it didn't make sense. You just wanted to
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: sit there and I mean, back then, smoke your cigarettes
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: and eat your popcorn while you're watching a double bill
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: right with a Tom and Jerry in between sort of stuff.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: Take your opium drink. No, it kind of makes me.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: It makes me think of like when I see stuff
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: like that, cause there's a few movies where they'll be
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: blatantly obvious with it, where like that the number will
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: end and they'll be like a snap, and the studio's
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: gone and they're just in the clothes that they were
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: normally in, Like it was all just kind of like
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: it was all big believe. Like what you're seeing was
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: big believe. I love that that's what it's going to
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: look like.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: And you're like there's three people watching them, and they're.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: Just like yep. And like that scene in Greece, like
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: when they're singing Grease Lightning and then all of a sudden,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: the song's over and they're back with a junkie car.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: They're not like run around in a white void, you know,
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: and everything like that. So yeah, yeah, I mean I
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: missed those days.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: I kind of feel like that in the g I
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: wish I was back in the Army because the production
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: of that song feels beyond a barn to me, I'm like,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: what is going on here?
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: That's what you didn't feel that way with Minstrel Show?
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, Mintel's Show. It's like my barn just kept
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: going up and up and up.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: Who installed that staircase?
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Look, you know they bought. I saw a shot of
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: someone loading a couple of planks of wood and boom
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Minstrel Show.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: One of my one of my favorite behind the scenes
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: tidbits about this is that during Sisters when they were
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: trying to get away, Originally it wasn't in the script
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: that Danny k and Bing Crosby would sing quote unk
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: like performed Sisters like in drag and because like it
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: was I think it was Danny Kaye's idea or something
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: like that. Like they were just like goofing off during rehearsal,
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: and the director just thought it was freaking hilarious and
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: so like when Bing Crosby is laughing like that's genuine,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: real laughter because he just can't handle it. And Danny
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Kay was trying to get Bing to laugh because Crosby
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: was going through a really hard time. He just lost
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: his wife and he you know, this was just kind
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: of like another gig to him, and Danny Kay was like,
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna get Bing to laugh, like I'm I'm going
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: to lift his spirits whatever whichever way I can. So
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: when he kept hitting Bing with the with the feather
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: like with the whatever that thing is called feather fan,
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: the feather fan, Yeah, and Bing lost it Like that
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: was like Danny Kay was just like mission accomplished. I
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: absolutely love that behind the scenes moment, Darren, do you
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: have anything like I know that you researched this film
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: and you've you've lived with this film a long time.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Is there anything that like you really like that that's
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: something behind the scenes that you didn't know or that
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: you found interesting over the years, just like.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: The you know, we often don't talk about costumes in
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: in house lights, and this movie like I'm.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Always drawn to right after sisters.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: We have not when they perform it, but when it's
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: performed for the real time. We have the dancing number.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Best things happen when you're dancing.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Yes, that's it. And Danny Kay is wearing this you know,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: charcoal gray you know suit that goes down to charcoal
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: gray socks that goes down to charcoal gray shoes, and
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: it draws his silhouette up and down, and it's like
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: people don't wear that, People don't wear shoes that match
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: their pants, that match their socks. But it works, and
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: it looks so good as they're dancing because it's locking
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: his silhouette to his entire person, and so as he
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: is dancing with Vera Ellen and they're you know, we're
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: obviously at a stout stage a little bit for this part.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: It's probably one of the weaker you know, boat scenes.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: You told me that lighthouse wasn't real.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: You know, I felt like I was on pieds with
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: the Caribbean guys, like it was just in the background
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: for his perspective.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: But but no, but.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: That's a great number, and so yeah, so things like that,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: things like I mean, everyone always gushes over the four
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: red outfits from the very end number of White Christmas
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: just being you know, gorgeous. But even Ash like Rosemary
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Clooney's black dress in You Know Love didn't do right
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: by me. Like, there's just there's so many costume moments
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: in this movie that are just I feel like I
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: didn't grow up obviously in the in the fifties, but
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: this look, the sharpness of like how everyone is dressed
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: just always impressed me.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: From this film.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, i'd say we're still I'm saying this
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: in support of I'm not offering any sort of like counterpoint.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: I'm saying like, I enjoy that factor of it specifically
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: because we're still early enough in the color era, you know,
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: like where they're really leaning into the technicolor and stuff
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: like that, where they're unafraid, they're purposely really leaning into
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: it because it's another thing you can sell past television.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: Television's black and white. Oh my gosh, look at these
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: amazing colors we have up on screen, and it's like
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: it's a whole other wow factor. And I think that
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: you're right to talk about that because I think you
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: see costume and set designers and everybody really lean into it.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: And I think White Christmas is definitely one of those
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: movies where you can point to it where it's like,
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: you know, it's like I don't care what you do.
