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With Abbie Phelps (@goodhunterabbie)!

Orson Welles’s final Hollywood film has it all: A complicated production history, a contentious editing lifecycle, and a ‘true-to-vision’ recut that followed the original release by some 40 years. It’s a story about Hank Quinlan (played by Welles), a dyed-in-the-wool noir detective who’ll do anything to exact his version of justice, and Ramon Miguel Vargas (confusingly played by a very white Charlton Heston), a Mexican detective set on rooting out Quinlan’s years of abusing authority. Janet Leigh as Susie, Vargas’s American wife, goes from standing up against the notorious cartel family that owns the border to just being kidnapped and becoming another reason for Vargas to continue his virtuous crusade.

Abbie Phelps is a big fan of Welles, so there’s nobody else we’d rather have on this episode! With Abbie, we talk about the striking cinematography, the moments of accidental genius that came to characterize the movie, how the movie paints a sardonic portrait of noir with big, broad characters, and why it took four decades to release the version of TOUCH OF EVIL its creator wanted you to see.

Find Abbie…


On Twitter at @goodhunterabbie
On Letterboxd at @goodhunterabbie
On Trylove Episode 184: DRIVE ANGRY (2011), Episode 209: WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005), and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)

References:


Watch TOUCH OF EVIL on the Internet Archive
“Touch of Evil: At the Border of Truth” by Yuval Klein for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
“Touch of Evil: The Art of Getting Away with It” by Patrick Clifford for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
Review: “Touch of Evil” by Roger Ebert

Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/

#TheLongTake #35mm
Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at trylon.org.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Closing music: “Main Theme” by Henry Mancini from the TOUCH OF EVIL soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 283: TOUCH OF EVIL (1958) with Abbie Phelps

3:33 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

5:21 - Opening thoughts on style and subversion

12:41 - Touch of Welles

21:25 - How expressive camerawork brings the audience into the vibe of each moment

28:57 - A piss take of traditional noir detective stories

33:11 - The characters

43:54 - Uncle Joe Grandi

50:54 - The ending, the brownface, and what it was all for

57:15 - Susie… poor Susie

1:05:29 - The Junk Drawer

1:13:06 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1958

1:15:22 - Cody’s Noteys: Touching Evil (trivia about movies with cursed objects)

With Finn Odum (@Finnematic)!

LA CASA LOBO (THE WOLF HOUSE) is a harrowing journey through violent change. The leader of a cult spins a cautionary fairy tale to indoctrinate followers, telling the story of Maria, a girl who finds herself locked in an abandoned house in the woods after narrowly avoiding the jaws of an overbearing wolf outside. Afraid to return to her isolated community, Maria comes to depend on the wolf’s protection and insulation from malicious forces both within the house and outside its shifting walls.

Created by Chilean artists Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León, LA CASA LOBO is inspired by Colonia Dignidad, the real colony in Chile where German fugitives conducted extensive human rights abuses while governments looked the other way. We’re proud to welcome Finn Odum, editor at Perisphere, the Trylon blog, back to the podcast to discuss this intense, enthralling, unrelenting story, told using some of the most viscerally creative stop-motion animation you’ll ever see.

Find Finn…


On Twitter at @Finnematic
On Letterboxd at @finnofthedead
On Perisphere, the Trylon blog
On Trylove episodes about THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951), DIABOLIQUE (1955), CON AIR (1997), and THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973)

References:


Watch LA CASA LOBO (THE WOLF HOUSE) on the Internet Archive
“Arica, mi Amor: Cine Chileno y La casa lobo” by Finn Odum for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
“Anatomy of a Right-Wing Fable: La casa lobo” by MH Rowe for Perisphere, the Trylon blog

Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/

OtherProgramming #DCP
Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at trylon.org.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. I’m not gonna tell you what we used as the closing audio because I don’t want to get sued.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 282: LA CASA LOBO (THE WOLF HOUSE) (2018) with Finn Odum

1:14 - The episode actually starts

3:03 - The Patented Cody Narveson Summary

6:20 - The film's importance to Chile as well as within a repertory film lineup

11:18 - Kicking off the roundtable discussion

18:53 - Making sense of LA CASA LOBO's visual style

26:34 - Chile and the cycle of exploitation

37:05 - The titular house as a living refraction of the film's “Us vs. Them” mentality

54:07 - Why now?

