Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / It Happened One Night (1934) - Frank Capra | Houselights #292

Transcript

It Happened One Night (1934) - Frank Capra | Houselights #292 · Houselights: A Film Director Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Nerd Party.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Tonight on House Lights, we open a new retrospective, House
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: of Capra, Frank Capra, with It Happened One Night from 1934.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: The film that basically invented the romantic comedy genre and
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: swept all five major Oscars while doing it. Claudette Colbert
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: plays a runaway heiress fleeing in an inconvenient marriage. Clark
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Gable plays a broke, out-of-work reporter who realizes she's worth
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: a story, and somehow a walk of shame down a
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: bus aisle and a blanket hung over a clothesline became
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: some of the most romantic things in a movie, and
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: they both enter legendary status. With Me, who's already figured
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: out the angle, is broke enough to need the story,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: and charming enough to make you forget he's using you
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: for it, Darren Moser. And playing the runaway bride, used
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: to getting exactly what they want and increasingly baffled when
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: they can't buy chocolates, John Mills. House of Capra means
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: hitchhiking works better if you show a little leg. Marriage
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: is something you can escape by yacht. And Frank Capra
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: figured out in 1934 that audiences will forgive absolutely any
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: contrivance if the two people arguing clearly want to smooch.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Let's hitch a ride, split a motel room down the middle,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: and ask how a movie this cheap ended up this
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: good this is house lights.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: I uh i was going to complain that i wasn't
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: the reporter in your scenario but then i realized i'd
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: be the one showing leg and i'd be like that
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: tracks because my legs are very shapely so that makes.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: A lot of sense for our cross country yeah you're
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: quite slutty which most people don't know but oh absolutely
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: it's it's part of my brand absolutely but i'll yeah
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: i'll just jump in like did am i the only
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: one of the three of us that hadn't seen this
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: before Had you guys both seen this before?
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Oh, I've seen it several times.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: I was a film student. We actually studied this in school. Yeah,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: I was just about to say. I know, John, you're
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: rolling your eyes, but it's required viewing when you go
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: to film school.
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: No, that's fair.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: What I'm rolling my eyes about is like.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: No, you're rolling your eyes.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: People don't know how much you disdain it.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Disdain? Yeah, I do.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: But no, it's one of those things where it's like, I,
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: whenever I watch a movie like this and it comes up,
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: it was like 1934. And I'm like, how the hell
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: did I miss this? I might not have like gone
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: to film school or anything like that. But at the
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: same time, like I'd say I've earned my credit as
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: a film nerd. at this point, like I've seen a
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: fair number of like the requisite nerdy, like deep cut
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: movies and stuff like that. And I don't know how
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: this one ever escaped my, uh, you know, I love
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: Frank Capra. How did it ever escape my view? Like,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: why is it that this thing is, is like you said,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: Tristan in the intro, like I don't hear more people
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: talking about it. Like what, what happened? Like why, why
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: do people, is that it? It, Or is it just
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: a victim of the genre getting so big that you
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: sort of forget its origin points?
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: I'm not trying to sound like a bitter old man,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: but streaming has really cut film history off at the knees.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Because if you look at what is on streaming right
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: now and also what has been on streaming for the
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: past 10, 15 years, you don't really go beyond the 80s.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: And really, once you get to the 80s, it's just
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: the classics that you see. Like a lot of Spielberg,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: a lot of Zemeckis.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: And.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: you don't get a lot of the 70s, 60s, and
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: forget about the 50s. Good Lord, 50s, 40s, 30s. They're
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: just non-existent. You have to go find them. You have
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: to like, you know, subscribe to the Criterion channel or,
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: you know, go to your local library and like dig
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: through the pile of old DVDs or VHSs and everything
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: like that. And so it's, I think we're losing a
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: lot of film literacy. And this isn't because I feel
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: like people are lazy or because like those damn kids.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: It's just, it's kind of like, this isn't exactly a one-to-one,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: but I remember when we first started getting Netflix, like
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: when Netflix streaming was becoming a real thing, not just
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: like the discs, but when streaming was happening, I remember
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: looking at my parents' watch history and it was tons
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: of foreign films. And I went to them and I
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: was like, I had no idea you were into foreign films.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: They're like, well, yeah, we just didn't have access before.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: And this is one of those things where I feel
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: like a lot of kids these days just don't have
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: access to older films because they have no idea what
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: to do with a disc.
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: Sometimes they don't.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Even know that they can go to their library and
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: get a DVD or a Blu-ray. If it's not available
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: on Netflix or Prime, then they have no idea if
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: it exists or not.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: That's a very fair point.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: I think the other thing... is even if you had
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: a streaming service, like a super classic streaming and it's
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: built into Amazon, you check a box, it's there. There's
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: something about when we shifted away from, we all saw
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: the movies because they were on the movie channel or
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: they were on the late night movie of the week.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: And so we just, there was a generation that just
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: came across it. It stumbled. It was already on, so
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: I might as well watch this. And that is gone.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: That doesn't really happen anymore.