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: This has got to look great and better look great
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: when we get it back from the processing. And so
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: the costume designers and set designers and production designers are like,
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: all right, guys, let's sit down, let's really work this
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: one out. And so you get those incredible outfits that
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: sync up so well against the way everything's lit on
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: that sound stage.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: And the production design is really a top notch two
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: because we start out during the war. Everything is barely green.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: It's so gray, it's barely even a green that they're wearing.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: It's drab. It's a war torn area. And then we
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: go boom to the two Man Show and everything stage
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: we got blue sky background, we got you know, like
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: a burgundy, red coats, and like, even when you look
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: at Rosemary Clooney's just her face, just her face, the
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: blonde hair, the blue eyes and the very red lips
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: absolutely pop on screen. It's just such an interesting and
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: cool palette to see. And like when you have the
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Menstreul Show, especially the element towards the end when Verry
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: Ellen's introduced, you have greens and pinks and whites and purples,
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: mixed with the black that they're wearing, and it just
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: it's just it's a feast for the eyes. In my opinion,
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: I think this movie. That really is a selling point
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: for this film.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you mentioned the opening bit because I feel
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: like sometimes it's overlooked when they're in the war scene
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: because it's like it's very quick and then we're off
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: to you know, we time jump and then we're spending
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: the rest of the movie kind of in the quote
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: unquote present. But yeah, the again, that's one of those
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: where I know it's a sound stage, but it's a
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: giant sound stage like that entire area. But thinking of
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: the color and like you said, the darkness, I think
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: it's like they made the brightest thing in those frames
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: were Bing Crosby's and General Waverley's eyes, because they both
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: have very striking blue eyes. And yeah, that shot where
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: the General comes in, he kind of sneaks in the
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: back to watch the performance and it's just him and
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: his men, And I was always captivated by that where
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: you know, he portrays that grandfatherly look so well. Yeah,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: but it's a it's a great, great sequence and you know,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: and overall in the plot I think this movie does
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: a great job. I believe it had a bit of
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: rewriting to kind of get it get it there, but
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: the story works like from beat to beat to beat,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: from setup of the Wallace and Davis, you know, friendship
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: to them going you know, the montage through their rise
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: of fame to like, there's nothing that feels unbelievable about
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: this story. Maybe the barn. We already kind of talked
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: about the barn, But besides that, like I I'd never
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: get drawn out of the story. It's just a fun
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: tale of these brothers, you know, not biologically brothers, but
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: brothers of friendship and their and their adventure.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I I think that. You know, if you're talking
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: about like the way it's constructed, it's It's also one
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: of those things where it's it gives you the vibe
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: of like seeing a stage show, which I'm saying in
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: a positive sense, where again it's the we don't need
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: the one hundred percent reality sort of thing. It's the
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: when you go to a stage show you know, Okay,
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: this is how this is going to work, and I'm
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: not going to be completely sold. I don't need all
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: the interstitial scenes and stuff like that. It's okay if
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: I just move along, because I know that this is
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: the next scene in the act and you're a little
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: more forgiving, and I'd say that, you know that. I'd
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: say that this movie takes extreme advantage of our willingness
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: to go along, especially in musicals of the era, to
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: treat them like stage plays that are on film. And
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: I think that if anything, it gets to and if
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: we ever do you know, the House of courtes at
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: some point, then I think that this is one of
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: those ones where I know, I'll just own it because
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: I know I get mocked for it every time I
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: say it. But this is a director who, you know,
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: he knows how to manage the project as it were,
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: He knows what the assignment is and he knows how
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: to assemble it in such a way that it works.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: And his assignment here is to put together I mean,
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: what is, in all honesty a rankly commercial enterprise, and
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: he still turns out something that people are talking about
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: decades later. Right, Like, there's a thing where you have
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: to understand that at a certain point craft become art.
