ABOUT THE EPISODE:

David and Suzan prove their courage by watching a possibly cursed video copy of Skippy, so if you haven’t heard from them next week, they’ve been claimed by a ghost girl from a well. Just in case the curse is real, they went ahead and finished out the 1930/1931 year with Trader Horn, as well, and just because they desperately wanted to watch something good, they threw in City Lights, the Charlie Chaplin film that was eligible in this year, but was robbed. Find out which movie should have won the Academy Award this year (as if it’s not totally obvious). 

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1930/1931 (Nominated)

Music: “Yes We Have No Bananas“ by Great White Way Orchestra, available at freemusicarchive.org 

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

What do your long suffering hosts do when they still can't find a copy, no matter how grey market, of the 1931 version of East Lynne? Why, they find a movie that should have been nominated for Best Picture and wasn't to review instead. Join Suzan and David for a very special SToT as they review a shockingly great (wink, wink) classic. No spoilers here, just listen! 

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1930/1931 (Nominated)

Music: "The Ghost of the Saxophone" by Collins and Harlan, available at freemusicarchive.org (with a little something extra thrown in-- listen to find out!)

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

Despite being extremely resourceful, your intrepid hosts did not manage to find a copy of East Lynne this week, as there’s apparently only one extent copy that sits in a vault at the UCLA film archives. As Suzan is in New York and didn’t want David to attempt a Mission Impossible style break-in without her, they’ve skipped ahead to the next movie, The Front Page. Ostensibly a fast paced story about muckraking journalists hiding an escaped anarchist condemned to execution, The Front Page has aged into an incomprehensible adaptation of a play that might have been a screwball comedy onstage but is a dark, misogynist, and mean spirited hundred minutes of film. 

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1930/1931 (Nominated)

Music: "Who's Sorry Now" by the Memphis Five, available at freemusicarchive.org 

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

This week kicks off the nominees for 1930/1931 Oscars, a year that the Academy seems to wish it could forget. (Only 3 of the 5 nominees exist outside of a single copy in a vault at the UCLA film archives!) Our intrepid hosts almost lost their will to move forward with the project at all after this year's honorees, but they persevered starting with this week's movie (and fittingly unlucky episode 13), Cimarron, the story of a politically woke dude, who still manages to be a bad partner and deadbeat dad, single handedly founding the state of Oklahoma. A series of barely connected, over the top dramatic moments, it's just a smorgasbord of Oscar bait with no real plot that annoys Suzan and basically breaks David's brain. Hold on to your seats, everyone, cause the Screen Test of Time is going to get weird.

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1930/1931 (Won)

Music: "Covered Wagon Days" by Ted Weems and His Orchestra, available at freemusicarchive.org

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

Both of your hosts are sniffling through head colds, but they persevere to bring you the final episode reviewing the 1929/1930 nominees! The Big House is sort of a watch-one-get-one-free movie: come for the surprisingly progressive commentary on the criminal justice system and you'll get a strange romantic melodrama dropped in the middle for free. Find out if this year the Academy continued its streak of picking the right movie! 

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1929/1930 (Nominated)

Music: "Memphis, Tennessee" by Ethel Ridley, available at freemusicarchive.org

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

Norma Shearer wears a Parisian dress shop's worth of fabulous outfits and Conrad Nagel plays the least immoral character in this movie as a man with a blatant disregard for the sanctity of other people's marriages. The Divorcee is all glitter and very little gold, despite the last act Jane Eyre hail Mary. David quotes scripture and Suzan makes a plea for someone to put together a Tumblr so no one need watch this movie ever again. 

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1929/1930 (Nominated)

Music: "Don't Leave Me Daddy" by Marion Harris, available at freemusicarchive.org

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

Ten movies in and we've finally found the origin of the Oscar bait flick! Which is not to shade All Quiet on the Western Front, which is great, but here's the origin of the Epic Horrors of War Film that will continue to dominate the nominees for, oh, ever. This week's episode is an exploration of German vs. American nihilism, WWI vs. WWII movies. Join us as David makes connections to some surprising later films this movie inspires and Suzan reveals her guaranteed personal cure for insomnia on this week's Screen Test of Time! 

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1929/1930 (Nominated)

Music: "Over There" by Nora Bayes, available at freemusicarchive.org

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

Ernst Lubitsch’s The Love Parade is a classic fairytale— boy meets girl, girl is the queen of some place called Sylvania, boy slept with her ambassador’s wife, but instead of ending up exiled forever, they get married and live happily ever after… and that’s just the first third of the movie. David thinks this is a sexist monstrosity, Suzan thinks it’s a subversive comment on the absurdity of men’s entitlement, but they both agree that the end of How I Met Your Mother was terrible. Just listen to the episode and it will all make sense. 