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: Did you see Heat on TNT last night? Exactly.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: So you have that. But like you said, Tristan, it
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: is something you notice where you start to lose generationally
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: these key lines, these key monologues, these key touchstones where
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: I could make a reference to maybe not to it
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: happened one night. I mean, that's a little, it's 92
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: years ago. It's a little ways away, but I, nowadays,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: like I can make a reference to the matrix and
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of kids that have no idea what
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I'm saying, because really what we're discovering, or I feel
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: I'm discovering is as things become more siloed in, you can,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: it's so easy to watch just what you like and
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: just what you want that the general, uh, bed bedrock
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: layer of cultural knowledge is just not the.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: Same yeah i i mean i think that's a that
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: you know you bring up the matrix and it's like
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: oh you know quote unquote kids these days haven't seen
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: that sort of thing i mean we had the advantage
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: i mean i know i had the advantage being an
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: 80s kid like the stuff that was on late night
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: was from the 30s and the 40s because it was
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: the stuff that the stations could get cheap at night
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: and so that's what i happened across And that would
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: continue a bit into the 90s, and then as discs
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: and stuff like that, and friends could go over and
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: be like, no, no, no, you got to watch this.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: I think you lose some of that recommendation power of
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: your friends too. Because every time I sit down with somebody,
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: they're like, oh, I just watched this. You got to
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: check it out. And I write it down and I'm like,
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: oh yeah, I got to get around to that. And
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: then I sit down and I'm like, oh, and I
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: see stuff throws in my brain. And it's like, it's
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: this immediate amnesia that goes with it. But what I
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: found amazing about this was a lot of times you
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: go into a movie from almost 100 years ago. And
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: while there are definitely things that have changed about culture,
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: what I always find enjoyable about revisiting a Frank Capra
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: movie is because he worked to be so accessible, there's
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: nothing that's blatantly uncomfortable in the movie. There's nothing that's like, ugh.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: It's not like going back and watching some things and
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: you're kind of.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Like, ugh. All right. I got her well. Yeah.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: I got to contextualize. Times are different. Times are different.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Times are different.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: Whereas this one, I'm like, ah, you know, there were
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: a couple of points where I'm like, okay, yeah, I
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: see how times were different, but like it doesn't fly
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: in your face.
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Like there's a few points with how he's interacting with
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: her right off the bat where it's really infantilizing and
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: he's like really in her face and kind of rude
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: and like, Um, you could even say like when he, um,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: slaps her in the butt when they're crossing the river,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: like how that could have not aged very well, but
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: it's so funny the way that they do it. It
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: kind of makes up for it because he asked her
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: to hold his suitcase while he does it.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: And he's doing it because she's being a smart ass
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: about the whole thing. Like he's in a situation where
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: he's like, he's carrying her across the river. So her
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: skirt doesn't get wet and she's still, you know, like, Darren,
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: if I was carrying you across the river, I'd do
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: the same thing to you. It doesn't matter whether you're
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: a man.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Or a woman.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Don't slap the
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: hand that's carrying you.
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: And I think that's what's so great about it is that,
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: I mean, this is my first time coming to it.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: And I was like, it was something where I was,
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: I think it's just evidence sometimes that as hard as
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: we work to contextualize certain things in certain movies from
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: the past, It's like not every movie felt obligated to
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: be of its time. It is amazing how well it aged.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: And they've tried to recapture that magic a few times
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: throughout the years. And when you look at the structure
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: of a romantic comedy where you have two people who
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: are at odds with each other, it's a road movie.
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: You have opposites.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: That are interacting with each other, but they need each
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: other to get through this conundrum, to get through this trial.
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: And then they end up falling.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: In love because they're able to get over their differences.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: You know, this was in 1934. Like, this kind of
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: genre didn't exist in, like, what I just described, even
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: though it sounds very boilerplate.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: It's boilerplate now.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: You know, like, almost every romantic comedy that comes out
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: about two people thrust together in a situation, you know, is...
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: This was the beginning of it. Now, I'm not saying
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: that every romantic comedy is a ripoff of this. I'm
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: not saying that at all. But there was a few times,
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: I think there was a legit remake that was made
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: with Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck called Forces of Nature.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: Which was god awful. I mean, it was just terrible.
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: And it was a real shame that they even mentioned,
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: oh yeah, we're remaking. It happened one night. No, garbage.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: But there was another movie that I doubt that you
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: guys would be able to guess that kind of stole
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: that template but used it really, really well. And all
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: three of us have seen this movie, and all three
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: of us really like this movie. Can you guess what
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: I'm discussing, what movie I'm thinking about?
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: Well, I was going to make a guess, but then
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: you said all three of us really like it, so
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: that ruled out a couple of things that I had
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: in my brain, so I'll just tap out.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: At this point.
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: Tell me what you were going to say.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: Oh, I was going to be a smart aleck and
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: say Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, but, you know, hey.