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: Craft is craft, but craft can become art when it's
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: put together so incredibly well that even though the whole
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: mandate of this movie is to be like, you know,
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: that song's really popular, we should really capitalize on that.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: Can you imagine in with how cynical we are as
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: film goers today? And so it was like, Hey, this
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: Lady Gagas song is really hot, let's make a movie
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: around it. Oh my lord, like the wave of just
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: vitriol that would wash over it. I'm never gonna go
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: see this movie. This is just based on making money,
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: and it's like, this is another thing where it's like,
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: what do you want to do, Let's make a movie
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: so we can make some money. Okay, that's fine.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: So yeah, the amount of think pieces oh that would
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: be released, that would be released is mind boggling.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: Is film eating itself? Question mark a deep dive on
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: the new venture from Columbia Pictures or whatever.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: Yes, here's an odd numbered list of the reasons why
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: you shouldn't go see Lady A Gagay his new film. Yes, Darren,
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: I have a question about performances. Now, this is one
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: of my favorite, if not my favorite, being Crosby performance.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: And one of the reasons why is because of his
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: lexicon kind of sneaks in to his role where it's
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: just like when they're in the midnight snack and he
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: says he's like bring the cow and he's talking about
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: just bringing the milk. You know. It's just little stuff
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: like that that really peppers it in. And I love
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: the performances here, Like what do you think of the
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: performances in this movie? Is there something that stands above
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: the rest? You know, like what pops into your head?
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Oh, i'd say, I mean, I love being Crosby, but
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: I say, ceiling the show is Danny K. He is
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: every scene he is in he is pitch perfect. The
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: intensity of Danny K you need for that which is
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: pretty high. But he ever becomes like comical, like like
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: over the top. I mean even when he's you know,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: nursing his bad knee, you know, to get the general
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: to not watch the show like we're dying because it's
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: just so ridiculous, But it's still like it's not so
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: far as the general being like, Okay, I'm done, I'm
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: gonna just walk away from like what is We're gonna
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: bring the padded room for you. So I'd say, yeah,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Danny Kay Dean Jagger for Waverley. Every time Waverley is
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: on screen, I think One of my favorite shots is
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: when he comes down in his uniform again to the
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: writers to like try to find a way to get
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: him to be in his uniform for that like it
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: sold it, but only by the thinnest of margins. But
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: I love that little scene where he's with his granddaughter
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: and it's just such a it like kind of pauses.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: It doesn't kill the momentum, but it pauses the movie
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: for a moment and he just has a little moment
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: with her. But I'm trying to pull up the name
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: super fast. The housekeeper also is one that steals the show. Uh,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: miss busybody anonymous every time we see her, and you know,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: she kind of drives the plot along a little bit
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: because her involvement and the lack of information.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: This is just fun.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: It's fun having a movie where they're not fighting each other.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: They're not fighting. It's not man versus nature, it's not
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: you know, manvers machine. It's it's miscommunication is really the
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: bane of the movie, because they're not talking to each
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: other and assuming what other people are doing. That creates
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: the most drama. Right before the big finale.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: Mary Wicks's who you're talking thaking about? Who's also plays
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: sister Mary Lazarus and Cis Racked one and two. I
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: always thought she was in the Wizard of Oz as well,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: but I always get those two actresses confews, Yeah, no,
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: it is.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: It is not.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: Now, John, is there any performances that pop out to you,
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: anything that you're just like, wow, this can't make a
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: three list the rule?