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1929/1930 (Nominated)

Music: “The Royal Vagabond" by Jocker's Dance Orchestra, available at freemusicarchive.org

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

What do you get when you mash up a drawing room comedy, a spy caper, and a proto-biopic? Well, you get something of a mess, but at least a mostly entertaining one. Disraeli starts off the 1929/1930 nominees with a confused morass of a movie, but great fodder for David and Suzan to explore questions like "Should a paean to a guy who made Queen Victoria the Empress of India even exist?" "Are ladies men always inherently awful sexists?" "What really is a restoration comedy?" 

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1929/1930 (Nominated)

Music: "Childrens Symphony" by Prince's Orchestra, available at freemusicarchive.org

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

The Hollywood Revue of 1929 was definitely a departure from the Oscar nominated movies so far: a musical revue that feels like it was plucked right off a Vaudeville stage, featuring a flapper dancing Joan Crawford, Laurel and Hardy, and a call back to The Broadway Melody with Anita Page, all MCed by Jack Benny and Conrad Nagel. You'd think that would at least be memorable, but our intrepid hosts find that they're suffering from a bizarre shared amnesia when it comes to this movie. Are Suzan and David just suffering from early onset memory loss, or is this film truly that forgettable? Find out, on this week's Screen Test of Time! 

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1928/1929 (Nominated)

Music: Music: "Everybody's Jazzin It" by Collins and Harlan, available at freemusicarchive.org

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

There are movies that are bad because they're offensive, movies that are bad because they're poorly acted, and movies that are bad because they're generally unimportant nonsense stories that don't need to be told. And then there's the rare film that hits all three. This week's selection, Alibi, is all of the above, and David and Suzan are wildly unimpressed, despite the one scene in the movie that really strives for artistry. Better luck next week, kids, cause this one's a real snooze. 

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1928/1929 (Nominated)

Music: "Shake it and Break It" by Lanin's Southern Serenaders, available at freemusicarchive.org

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

They like it, they really like it! Finally, David and Suzan watch a movie nominated for Best Picture that they actually enjoy! The Broadway Melody isn't the best movie they've ever seen, or anything, but it's really, genuinely good... aside from the fact that the title song is sung literally five times, and our hosts are not entirely sure that the film makers knew what they were doing. Still, a major milestone in this podcast. 

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1928/1929 (Nominated)

Music: "While They Were Dancing Around" by Eddie Morton, available at freemusicarchive.org

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

The moral of this week's show is "Be careful what you wish for." Last week, Suzan was over silent films and excited to finally get to the talkies. In Old Arizona granted her wish, but at what cost? David has some praise for a surprisingly particular extra, as well as some suggestions as to what you should do instead of watch this movie. 

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1928/1929 (Nominated)

Music: "Swanee Smiles" by Clyde Doerr and His Orchestra, available at freemusicarchive.org

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

This week, David and Suzan round out the last of the nominees for the very first year with a break from WWI and the very first gangster flick to get a Best Picture nod, The Racket. Don't get too excited, though, cause The Godfather this ain't. David has a very good argument for why this is a good movie, but Suzan is having none of it. Also, find out if the Academy's pick for this year was the right one, after all! 

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1927/1928 (Nominated)

Music: "The Vamp" by Rega Dance Orchestra, available at freemusicarchive.org

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

Just how many WWI movies with wacky romantic comedy subplots can one Academy Award season handle? Apparently, the answer is two. This week, our hosts review the 1927/1928 winner, Wings. David hates it, Suzan loves it, but they both agree Clara Bow is adorable. Also, there's amazing plane fights, a poorly developed love quadrangle, a shockingly brief bit of Gary Cooper for him to get billing on the poster, and the most delightful drunk sequence this side of Dumbo.

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1927/1928 (Won)

Music for this episode: "Snake Rag" by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, available at freemusicarchive.org

(Explicit language, as always)

ABOUT THE EPISODE:

This week, David and Suzan begin their undertaking with 7th Heaven, a 1927 silent romantic comedy(?) about a Parisian sewer worker who falls in love with a pretty orphan girl before going off to WWI. 

SHOW NOTES

Year Eligible: 1927/1928 (Nominated)

Music for this episode: "I Wish There Was a Wireless to Heaven" by Irving Kaufaman, available at freemusicarchive.org

(Explicit language, as always)