Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Warner Brothers – 1942: KINGS ROW and JUKE GIRL + Fear & Moviegoing in Toronto

In this very special Warners 1942 episode we discuss two Dave faves, both starring (and romantically pairing) Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan, that push against the restrictions of the Production Code: Sam Wood's Peyton Place/Twin Peaks forerunner, Kings Row, and Curtis Bernhardt's noirish agrarian socialist drama, Juke Girl. We dive deep into Kings Rows' Freud-and-Emerson-steeped advocacy of a less repressed and hypocritical society and Juke GIrl's utopic/dystopic vision of humanity. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, we have a very disparate group of films this week: Flowers of Shanghai (1998), One False Move (1992), and Brief Encounter (1945), which Elise compares to Jeanne Dielman (although - spoilers - Brief Encounter does have a happier ending). 

Time Codes:

0h 00m 45s:      KINGS ROW [dir. Sam Wood]

0h 55m 28s:      JUKE GIRL [dir. Curtis Bernhardt]

1h 31m 31s:      Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto: Flowers of Shanghai (1998) by Hou Hsiao-hsien; One False Move (1991) by Carl Franklin & Brief Encounter (1945) by David Lean

Studio Film Capsules provided by The Warner Brothers Story by Clive Hirschhorn

Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler

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* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise’s latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating.

* Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! 

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