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: Well, then I got nothing because well, I mean, the
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: thing is I think that you know, just to follow
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: upon what you're saying with with Danny Kay is he
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: does exactly what. I think. What makes him stand out
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: so much is it would have been very easy for
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: somebody co starring with Bing Crosby to be like, I'm
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: gonna just I'll support Bing and I'll be just enough
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: for everything. But Kay is not afraid to try to
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: steal the spotlight a little bit the way he should,
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: the way his character needs to from time to time.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: I think that's one of the things that elevates the
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: work is that you know, and again, credit to the
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: to the director, credit to Crosby, credit to anybody else
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: who gave k that space to take it up to
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: the level it needed to be. There are enough people
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: and enough egos on any movie set to tamp to down.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: It's like, oh no, no, no, no, no no, don't
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: upstage mister Crosby. Don't take the spotlight away from him.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: He must always be But then you know what you're
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: talking about where he makes Crosby laugh. He knows his
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: job and he doesn't just show up to do it.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: He shows up to do it well. He knows what
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: he needs to do to make it sing no pun intended.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: And I think that is another one of the reasons
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: that the movie winds up being so endearing for so
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: long is people look at that and people can recognize
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: when somebody's given the space to give that extra chemistry
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: to something. And so, you know, I think honestly, I mean,
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: Kay is just hands down. I mean, does the movie
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: get made without Crosby, No, But Kay makes it. It
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: makes it not just another Crosby star vehicle. And so
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: that's why I think he deserves all the praise that
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: he gets.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, No, talking about k a little more because you know,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: in looking into this, because initially this was a Fred Astaire,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: you know, vehicle where let's oh, let's pair up being
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: in the stair again, you know, and I love a stare,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: but I he has a sharpness to his performances. I
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: think is a nice way to say it, where that
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: is not the way Danny k played it. And I
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: think even after a stare, it was then meant to
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: go to Donald O'Connor, who we saw is singing in
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: the rain, who I think also could have you know,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: played the role well and unfortunately got very, very sick
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: before filming.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: And then the role went to k.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, it's one of those happy accidents where can
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: we picture someone else playing this role? Oh, it was
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: almost so and so, It was almost so and so,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: but it all came together. And what Danny brought is
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: he compliments being he doesn't overshadow him, he doesn't get
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: in his way. He's not trying to be the bigger singer,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: he's not trying to be the you know. But every
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: scene he's in with and again, it could just be
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: good acting, but you feel a friendship, you feel a
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: chemistry because at its core, I mean, White Christmas is
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: kind of a buddy movie. It kind of is between
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: those two and their story. It's I wouldn't really ever
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: tamp it down to that tinyness of a description, but
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: it is true.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: This is a movie that I watch every year religiously
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: and my kids. I have two young girls and they
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: both have white Christmas outfits where they have the what
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: the red outfits that the sisters wear at the end
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: of the film, and they put it on and they'll
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: sing sisters, they'll sing the song together. That's adorable, adorable.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: This soundtrack does not exist because of rights of shoes,
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: because Rosemary Clooney was was under contract with a different label,
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: and so they couldn't put out a soundtrack. And then
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: there was like soundtracks was just being in Danny Kay
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: and then there was a soundtrack with just Rosemary Clooney.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: It was weird, and I got so sick of it
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: that last year, I think around this time, I put
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: in my Blu ray and I ripped the audio and
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: I made my own soundtrack and that's what we listened to.
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: Oh, let me correct you about that. You didn't do
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: it last year. You did it, however, many years ago,
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: to escape the statute of limitations for doing that.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's true, that would be very clear.
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: It was precisely one day longer.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Use of time shifting your audio enjoyment is totally totally fine. There,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: I'll have to look it up I because one of
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: the she doesn't listen to the show, So I could
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: say it's one of the gifts we're giving my daughter
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: for Christmas this year is cutting it technology of a
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: CD player, a CD boombox. But what we're doing is
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: we asked members of my family and extended family, is
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: if you have a favorite CD or an old CD
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: that you love gifted to her. And so she's going
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: to be receiving and I bought some for her and
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: my wife has as well, so she's going to be
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: getting scores of CDs to put in this and just
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: introduce her to a lot of our favorite music. All
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: that to say is I did buy a CD that
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: was like a combo White Christmas Holiday In, so it
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: not the full score, but it had a lot from both.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: I need to look it up again. So I've done
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: saying there does exist some scores from this, but I
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: do appreciate your time shifting efforts.
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: Trist Let me go ahead and ask the question because
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: this seems, I mean, the group of friends that I had,
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: This was sort of a an inevitable question because you
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: mentioned holiday In. Do you prefer Holiday In over White
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: Christmas or do you prefer White Christmas over Holiday In
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: or do you think that they're so different that comparing
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: them is pointless.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: I've never seen Holiday In.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: Oh really?
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Oh so I've seen I've seen Holiday In many times.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: It's black and white. You can watch a colorized version,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: but it's not the greatest. The gist of it is,
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: it's basically the exact same set. It's set in an inn.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: That is what they used for this. Some things are
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: very black and white. I just want to throw it down. Yes, yes,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: but basically the innkeeper wants to He's tired of working
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: and scrimping by so he basically makes the holiday and
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: which is only open on holidays, and so there's a
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: whole bunch of dance numbers, you know, Valentine's Day and
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: New Year's and Christmas and all that. So, I mean,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: I really enjoy Holiday In, but it's no White Christmas.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Like for the emotion that I feel at the end
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: when General Waverley comes out and he's being like honored
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: by his men. And this is again in the time
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: old tradition of the fifties, where you have that moment,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: then they sing White Christmas and then the movie is done.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: You have your climax and you are rolling not credits
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: but black screen as fast as possible. That was the mantra.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I enjoy Holiday and minus the Aram song,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: which you want going to talk about but one. Yeah, no,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: but yeah, it's it's not And it was a decade
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: or two before this movie.
