Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast

James and Thomas introduce one of the most influential genres of Hollywood’s golden age: film noir. Noir’s distinctively moody chiaroscuro look, suspense-laden plotting, and clever, “hard-boiled” dialogue deriving from popular crime fiction make it a most entertaining style. But why did a genre exploring the cynical, seedy and criminal side of American life thrive in the optimistic years of the late 1940s? Here we explore the stylistic elements, as well as the strange morality and psychology, of film noir. James suggests that its popularity in the late 40s has to do with the breakdown of the relationship between men and women which was already taking place. A central aspect of noir is often the hero’s seduction and betrayal by a scheming femme fatale. This episode focuses on an outstanding example of the genre from 1947: Out of the Past, starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas. Mitchum plays a former private eye who used to be involved in the seedy underworld of New York City, but has now retreated to a quiet life in rural California. As the title indicates, his past reaches out and threatens to pull him back in. Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

James and Thomas attempt to discuss the 1933 film adaptation of Little Women, without the help of a female guest. The film, directed by George Cukor and starring Katharine Hepburn as Jo March, was included on the Vatican’s 1995 list of important films, in the category of Art. Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

A mere eight years after the 1920 canonization of Joan of Arc, and in the midst of her great popularity as a French national hero, Danish director Carl Th. Dreyer made The Passion of Joan of Arc. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, and is included on the Vatican film list. Two aspects in particular put this film in the canon: first, Renee Maria Falconetti's transcendent performance as Joan, which some consider the greatest work ever done by a film actor. And second, the film's radical visual style, eschewing establishing shots and even a clear sense of place to focus entirely on the actors' faces, combining with fast-paced editing to put what Dreyer called the "close-quarter combat" between Joan and her judges front and center. The film combines a historical approach - based almost entirely on the real transcripts of Joan's trial - with non-realistic acting and cinematography, to arrive at "the ecstatic truth" about St. Joan (to borrow a phrase from Werner Herzog). The Passion of Joan of Arc feels much less dated than many silent films, and would make a great introduction for those unfamiliar with this era of cinema. Like many silent films, it has existed in various versions and states of disrepair over the decades - but Joan's history is more remarkable than most. After the original negative was destroyed in a studio fire the year after it was shot, Dreyer reconstructed it shot-for-shot using alternate takes. The second version of the film was then destroyed in a different studio fire. In 1981 a print of the original film was discovered in the janitor's closet of a Norway mental institution, providing the fairly pristine version we can view today. But we still have various frame rates and soundtracks to choose from, which gives rise to a broader discussion about what constitutes, and who decides, the "definitive" version of a work of art. Links Read Nathan Douglas at The Vocation of Cinema https://vocationofcinema.substack.com/ Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Novelist and critic Trevor Cribben Merrill joins the podcast to discuss one of his favorite recent films, the Coen brothers' Hail, Caesar! This is one of the Coens' most warm-hearted films, and certainly their most Catholic one. It deals with the problem of vocation and the spiritual value of art, although intriguingly, from the point of view of a non-artist: movie producer Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), who must often serve as a "fixer" getting his stars out of personal scrapes and scandals. Hail, Caesar! is set in a production studio during the Golden Age of Hollywood, giving the Coens a chance to reproduce many classic genres of the period, from the western to the water ballet. The film's detailed portrayal of the old Hollywood studio system in the time of the Catholic Legion of Decency and the Hayes Production Code also provides an opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of the scandal-averse culture of Hollywood in the 30s-50s. How much of it was real concern for morality vs. fear for the studios' bottom line? Links T. C. Merrill's novel Minor Indignities https://tcmerrill.com/minor-indignities Catholic Culture Podcast interview with T. C. Merrill https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/122-minor-indignities-tc-merrill/ T. C. Merrill is presenting in a Collegium Institute seminar on Bernanos's Diary of a Country Priest on June 20. More info here: https://www.collegiuminstitute.org/calendar/all-is-grace-global-catholic-literature-2022 Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/ This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

The Vatican film list includes a few different World War II-related films, and Kon Ichikawa's 1956 classic The Burmese Harp may be one of the most unusual, as the story is told from the perspective of a Japanese troop in Burma in the days after the end of the war. Mizushima, the protagonist, serves in a company whose musically trained captain teaches them to sing together to keep their spirits up. Mizushima himself plays the harp, not only to accompany the choir but to send signals as the company's lookout. Traumatic encounters with death immediately after the company's surrender set him apart first physically, then psychologically and spiritually, from his troop, and he ends up wandering the countryside disguised as a Buddhist monk. This is an anti-war film, and a film about piety toward the dead, but it's also about vocation and how it relates to membership in a community. Mizushima experiences a special calling which sets him apart from his fellows, yet in order to serve them. Music, and specifically communal singing, is often important in films about either of the world wars, but this film takes that concept to a whole new level, with music (both the protagonist's harp and his company's choral singing) serving a crucial function of communication throughout the entire film, especially at moments when words seem impossible. Watch The Burmese Harp on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8lTqY9H-sA CatholicCulture.org is in the middle of its Easter 2022 fundraising campaign. Generous donors have offered us a $60,000 matching challenge grant. If you donate between now and Pentecost Sunday, your donation will be doubled! Please help us keep our apostolate going. If you use this link your donation will be earmarked for podcast production: http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com