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: That's just a road movie.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: Eh, you know, same thing.
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: They learn to love each other by the end. Darren,
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: do you have any idea what I'm alluding to?
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: I feel like it's probably one of those, you wouldn't,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: it's a totally different genre. Like, not the what you
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: would expect. I would need a couple hours to ponder, so.
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: I'm coming up blank. Okay, I'll give you a hint.
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: Mel Brooks.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: Blazing Saddles.
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: Think about Spaceballs. I'm kidding. Think about the structure of Spaceballs. Oh, really?
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: Okay, I could see that.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: I could see that.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: The dad wants someone to get her.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, running away from the marriage. And the guy meets
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: her and he's rough with her.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: Okay, I can see that.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: I never fall in love with you, but now I do.
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: And then she goes on to marry the guy at
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: the very end.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Because of a misunderstanding. But then at the last minute,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: she's like, nope, I'm going to bow out and I'm
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: going to marry the rogue.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: My gosh, you're right. Wow, that is Spaceballs. But it
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: does have John Candy, which makes it even better.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: So, you know. You were half right. You had the
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: John Candy part right.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: I did.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: I had the John Candy part, which is half the
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: work there. So before we get going, I do want
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: to say, because this is House of Capra, Frank Capra
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: is a titan in the industry, in film history, for
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: those of you who don't know. And we're only going
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: to touch on a little bit of his works in
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: the next couple of weeks. But Frank Capra was born
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: in Sicily in 1897 and immigrated to Los Angeles with
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: his family at age five.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: And they had nothing. They had absolutely nothing.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: And he sold newspapers through high school and then kind
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: of BS'd his way into Caltech for a chemical engineering degree,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: which he never used. And he kind of just stumbled
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: into being a production assistant in the 20s. And by 1928,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: he started working at Columbia Pictures. And Columbia Pictures in
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: the 20s, in the late 20s, was like a low-rent
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: studio compared to the majors like MGM. And it happened
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: one night, changed his career overnight. It was the first
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: film to sweep all five major Oscars. I think the
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: only other films to do it after that was One
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Flew of the Cuckoo's Nest and Silence.
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: Of the Lambs.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: And so obviously that allowed him to kind of write
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: his own check after that. It also had a budget
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: of $ 340, 000, but brought in $ 2.
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: 5 million.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: In 1934, I mean, that's like, that's Depression era, Nikola movie,
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: you know, and they went, like, going by tickets sold. Like,
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: that's an insane amount of money.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: How many tickets? Oh, my gosh.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: That's obscene.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, tickets sold, that's the big deal. So
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: in today's dollars, it was roughly an $ 8 million budget,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: but then brought in $ 62 million.
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: Of today's dollars. So, but imagine a movie for 8
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: million today.
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: But like if our, but if our tickets today, instead
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: of being like, you know, 20 or $ 40, depending on
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: whether you're doing 40 X instead, you're like, if our
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: tickets were like a dollar each, like making $ 62 million,
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: like that would be like, that's serious, serious money.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: And I think that's the thing that I really want
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: to touch on because so many people, whenever they look
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: at like box office gross or Like, just the other day,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: I saw a headline that said, Spider-Man Brand New Day,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: or whatever it's called, just surpasses Titanic in gross. And
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: I'm like, no, it hasn't. Once you adjust for inflation,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: it's nowhere near Titanic.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: Well, and ticket price. I think ticket price is the
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: other big thing.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: Well, that's what I'm saying, is that you've got to
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: think about ticket price.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: We've got to start doing it by tickets sold, like
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: you guys are talking about. Because once you factor in
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: inflation and tickets sold and everything like that, nothing will
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: ever touch Gone with the Wind. In 2025, Gone with
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: the Wind is $ 4. 5 billion. And Avatar is $ 4. 1 billion
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: in 2025 money.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, part of that is like the whole
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: news cycle needs a new winner so that they can
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: print fresh stories and stuff like that. But I mean,
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: do you think that, because the thing is like in
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: the 30s, right? You have the film industry is still
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: establishing itself We have them finding their footing. Capra's able
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: to come in from out of nowhere. Do you think
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: that part of the success of this movie had to
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: do with the fact that it is the 30s and
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: people were looking for something happy? And this movie really
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: seems like it would have spoken to an audience that
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: was looking for something light and didn't remind them of
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: the world's ills.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and if you look at what he did afterwards,
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: it kind of goes with that instinct where it goes with, Mr.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Deed goes to town. Deed, excuse me, Mr. Smith goes
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: to Washington. It's a wonderful life. You know, really kind
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: of cementing his own style. I mean, there are some
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: people who have probably even heard the term Capra-esque and
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: never really knew where it came from. It comes from
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Frank Capra. And it means, you know, one thing over
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: and over again, it's the ordinary person outmatched and underestimated
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: standing up to a system stacked against them and winning anyway.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: That's Capra-esque.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: And It's just like the imprint that he has made
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: on the industry cannot be understated. And he died in
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: 1991 at 94. The dude won the race. And it's
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: pretty amazing.
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: I'm very excited, too.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: I know that we've been going for a while, but
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: I'm really excited to start this house.
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, the thing is, I think also he
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: has the great fortune in this film. I mean, I've
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: seen Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind and maybe
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: a couple of other things that I can't really remember
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: sort of thing. But I will be just very honest
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: with you here. While I was watching this, I was
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: completely flabbergasted, just completely swept off my feet, completely floored
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: by how much screen presence the guy had. He just
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: has charisma oozing off. And I remember sitting there watching
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: it and going, I can't take my eyes off this guy,
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: not because of his attractiveness, not because of anything except
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: the fact that he just... And I think back to
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: something Cameron said about Schwarzenegger where he's like, the camera
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: just loves him. He's like, you know, Arnold can walk
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: on set and hit his mark and the camera just
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: loves him. It could hate everybody else, but it loves Arnold.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, I get that same sense from Gable.
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: Gable walks on and it's as if the camera... wants
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: to like pull your eye toward him. And I think
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: that Capra gets the benefit of that, but also the
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: fact that he and Colbert have legitimate chemistry. Like it's
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: one of those things where to your point about the
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: romantic comedy genre, one of the reasons I'm so harsh
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: on the genre and why you have to drag me
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: in sort of like kicking and screaming into each one
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: is because that chemistry is so necessary to, And so
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: many modern rom-coms don't have it. It's just people showing
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: up to get a check. Here's looking at you. What
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: was the one with Nicholson, Amanda Peet, Diane Keaton?
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: That one. Oh, yeah. It was Something's Gotta Give.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: Something's Gotta Give.
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: That's the one.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: I mean, they all jumbled together in my brain. But
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: I look at that. And I'm like, ah, it's two
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: professional actors and they got a thing going on and everything.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: I look at this and I'm like, there's a part
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: of my brain, the little lizard part of my brain
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: that against all better logic is like, well, yeah, Clark
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: Gable and Claudette Colbert, they got married after this, right?
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: Like they obviously love each other. But I know it's
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: not true, but like it's in my brain.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: That's what it is.
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: Gable is, like you said, is a presence. I mean,
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: before George Clooney, before Cary Grant, there was Clark Gable.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: And they just have that je ne sais quoi on
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: the screen. And like you said, the chemistry between Colbert
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: and Gable, it's so perfect during the hitchhiking scene where
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: he's eating a carrot and talking about what thumb scenario
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: to pull out. And just the back and forth where
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Colbert is.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: Pretending to be amazed and pretending to be interested.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: And just even this, I can't do it justice, but
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: just this, this simple line of where like, and now
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: he's like, now check out this third one. I'm going
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: to be like a man down on the dumps. Who's
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: just like at the end of his rope and he
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: does it. And she's like, Oh, that's amazing. Just the
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: way that she sells it. And she like rests her hand,
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: a rest her head on her hand and says like,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: Oh my God. That's amazing. It's you, you can't, it's,
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: that's so hard to fake.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: It's, it was, it was finally, it was kind of
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: a turn where, you know, she had this babe in
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: the woods routine and he was showing her how to survive.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: And that's when the tables turned and the roles were
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: flipped and she was, you know, loving every single minute
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: of it. And that scene has become iconic. I mean,
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: that's why, that's where we got Bugs Bunny.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: Oh, you're right.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: Was Clark Gable eating that carrot.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: That's why Bugs Bunny loves carrots because like they were
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: a fan of it happened one night and they they
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: designed him after that moment. And, uh, I think the,
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: the voice was a little bit more off of that
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: guy on the bus who, um, what was his name?
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: Not Shapely. Shapely. Shapely. Yeah. Yeah.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: Uh, and, but even the, even the scene where, um, where, where, um,
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: Peter and Shapely go off and like, He's like, what
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: do you got?
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: A rod? A piece? Heater?
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: What do you got? You got something? We're going to
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: go in there with a gun. Wait, you kidnapped? The
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: way he even sells that as how it can come
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: across as so funny, but as legitimately threatening to the
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: other guy. You know what I think it is? I
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: think what this movie exposes is how much Older movies
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: were still working their way past live theater and the
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: actors in them were all trained for live theater. And
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: so they understood how to sell to an audience, in
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: that case, a threatening scene in a non-threatening way. Or
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: the slap on the butt as playful and funny and
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: it's not threatening the way that he's doing that with her.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: I'm never concerned that Clark Gable is going to peek
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: over the blanket when he's not supposed to. I'm never
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: afraid that she's going to, you know, try to stab
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: him in his sleep or something like that. Like there's
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: a very important thing there. And I think that where
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: Capra as the director deserves a lot of credit is
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: where he places the camera works so well in so
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: many scenes, but especially when they're in that, um, that,
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: that car lodge or whatever, um, where the blanket is
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: up and the room is literally split into left and
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: right on the horizontal plane, and it doesn't feel cramped,
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: and it doesn't feel contrived. It feels authentic. We feel
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: like we're the fourth wall. And it's like, that's such
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: a skillful... place to put the camera it's so knowledgeable
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: to to get it there.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: And he he rarely cuts too and that's kind of
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: the beauty of like you said these people are still
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: trained in the ways of theater where it's just like
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: no no the scene don't learn the sides don't learn
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: what you're going to have to say just for that
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: shot learn the scene and then go from there and
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: they they both really sell it And this is just,
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: we got to remind ourselves, this is seven years after
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: talkies were invented. Seven years after the first movie with
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: spoken audio was in it since The Jazz Singer. Darren,
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: what did you think of the cinematography in this? Obviously,
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: there are limitations because this is 1934. But what did
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: you think of the bare bones of it, the look,
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: the feel of it?