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Hallidayen came out in holiday En came out in
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: forty two, okay. And I think that structurally, if if
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: you look at it on its face, it's just like, oh, well,
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: which one's a better constructed movie? As a movie, I
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: think Holiday Inn wins, But I think that in terms
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: of something that fully owns and defines the genre to
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: which it belongs, then White Christmas wins hands down. And
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: I think that Additionally, I think the two were fascinating
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: to look at simply from the perspective of how you
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: see Like, I think they're fascinating to watch because you
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: see the march of technology between the two of them.
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: You see that in that fourteen years exactly how much
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: of a leap has been made in what they can
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: present on screen, and it even I think it adds
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: actually additional context to why some of it might seem
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: quote unquote over the top. From certain sensibilities because all
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: of a sudden you've been restricted to this certain toolkit,
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: and then you have so much more. It's sort of
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: like the explosion of forgive me for drawing the comparison,
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: but sort of like that early explosion of CG where
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: you could see people suddenly playing with the toolkit, where
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: they're like, oh my gosh, look at all the things
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: that I could do. Does White Christmas age better than say,
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: Lost in Space from the nineteen nineties, I would say
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: yes it does. In terms of this embrace, I will
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: I will besmirch it so hard that it is a
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: skid mark on an asteroid.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: My friend, last time, the last guest guy buys the beer.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: You're outnumbered here, John.
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: No, No, I'm not. I'm not out numbered because I like,
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: I'll take both of you on.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: Man.
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: It's like a pro wrestling royal rumble.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: It makes you think, like, what would it be like
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: if they were making holiday inn for the first time
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: in like fifty four, like with that technology, Like, I
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: think it would be an amazing piece.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: I Actually the first time we bought White Christmas, before
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: we bought it on Blue ray, it was a DVD
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: two pack that had White Christmas and Holiday In in
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: the same package. So I'd say in a lot of ways,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: they kind of compliment each other. You know, they're both
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: really good stories, and the steal my Girl story of
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: Holiday In is well told. I don't want that dynamic
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: in my White Christmas, but I like the dynamic we
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: have there as well.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, go watch it, Tristan, you should. Yeah, all right,
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: you do you think is there is there anything else
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: that that you think people should know? Is there is
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: there anything else that you want to talk about with
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: White Christmas? Because even though this movie has been around
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: for literally seventy years and it's celebrating its seventieth anniversary
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: right now, and you can actually go see it, you know,
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: with what's it called a phantom events, Yeah, you can.
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: You can see it right now, and it's it's pretty
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: amazing how much this movie has endured for literally seventy years.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: And yeah, I just like, I'm, I'm, I'll just say
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: it right out outright. This is a five star film.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: This is one of my favorite films. I think it's
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: one of the best films. This was Darren what was it?
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: It was a two million dollar budget and it made thirty.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: Thirty and fifty four dollars, like and it was a
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: joint venture I think between like Paramount being the director
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: and then kick out like ten percent the last ten percent.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: So they all made out like bandits. They made so
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: much money.
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: So here here's the question, though, because you know Tristan,
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: you go ahead and cop to it five stars.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: Great.
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: I'm not saying whether I agree to disagree, But there
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: were people at the time that didn't love it, right,
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: and I know that on what it's.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: This was not Yeah, this was not a critical darling.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: This this open to Even though this was the most
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: profitable movie of nineteen fifty four, there were still curmudgeons
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: back then. You know, there were people who it came
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: out to mixed reviews.
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: So what do you think their biggest I mean, I
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: know what the quotes say. You can all look up,
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: but like, try to put yourself in that seat. Can
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: you even understand anybody coming at it and having any
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: particular criticism of it? Why a critic would be like, nah,
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: this isn't that great.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: Well, I think the structure is very much of its time.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: I think it's you know, like you talked about how
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: it's on the forefront technology, and I think that's its
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: biggest draw. I feel like the structure itself is very vignette.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: It's just like this piece, this piece, this piece, this piece.