James and Thomas continue their discussion of the Vatican film list with Charlie Chaplin's masterpiece Modern Times, included on the list in the category of Art. Released in 1936, Modern Times is both Chaplin's last silent film and his first talkie - his character, the Little Tramp, is silent and the only time we hear people talking is when their voices are mediated through technology, such as on the radio or through an intercom system. This depersonalized and one-way approach to the human voice on film reflects not only a commentary on modern communications but also Chaplin's personal aversion to the sound era. The film is not just filled with hilarious gags, but contains intelligent social commentary as the Tramp tries and fails to fit into the world of industrialized labor, and really any other part of the modern social order. Chaplin not only wrote, directed and starred in this film, he composed the musical score and made the sound effects. CatholicCulture.org is in the middle of its Easter 2022 fundraising campaign. Generous donors have offered us a $60,000 matching challenge grant. If you donate between now and Pentecost Sunday, your donation will be doubled! Please help us keep our apostolate going. If you use this link your donation will be earmarked for podcast production: http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/

The new film Father Stu is based on the true story of Stuart Long, a rough-around-the-edges boxer-turned-priest who died in 2014. Mark Wahlberg plays Fr. Stu in an Oscar-worthy performance, and Mel Gibson makes another entry in long list of broken father roles he has played in recent years. James and Thomas review the film, discussing the pros and cons of the film's gritty humor, and the depiction of Stu's growth in spiritual maturity through suffering.  Father Stu is in theaters starting April 13. Read about the real Fr. Stuart Long, a truly saintly man, at The Pillar: https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/meet-fr-stu-the-real-priest-and-true?s=w

Poet, translator and cultural commentator Anthony Esolen joins James and Thomas to discuss one of his favorite filmmakers in the genre of "screwball comedy", Preston Sturges. Sturges wrote and directed eight films between 1940 and 1945, seven of which are regarded as classics. This episode focuses on two of those films: Sullivan's Travels (1941) and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944). Sullivan's Travels is about a director of cheap comedies who decides to go on the road as a hobo so he can make a film of true social significance, making a fool of himself in the process. It displays Sturges's ability to write and direct dialogue that is fast, sharp and snappy, but never flippant or glib. Sturges is virtuosic in navigating dark material with a light touch, and able to switch seamlessly between pathos and humor, ending up in a place of warmth and graciousness without sappy sentimentality. This is also true of The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. In an age in which even married pregnancy could not be depicted on film, Morgan's Creek pushed boundaries by depicting unwed pregnancy. It ends up being a very pro-life film as well as something of a time capsule, showing how a social stigma against unwed motherhood was not incompatible with compassion and support for such mothers and their babies. Like Sullivan's Travels, it has an outrageous, hilarious and utterly unpredictable ending. These films prompt a reflection from Esolen on how "The moral law makes mirth possible," and how the sexual revolution killed romance - two reasons great screwball comedies cannot not be made today. Other movies reccomended by Anthony Esolen: Penny Serenade, People Will Talk, and also The Lady Eve, Arsenic and Old Lace, Bringing Up Baby, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, You Can’t Take It With You, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (TV series), “Walking Distance” (Twilight Zone episode) Other movies mentioned by Thomas Mirus: Hail the Conquering Hero, Unfaithfully Yours, The Awful Truth, It Happened One Night Links Joel McCrea discusses his faith https://www.guideposts.org/better-living/entertainment/movies-and-tv/guideposts-classics-joel-mccrea-on-gods-guidance Podcast about Betty Hutton’s conversion to Catholicism https://americancatholichistory.org/betty-hutton/ Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts https://magdalen.edu/ Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

James and Thomas interview Yelena Popovic, writer and director of the new film Man of God, about the Greek Orthodox saint Nektarios of Aegina. Man of God will be in select theaters in the U.S. on March 21 and 28. At 17, Yelena left Belgrade, Yugoslavia to escape civil war. She went to Italy and then the US, working as a model in New York City, and then to L.A., where she gained experience and training as an actress, writer and director. Parallel to this artistic journey was a spiritual one stemming from her lifelong sense of connection with God despite lack of religious education, which ultimately led her to make a film about St. Nektarios. In this interview Yelena tells her personal story, the story of St. Nektarios, and the extraordinary story of how this film was made - with an outstanding cast and composer secured for her with the help of the monks of Mt. Athos!  Links Find a showing of Man of God near you http://www.fathomevents.com Interview with Mickey Rourke about his faith and working on Man of God https://orthochristian.com/133984.html Our previous review of Man of God https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/review-man-god/ Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

A poor, half-witted girl is sold by her mother to be the assistant of a brutal traveling circus strongman in La Strada ("the road"). Federico Fellini's 1954 masterpiece, included on the Vatican film list in the category of Values, attests to the seeds that can be planted by selfless love, even in the face of abuse and rejection.  Condemned by Marxist critics in 1950s Italy for its spiritual view of suffering, the film found a better initial reception in the United States, where viewers saw Giulietta Masina's unforgettable protagonist as a "cross between St. Rita and Mickey Mouse". From the beginning, Catholic viewers have found found much to appreciate - Pope Francis, who was 17 when the film was released, calls it one of his favorites. Links Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of St. Thomas in Houston https://www.stthom.edu/Academics/School-of-Arts-and-Sciences/Division-of-Liberal-Studies/Graduate/Master-of-Fine-Arts-in-Creative-Writing/Index.aqf?Aquifer_Source_URL=%2FMFA&PNF_Check=1 James Matthew Wilson https://www.jamesmatthewwilson.com/ Nathan Douglas https://nwdouglas.com/about Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio