Bless her heart, but Ginger Rogers is pulling a lot of thankless weight in this adaptation of a novel butchered by the Hays Code. Also, another year in the can— which of the three 10s will David and Suzan choose as the rightful winner of 1940?
Year Eligible: 1940 (Nominated)
Additional audio from Kitty Foyle (1940)
(Explicit language, as always)
In this episode, Suzan nearly has a complete bisexual meltdown over The Philadelphia Story, starring Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, and Cary Grant, which is entirely too many attractive people if you ask her. David, however, is a little clearer eyed and probably offers to give a more accurate (and very precise) score on this extremely problematic, but ultimately entertaining film.
Year Eligible: 1940 (Nominated)
Additional audio from The Philadelphia Story (1940)
(Explicit language, as always)
What is the deal with Bette Davis, anyway? Screen Test of Time investigates… and comes up blank on this week’s episode reviewing The Letter.
Year Eligible: 1940 (Nominated)
Additional audio from The Letter (1940)
(Explicit language, as always)
Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, starred in, and composed for this (sadly) still very relevant satire of the rise of fascism in Europe. David struggles not to give it a 10, and Suzan struggles with why she doesn’t want to for once.
Year Eligible: 1940 (Nominated)
Additional audio from The Great Dictator (1940)
(Explicit language, as always)
It’s John Ford and Greg Toland vs boats— which will win out for David, the director and cinematographer he loves or the setting and subject he hates? Certainly this combo will work for Suzan… right? See what our hosts think of this adaptation of 4 short Eugene O’Neill plays.
Year Eligible: 1940 (Nominated)
Additional audio from The Long Voyage Home (1940)
(Explicit language, as always)
The second of two Hitchcock films nominated in this year proves to be a little divisive for our hosts!
Year Eligible: 1940 (Nominated)
Additional audio from Foreign Correspondent (1940)
(Explicit language, as always)
After multiple days of trying to record, our hosts finally get to sit down and talk about yet another Bette Davis film that leaves them baffled at her superstardom (though with a brief interruption by Suzan’s cats). Charles Boyer co-stars as Davis’s employer and… sort of? love interest, in a film that could have been captivating but had to bend so much to the Hays Code as to be an overlong, toothless melodrama.
Year Eligible: 1940 (Nominated)
Additional audio from All This, And Heaven Too (1940)
(Explicit language, as always)
Thornton Wilder’s Our Town is widely considered to be THE Great American Drama, a sentimental paean to small town Americana that tells the story of two families joined by marriage and separated by tragedy that just happens to be performed on a mostly bare stage. But the 1940 film adaptation starring Martha Scott and William Holden inadvertently challenges the order of importance of these elements— and perhaps it’s not the story of Main Street USA that’s important after all?
Year Eligible: 1940 (Nominated)
Additional audio from Our Town (1940)
(Explicit language, as always)
It’s our 100th episode we watched and reviewed Alfred Hitchcock’s 1st American film— 1940’s Best Picture winner, Rebecca, a creeping gothic story of a never named woman (played by Joan Fontaine) who marries dashing but obviously troubled widower, Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier). Suzan and David both think it’s great, but can they justify 10s two weeks in a row?
Year Eligible: 1940 (Winner)
Additional audio from Rebecca (1940)
(Explicit language, as always)
The Grapes of Wrath makes two Steinbeck adaptations in a row here at Screen Test of Time. John Ford’s classic starring Henry Fonda is a masterwork of American cinema, with beautiful cinematography by Gregg Toland, already demonstrating some of the genius he’ll bring to 1941’s Citizen Kane. It’s an excellent movie, no doubt about it— but should you watch it?
Year Eligible: 1940 (Nominated)
Additional audio from The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
(Explicit language, as always)