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: It's like, let's get to this set piece so that
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: we can let's get to the farm and the barn
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: so that we can do these musical numbers and then,
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: you know, I feel like the you could probably argue
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: that the the miscommunication, the misunderstanding between being Crosby and
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: Rosemary Clooney is very frustrating and sometimes I raly because
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: you're just like, oh, if only they said one word
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: to each other, then all this could be avoided, you know,
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: things like that. So I'd probably say, like, it doesn't
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: push the envelope with story, but it does with technology.
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: And I feel like that could give some critics and
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: fifty four credence to say it's all style and no substance.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, I mean there's I'd have to say my
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: least favorite part of Why Christmas is choreography.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: I like skip it.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: I it does nothing for me. It feels so out
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: of place in this movie. It maybe because it's it's
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: not even contemporary. I don't know, it's just a weird
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: weird number where I'm like, were we needing a longer
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: run time? Like why why is this in here? Because
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: every other picture or dance number at least kind of
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: feels like it fits. But yeah, personally, I do not
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: like the choreography number.
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm very forgiving of stuff like that. Like,
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: you know, I could go to a movie that I adore,
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: Singing in the Rain, and there's one number where like
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: if you were if you put me up to it,
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: and you're like, you gotta cut something, and it's the
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: one where like it flashes to him talk about his
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: time in New York or whatever, and it just seems
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: to exist for the sake of existing in Singing in
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: the Rain, And I'm like, yeah, that's the thing that,
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: you know, if I'm being the brutal editor, I'm like,
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: that numbers out. Nobody will even miss this, just take
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: it out. So I get what you're saying where it's
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: like there's something about it where you're like, yeah, come on,
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: like this wasn't really necessary. But at the same time,
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: and you know, tris to talk about putting yourself in
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: the seat of the critics, who are you know, being
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: you know, not as receptive to it and everything. I
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: think that a very big thing is again, like, especially
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: from my perspective, when you're going into a movie like this,
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: you have to agree to abide by the genre by like,
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to judge a comedy the same way
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: I judge a drama or I judge a historical epic.
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: If I come to this, I understand the rules of
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: the game. And yes, a big part of it is
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: simply do the production numbers and the sets and everything.
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: Do those work so well that I enjoy way what
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: I'm seeing that it's uh, you know, candy for the eyes,
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: that it's all of those sorts of things. And it's like,
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: I think that the critics need to sometimes, you know,
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: whether it's back then or now, you have to understand
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: the type of movie you're going to go see, and
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: so those rules.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: The musical, you're going to get musical numbers, they're going
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: to break into song. And I guess, yeah, maybe it
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: was just the the moderness of it, or I felt
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: like we'd already kind of covered that ground story wise,
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: of like it's gonna look like this, you know, sure,
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: Like I felt like we'd already hit that beat, and
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: then we did it like again. But yeah, like you said,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: I like your example of comparing to Singing the Rain,
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: where we all have our low hanging fruit of like
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: if we had to cut for time. You know, it's
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: not that it's terrible, it's just that's the one I
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: would trim off to tighten things up. And I feel
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: the same about choreography.
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: I personally love choreography. I think it's a lot of fun.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: The thing that I would trim is probably Rosemary Clooney,
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: He's song her solo, Oh.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: Love You didn't do right by Me?
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that one is super out of place.
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: That feels like a different movie to me.
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: I could see it.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: Does kind of like I wouldn't go so far as
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: to say kill the momentum, but it is a very
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: different vibe than like everything that's come before. Yeah, kind
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: of like I think the country versus city, Like they've
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: been out in the country the whole time and now
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: she's like in a metropolis city.
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: All right, So, John, I want to know, I want
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: to know you're rating.
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: What We're not gonna cast anybody special in a role
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: here with white Christmas.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: Oh okay, that's I guess that's true. Yeah, Lance Reddick,
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: the man we love so dearly and we always put
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: into a movie if we have a time machine and
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: we put him into whatever role we think would be appropriate,
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: I personally would put him as the general same same answer, Darren.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: Oh see. I as much as I love doing three
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: ups where we all agree, I I gave him a
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: much smaller pull. I wanted to see him in the
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: role of the train conductor, that little tiny bit where
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: he's talking about like it's thirty four dollars and fifteen cents. Nope,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: it's still thirty four dollars and fifteen cents. Like I
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: love that little comedy of that moment, and I just
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: want to see him like with the driest of deliveries
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: where he's just like, man, God, like you jumped on
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: my train, Like why do you keep asking me?