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Which is so funny because, I mean, if you listen
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: to any of this podcast, you know, I'm like, that's
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: too dark. You can't see anything. This is literally a
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: black and white movie. Like, there are scenes at night
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: in the rain in black and white. And I can
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: still see everything clearly. And I know exactly where I am.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: So, yeah.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: There's something about when you're in a black and white
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: movie and you don't have color that it's so much
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: more an atmosphere kind of vibe. Like, when they're on
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: the bus... Or it's, like I said, or it's raining outside.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: There's something about all of the other pieces, the background sound,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: you know, the way they're constructing this scene that just
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: works so well. And, you know, I feel like if
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: you're looking at cinematography, you know, don't. turn away from
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: black and white movies because they have just as much
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: cinematography as color pictures do because they have to almost
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: come across even more visceral. So yeah, it also is connecting,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: I think, to the, like most films do, what am
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: I supposed to be feeling about these characters? Am I
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: supposed to be nervous with them? Am I supposed to be, oh,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: that's funny. Like there's a funny moment or, oh, they're,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: you know, they're getting in deep. And they're actually still
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: using cinematography to communicate that to you in, in the
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: way they're doing the shots in the way there. Cause
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: it's not, well, we're going to put Vaseline on the
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: lens and it's all going to be, you know, soft
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: focus and, and, oh, they're making the lovey eyes at
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: each other.
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: There'll be a moment of that, but it's really well
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: put together. And the couple of times, you know, I
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: will say we get a, what is it? A kind
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: of rear, rear projection or something along those lines. It
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: works really well in black and white because... It really does.
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: The rear projection of this movie works.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Outside the bus, when they're driving along a.
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: Couple times, it's noticeable.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: It's not seamless, but it's easy to dismiss because it's
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: just a different shade of gray on the gray that's
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: in front.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: So what I always find interesting about this movie from
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: a business perspective is that this was... Clark Gable's and
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: Claudette Colbert's punishment for being difficult on set on previous films.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: So Gable was on contract with MGM and he was
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: a pain in the ass on a previous movie. I
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: cannot remember the one, but MGM was so upset with him.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: They're like, you know what? Since you're a contract player,
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: we own your butt. We're sending you to Columbia.
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: And he's like, no, no, not Columbia. Anywhere but Columbia.
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: Send me to Antarctica.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: And like, no, you're going to learn how to behave
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: yourself by working for Columbia. And they paid him 2,500
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: a week and he got the Oscar for it. And
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: Claudette Colbert had the same situation. I cannot remember what
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: she was on contract with, but she was a hellion
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: to work with on set, just like Gable. And Colbert
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: just despised the, she was previously worked with Capra and
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: she despised the film that she worked. She worked on
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: with him previously. And she initially refused outright. Like, I'm
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: not doing this. I don't care what you say. I'm
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: not going to do this. I'm going to go on vacation.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: She had a vacation planned. And they doubled her normal
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: salary to 50 grand and a guaranteed wrap in four weeks.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: And she got the Oscar for it. Like, after she finished,
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: she told a girlfriend of hers, I just made the
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: worst film I've ever made. She had no faith in
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: this movie.
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: But is it, like, that's so crazy that, that sort
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: of like lightning in a bottle happens. But also, I
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: think that's even a great lens into an actor or
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: an actress's mind where they can come off of a
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: project and they can be like, oh, that sucked. That's
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: so terrible. But the director, Capra, knew he had something.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: And I doubt that he sat there and he was like,
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: I've got an Oscar winner, see? But he knew he
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: had something. He had something in his mind.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: I can make it into something. Right, I can make
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: this work. Well, think about Lucas in Star Wars in 77.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: You know, Ford and Fisher were just, and Guinness were
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: just like, what the hell is this?
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: Like, what are we doing here?
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: Well, according to the Princess Diarist, Ford and Fisher had
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: other concerns at the time. But it might have taken
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: some distraction. But like, it's, yeah, I mean, right. Like,
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: Guinness was like, oh, this is a trifle.