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: What?
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: Do you even know where you're going? Nope, it's like
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: thirty four dollars fifteen cents. And then they're like, oh,
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: oh he has the cash. It's like, I don't. They
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: don't pay me enough for this. But okay, I.
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: Could see him doing it much angrier, but right, but
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: it would be still hilarious exactly.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: So yeah, So I mean I could also see him
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: as as Waverley. I just I like the fun of
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: putting him as the as the train conductor.
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: All right, now give me a rating, John, five.
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, look, I'm shocked this, But this is
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: one where it's like, is it really a five star?
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: If I'm being hypercritical or I'm cranky, it's a four
• 42:19
  Speaker 3: star three and a half. But like, just because of
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: the fact that it's such a in terms of the production,
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: in terms of what goes into bringing it to life
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: and making it look the way that it does and
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: the way that it moves and the way like and
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: the way that it feels, and the payoff of everything,
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: it's got to be a five. And that's it. That's
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: so it's a five from Tristan, it's a five from me, Darren.
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: Why did you rate it a three?
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: No?
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: I gave this a five?
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: Obvious there you go, three fives.
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, it's very true, John, Like, if I
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: were being hypercritical, nostalgia definitely get it a bump for sure,
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: But I cannot not give this a five to four.
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: The cast, the direction, the story, the way it makes
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: me feel at the end, Like, man, I mean, we
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: just watched it's a wonderful life and you want to
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: talk about feeling at the ending, my god, that movie
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: hits you like a sledgehammer. But even this one, it
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: just has, you know, the way they're honoring their former
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: commander and friend, and then it all gets wrapped up
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: like a big Hollywood movie. Everybody's happy, nobody's upset, all
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: the troubles have been, you know, and we're all and
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: we're all toasting our glasses as we see White Christmas
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: and the shot cranes out and I'm just like, there
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: we go. That's what I want. That's what my emotional
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: payoff has been fed, and I'm happy.
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: And just to insert there, I would say that with
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: all of the things you mentioned and the things that
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: we've talked about through this, I think that something that
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: gets overlooked sometimes with a movie like White Christmas, and
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: specifically White Christmas at that is that there is that
• 44:11
  Speaker 3: aspect of there's a whole generation that is less than
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: a decade out of the war, and this movie, especially
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: if you put in that context, there are people in
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: that audience that it's speaking to in a way that
• 44:25
  Speaker 3: the three of us will never relate to. And seeing
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: the recognition of that, I think that makes it an
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: even more important thing, is that's this movie feels like
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: a celebration of those people that you know, gave so
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: much and went through so much for such an incredibly
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: noble cause that like, you know, I think contextually it's
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: important for the time then too.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's a very good point. Yeah, being you
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: have to picture it in fifty four and what the
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: events were before fifty four. You can't look at it
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: in a vacuum.
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: It's kind of like nap back and backed in. I mean,
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: I know this is an extreme example and why Christmas
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: is nowhere near this, but it's like the best years
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: of our lives. You know that that movie was made
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: for a specific time, in a specific way to tell
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: a specific story, and you have to have his historical
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: context in order to appreciate it. Again, apples and oranges,
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: but you get to get what I'm saying. All right, well,
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: that is our Christmas episode. We are going to see
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: you guys next year in twenty twenty six.
• 45:34
  Speaker 3: Right, twenty twenty five.
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: Let's not we're in.
• 45:38
  Speaker 3: We're not. We're not. We're not We're not racing against
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: the board to keep them from launching through time. Yes,
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: we're just skipping twenty five. It's a waste of a year.
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: We're just going right into twenty twenty six.
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: It's gonna be a garbage year and we all know it. Yeah,
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: So yes, we're gonna We're gonna see you guys next year.
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: And we're not starting our new director quite yet, but
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: we are doing a pickup with a familiar director and
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: Darren who is that? That's right.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: Sometimes directors keep making movies even after we've covered all
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: of their body of work. So next week we're going
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: to go with James Cameron as we cover Avatar The
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: Way of Water from twenty twenty two. Here on house Lights,
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: Join the Revolution, Join the net Party.