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: Okay, whatever. Like, I need a mortgage paycheck. Hey, sure.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I find it so fascinating how many times
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: people don't understand or respect their own talent. And I
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: think it's also a testament to that person's professionalism where
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: they can say, I hate this, but I'm not going
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: to tank this on my own. I think it sucks,
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: but I'm not going to be the reason it sucks.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: I'm just going to let it suck on its own merit.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: Nobody's going to point at me and say, I'm the
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: reason that it was terrible. And that, I think, is
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: a level of professionalism that is admirable and necessary for
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: anything to work. Like, you know, it's almost a reminder.
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: It's like we all hate our jobs sometimes, but you
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: still show up to do the job. You know, you're
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: not Homer Simpson where you just show up and do
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: everything half ass. That's the American way. But like it's
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: it is it's something where like you show up and
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: you do it anyway because that's what you're supposed to do. And,
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: you know, and because other people are relying on you.
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: So you're going to show up and you're going to
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: get it done. I find it unfathomable, though, that anybody
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: could work on this film and say, oh, this is... Yeah,
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: I'm ashamed to have worked on this. This is going
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: to be awful. Like, that's so crazy to me.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: I think it's one of those things where you do
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: so many things that end up on the cutting room floor,
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: and you do things out of order. You have no
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: idea what take they're going to use. Maybe there's certain
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: scenes that you're not involved in, so you don't know
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: how the whole picture is going to go.
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: And so.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: I think you have to have a lot of faith
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: in the crew. You have to have a lot of
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: faith in the people that you're working with in order
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: to deliver. And I think this was one of those
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: situations where they had no idea or they had a
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: false idea. And, you know, five Oscars in major categories. Darren,
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: did you ever hear the.
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: Film Legend?
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: It's kind of become a misnomer about the undershirts.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was actually just looking that up. Because I
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: was like, was that true? And yeah, I think urban
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: legend is the appropriate title where maybe a percentage of
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: that is true, where when Clark Gable took off his
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: shirt and he didn't have an undershirt, that sales of
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: undershirts plummeted. And I'm like, sure, maybe there was a
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: bit of an influence, but I think over 92 years,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: it's been overemphasized.
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: Truly. Yes. Yeah.
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: I can tell you that in the South, undershirts are
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: very necessary because even with them, you're going to wreck
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: your shirts in the summertime. So you wear undershirts no
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: matter what. So I can guarantee you that in the South,
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: it was never true.
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: I just, I, you know, I, I, I spouted that
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: for years, you know, after I read that and learned
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: about this movie, like it was fact. And then if
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: you do any kind of research, so there's just like,
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: Maybe it happened a little bit, like there might have
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: been a dip after the movie.
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: Although also, again, during the Depression, people may have been
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: cutting back on certain purchases. It's like, do I need
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: two shirts? No, I can afford one.
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: That's all right.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: People didn't have one.
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: A multifactorial.
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: So, okay.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: So, John, when you're walking away from this film, what
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: did you.
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: Actually, let me rephrase. Let me reframe. What did you
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: know about this movie going into it? Nothing.
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: You'd never seen this before. Have you ever even heard
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: of this movie before? I had heard of it, but
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: in passing. It was like one of those things where
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: it was like, oh, an old Clark Gable. It's not
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: like I'm a Clark Gable fan or anything. I'm a
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: Capra fan. Everything I've seen by him, I enjoy. But
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: it was never anything where I was like, ah, I
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: got to catch that movie. Nobody ever was hanging on
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: my shoulder like, you got to catch this. You got
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: to see this movie. There are old movies where people
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: are like, oh, you haven't seen that?
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: My God.
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: Nobody ever came across with it happened one night like that.
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: And so I knew less than nothing. I was aware
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: that it was a movie. That was it. And I
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: think it actually added to my enjoyment that I didn't
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: have anybody being like, oh, man, this is the thing
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: that invented the genre. This was the game changer.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh.
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: And I'm glad for that. Because over the years, I've
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: actually been trying to teach myself when I make movie
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: recommendations to people to underplay it nowadays. It's like, oh,
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: you haven't seen that. You probably want to check that out.
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: Because I found that when I come in and I'm like, oh,
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: my Lord, you have to see this movie. It's amazing.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: 100% of the time, the best I'll get from somebody
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: is like, yeah, it was good. I liked it.
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: Because.
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: I came across too forceful. So I think I went
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: into this the best possible way for such an old movie.
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: It was a signed homework. Yeah, right. But even in
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: my auto gyro, I could enjoy this movie greatly. Look
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: at that. They had flying cars back then, and I
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: still don't have a flying car. What gives, Hollywood?
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: What's going on? That was freaking cool. Yeah, it was cool. Oh,
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: my gosh. What do you call that?
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: An auto gyro.
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: That's what it is called? An auto gyro?
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: That's what they call it in the movie.
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: A self eating sandwich. I don't know. Uh, no, it was,
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: that was a, what a way to make an entrance.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: That's like right up there with the kind of Monte
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Cristo coming in on a hot air balloon.
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: I loved it.
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: Except everybody could definitely see this guy when, when he
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: came out and greeted the crowd. Just saying.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: So Darren, when you, when you walk away from this movie,
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: like it's, it's the credits have rolled. You're, you're off
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: to go get a snack before bed. what is running
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: through your head when you're thinking about this movie? What pop,
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: what scene pops into your head?
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Oh, I mean, even just talking about the ending. I mean,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: I've being a film student, it was kind of drilled
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: into me that when you reach the climax of your movie,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: you end it as soon as possible. Like, like you,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: you want to be done. And, I think this movie
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: did that. It was like they got together, and you're
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: not even seeing anything in the end. It's literally an
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: outside shot. You hear these two other people talking, and
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: then you hear the bugle, the lights go out, and
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: it's like, boom, we're done, and you.
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: Don't need anything.
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: You see the blanket fall.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: It is literally.
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: That's important.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Happy ever after. That is a visual way of telling that.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: But yeah, this movie... Gosh, there's just so many scenes. There's,
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: like you said, Clark Gable's charm is just pulling you in,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: in so many ways. I just like, I always come
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: back to the bus because the bus is also something where,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: you know, not everyone's ridden a bus. I'm sure there's
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: people in 34 that had never seen a bus, but
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: now you're seeing, you know, this, this, I can't even imagine, again, planes, trains,
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: and automobiles, but like, no, we're going to just be
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: on this bus for a couple of days and just
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: travel a couple of states. I'm like, that sounds terrible.
• 33:50
  Speaker 4: No bathroom on the bus.
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: I will share that one time I took the train
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: down to North Carolina when I lived in Virginia because
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: I was interviewing for a job down there. And the
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: scene where the guy falls asleep on her, there was
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: a moment where I drifted off because like, I mean,
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: the train like rocks very gently and you just, you know,
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: just sort of like doze off. And I woke up
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: laying on the woman next to me, just like, you know,
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: just like a comedy sort of thing. And she didn't
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: wake up when I woke up with a start was like, oh, yeah, yeah.
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: Because it is awkward, but what's funny is you look
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: at that and you're like, oh, what a contrivance of
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: a movie. And I'm like, no, I guarantee you that
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: plenty of people in the audience were like, oh, yeah,
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: I remember that time I fell asleep on somebody on
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: the bus.
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: You know, that sort of thing.
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: And I think that what's also beautiful about it is
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: I think you get such an interesting snapshot of culture
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: of the time where a positive aspect of the culture
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: at the time Where you have the scene where Capra
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: decides to include and retain everybody singing multiple verses of
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: the song that everybody knows. And they're all singing along
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: and they're all having a good time. And it's like
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: that feeling of none of these people know each other
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: outside of this bus. And that feeling of community as
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: opposed to like travel today. If somebody stood up on
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: a plane and started singing, somebody's going to stand up
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: and beat the snot out of them, and somebody else
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: is going to record it on TikTok. Whereas back then,
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: it was like, hey, guys, we're trapped. I got a violin.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: Let's everybody sing. And everybody's like, yeah, let's have a time.
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: And you can't help but feel... I'm sure that no
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: small part of that is a contrivance for the movie,
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: but at the same time, you can't help but feel
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: there is an aspect of the culture that from back then,
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: one of those positive aspects where you sort of like
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: find yourself in that moment yearning for it, where it's like,
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: I wish people could be this way.
• 35:50
  Speaker 4: It's like the steerage scene in Titanic.
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: Yes, exactly. And it reminds me of, you know, you
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: talked about Capra-esque. One of the derisive terms I've heard
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: referred to for Frank Capra is Capricorn because, you know,
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: his movies had stuff like that. Think of other directors.
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: Are they including that whole scene of people singing or
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: are they going to have them start singing? get through
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: one verse. And at the beginning of the second verse
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: is when the bus crashes. No, he had, he stretches
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: it out. He has it continue. And I think that's
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: really interesting. And I'd say that that's probably something that
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: looking at him as a director to look for, as
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: we go into these other movies is when does he
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: take the time to share these moments of togetherness and
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: community and sort of that, that, that sense of there
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: is some sort of glue that keeps us together or
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: can keep us together and And we should look for
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: it that, you know, is that going to be something
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: we find in the other two movies we look toward?
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, that just struck me and I have no,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: nothing backing this up, but a thought could be keeping
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: that long scene because the audience can sing along. This
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: is a song that everybody knows. And again, you're seven
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: years into talkies and now you have this scene that,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure it's, If we went back in time,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: sitting in the theater watching this movie would be a
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: very different experience than movie going today. That's a good point.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: There's no adjustable seats with the button. You can't have
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: the food ordered and they bring it to you. No, no.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: But what I'm saying is, I think.
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: Darren's out here just like, oh my God, the train's
• 37:26
  Speaker 4: coming right at us.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: That was a couple of years ago. But no, I
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: could see that being another additional aspect of what is
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: something that I can give the audience to really connect with.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: And they know this song, and it's something they could sing.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, we also mentioned Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, which
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: also has a scene... like this, which they use effectively
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: to isolate Neil, where his song, nobody knows, but John
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: Candy's song is what everybody instantly picks it up. So
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: it isn't just an homage. It impacts our knowledge of
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: the characters, which I think is great. Yeah.
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: For me, when I think about this movie, when I
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: walk away, I think about that first scene where Gable's
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: drunk and he's walking on the bus and And, you know,
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: he throws the papers out the window and the bus driver,
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: you know, gives him guff about it. And he's just like,
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: just like, even though he's drunk, he's a writer, he's charismatic.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: He can turn your conversation conversation on its head and
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: he can just take your words and throw it right
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: back at you. And this guy clearly was not burdened
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: by education. And he, like when he said, he's like, yeah.
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: It's like, what a retort. I should have thought of
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: that one. And he's like, yeah? And then after the
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: third one, he's like.
• 38:51
  Speaker 4: You got me.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: And the whole bus just starts laughing and he realizes
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: that he's beat.
• 38:58
  Speaker 4: It's such an iconic moment. It's so great. We all
• 39:01
  Speaker 4: want to be Gable in that moment.
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: We all think that we're Gable in that moment when
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: we fantasize about saying the perfect thing and the right
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: thing and we don't come up with it until two
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: days later when we're in the shower and we're like,
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: damn it, that's what I should have said. That's this guy. Well,
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: I think we should round third. I think we should
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: wrap up on a solid note. I'm going to break
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: tradition and I'm going to go first. I love this movie.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: Movie.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: I've loved it since the first time I saw it.
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: The first time I saw it was in high school.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: I had a film class in high school and this
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: was one of my teacher's favorite movies and he loved
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: showing it to us. He loved talking about it. I
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: had a special connection with that teacher and he gave
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: me his It Happened One Night vhs copy uh when
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: i graduated and it was i still have it i'm
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: never going to get rid of it and uh so
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: i've always had a special connection with this movie and
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: regardless of the special connection not just the nostalgia but
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: there's so much power and reason behind it to love
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: this movie this is one of the greats this is
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: five stars this is a fantastic start to the house
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: of capra so john i'm gonna let you go next
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: because i always make darren go first Okay.
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: The whole world is topsy-turvy. Nothing makes any sense at
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: this point.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: I will straight up give Capra so much credit. The
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: idea that this is so early in his career is
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: mind-boggling to me. This is a movie I would expect
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: from somebody with a decade of experience directing a film.
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: I would expect nothing less from from one of the greats.
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: And I think it's such a terrific note to start
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: on for examining Capra's career and his work as a director.
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: I think that this is a movie that I can
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: come back to and watch repeatedly and always enjoy. This
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: is a background movie. This is a, oh, I got
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: to work a little extra tonight. I could turn this
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: on in the background and I'm going to be in
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: a happy place while it's playing. And I'll stop every
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: so often and giggle at, you know, like you were saying, Tristan.
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: You got me.
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I cannot recall the last time I watched something
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: that was supposed to be a comedy from the 30s
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: that wasn't like the Three Stooges where I laughed out
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: loud like that. I legitimately belly laughed because the line,
• 41:27
  Speaker 3: the delivery, everything was so perfect. Everybody else laughing at him.
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: I was just like, that was such a landing with that.
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: There are so many wonderful moments like that in the movie.
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: I'm totally invested in the characters by the end. I
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: agree it's a five. This is a movie where I'm
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: ashamed it took me this long to get to it,
• 41:46
  Speaker 3: but at this point, I'm going to do my part
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: and try to get more people to watch it. So
• 41:51
  Speaker 3: five stars.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: Now I find the downside of going last is so
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: much has been said already that I have to fill. Yeah,
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: this movie, from the first time I saw it in
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: college to re-watching it, It is, it's a comfort movie.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: It's fun to watch. It's fun to watch these actors
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: just emote so well on screen and, and also just
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: tell a simple story. Like it is not overtly complex.
• 42:21
  Speaker 4: It's, it's fun.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: It's grounded in, you know, with Clark Gable's character, not
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: an every man, that's a little far because he's a
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: very specific man. But he is not high class. He
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: is not high money. And that gives you a connection
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: specifically to this movie. And now I just need to
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: watch Spaceballs again to really round out the trilogy, as
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: it were. But I, too, am going to give this
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: a five. I mean, you can't not. One for every
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: Oscar it won. And, yeah, I hope to recommend it
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: to friends. I'm now probably... planning a time to watch
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: it with my kids because again it's 34 there's there's
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: still what the haze code is we're pretty we're pretty
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: safe everything's pretty locked down back then.
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: All right well there you have it folks we all
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: love this movie and you should love this movie too
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: so go to thenerdparty.com let us know what you thought
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: of this movie and please darren tell us what we're
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: going to do next week.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: We're still here with frank capra next we're covering 1939's
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: mr smith goes to washington Next on House Lights. Join
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: the revolution. Join the nerd party.