1:06:12 - The Junk Drawer

1:11:57 - To All the Loves We've Tried Before: 2018

1:13:57 - Cody's Noteys: The House of Champions 2018

Frank Galvin will try the case — against the medical professionals whose negligence left a woman a vegetable, against the church that funds it, against the wishes of the victim’s family, and against just about everybody else.

THE VERDICT, Sidney Lumet’s OTHER courtroom drama has a bit of a ‘70s vibe to it, despite releasing in 1982. Maybe it’s because of its miserable hero, an alcoholic lawyer portrayed masterfully by the perpetually handsome Paul Newman; maybe it’s because the whole desperate affair feels less like an underdog success story and more like a hard-won battle with the self; maybe it’s in the misogynist implications of David Mamet’s script (particularly with regard to Charlotte Rampling as Laura).

On this episode, we look at THE VERDICT as a product of its time AND with the benefit of hindsight and come to different conclusions about its makers’ intentions, the means by which they get there, and what the film has to show for its effort after the gavel falls.

References:


Watch THE VERDICT on the Internet Archive
“A Phenomenology of the East Coast: Sidney Lumet’s The Verdict” by MH Rowe for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
Review: The Verdict by Roger Ebert

Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/

#CharlotteRamplingsIllusionsOfInvulnerability #DCP

Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at trylon.org.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Closing audio: “The Bottom” by Johnny Mandel from the THE VERDICT soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 281: THE VERDICT (1982)

6:01 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

8:05 - Not the feel-good underdog story the marketing might lead you to believe

21:02 - What a messy version of justice this is

30:27 - Charlotte Rampling as Laura and where we end up in the finale

47:04 - The Junk Drawer

51:07 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1982

52:00 - Cody’s Noteys: The Verdictionary (definitions applied to cast names)

With Natalie Marlin!

Whatever you know about ZARDOZ — it’s by the guy who made DELIVERANCE (1972), it’s a weird meme, Charlotte Rampling’s instant pregnancy, Sean Connery’s nutsling — we promise you, it’s just the beginning. A critically divisive movie that’s garnered a cult following in the five decades since its release, it’s certainly earned that reputation.

It’s a movie where philosophical mishmash rubs shoulders with overt sexual politics and more dick jokes than you can shake a dick at. But when you step back, it’s got way more going under the hood; in fact, some of us are convinced it’s an iconoclast warning signal for the era of the blockbuster, releasing just a year before JAWS (1975) and three before STAR WARS (1977).

Go on this inter-Vortex journey with us as we welcome Natalie to go inside the big stone head, down the yellow brick road, and to the very heart of ZARDOZ!

References:


Watch ZARDOZ on the Internet Archive
“Down the Yellow Brick Road and Through the Looking Glass: How Zardoz Was Colored by its Era and Reflects Back on Today” by Zach Staads for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
“I Have Seen the Future, and It Doesn’t Work: The Off-Kilter, Semi-Genius of Zardoz” by Michael Popham for Perisphere, the Trylon blog

Find Natalie…


On Twitter and Bluesky at @NataliesNotInIt
On Letterboxd at @framingthepic
In the byline for "Noise Music," a forthcoming entry in Genre: A 33 ⅓ Series book about the noise genre 
On Trylove Episode 162: THE THIRD MAN (1949), Episode 182: CHESS OF THE WIND (1979), Episode 197: RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985), Episode 210: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015), Episode 239: MILLENNIUM MAMBO (2001), Episode 249: THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999), and LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (2018)

Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/

#CharlotteRamplingsIllusionsOfInvulnerability #DCP

Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at trylon.org.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Closing audio: "Symphony No.7 in A major op.92 - II, Allegretto" composed by Ludwig van Beethoven, conducted by Eugen Jochum, and performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from the ZARDOZ soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 280: ZARDOZ (1974)

3:06 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

4:28 - The provenance of ZARDOZ

18:01 - What “versions” of science fiction it’s referencing/playing on

25:30 - The visual communication vs. long stretches of dialogue

29:06 - The fourth wall-breaking setup

38:59 - Aaron FINALLY gets his freak on

41:03 - A sci-fi piss-take that occasionally reads straight

46:18 - Zed’s “base” existence vs. the bored, infallible upper caste

1:04:59 - Where the movie ends up thematically

1:11:00 - An allegorical warning for the future of movies

1:21:16 - The Junk Drawer

1:29:33 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1974

1:31:49 - Cody’s Noteys: The Zar-dossier (ZARDOZ-adjacent trivia)

With Kelly Krantz!

Liliana Cavani’s psychological, post-Holocaust perverted thriller went down as one of the most controversial movies of all time. In a concentration camp during World War II, concentration camp officer Max (Dirk Bogarde) and his prisoner victim Lucia (Charlotte Rampling) form a sadomasochistic relationship. Their relationship is colored as much by their shared depravity as by Max’s evil humanity and Lucia’s shame over her burgeoning desire.

Pretty inflammatory stuff! Hence the reputation. But we’re not convinced it’s the irresponsible exploitation film it’s been remembered as. On this episode, we explain why by focusing on the lead characters’ psychology, what brings them together, and what dooms them from the start.

References:


Watch THE NIGHT PORTER on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/the-night-porter-1974-dirk-bogarde
“Pain, Pleasure, and Depiction of Manipulation in The Night Porter” by Matt Lambert for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
“This Just In: Evil is STILL Banal” by Veda Lawrence for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
“The Night Porter: Power, Spectacle, and Desire” by Gaetana Marrone for The Criterion Current
“The Night Porter: Is this the most controversial film ever made?” by Steph Green for the BBC
“The Legacy of World War II in European Arthouse Cinema” by Samm Deighan

Find Kelly…


On Twitter at @kransekage_
On Letterboxd at @luckyhoss
On Trylove episodes about WINGS OF DESIRE (1987), ARREBATO (1979), and PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (1974), REVOLVER (1973), and THE DOOM GENERATION (1995)

Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/

#CharlotteRamplingsIllusionsOfInvulnerability #DCP

Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at trylon.org.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Closing audio: "Sonata 1950" by Daniele Paris from the THE NIGHT PORTER soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 279: THE NIGHT PORTER (1974)

5:05 - Starting THE NIGHT PORTER with context

17:24 - Mistaking this movie for exploitation cinema

22:20 - Max’s perverse self-denial

37:46 - Lucia, Charlotte Rampling, voyeurism, transgression, and performance

41:26 - The power Max and Lucia have in their relationship

55:23 - The ending

1:02:50 - The Junk Drawer

1:13:10 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1974

NORTH BY NORTHWEST is a hinky Hitchcock tale of mistaken identity, assumed identity, shifting truths, and a man with a huge butt chin using a SpongeBob-comically-small razor. Cary Grant stars as an ad man who gets caught up in a Cold War game of cat-and-mouse (he’s the mouse) opposite double agent Eva Marie Saint, Broadly European Bad Guy James Mason, and the FBI/CIA/NSA/WTFE as the other players stringing him along (they’re the cats).

A certain amount of NORTH BY NORTHWEST is best appreciated in context of Hitchcock’s previous films. After all, screenwriter Ernest Lehman said he wanted to write “the Hitchcock film to end all Hitchcock films”! To that end, it’s kind of a greatest hits collection, a suspenseful road movie keeping the tension high all the way from NYC to Mount Rushmore. What’s amazing is that it actually works totally on its own, too. Our discussion touches on the delightful sense of playfulness the movie has, Cary Grant as the perfect avatar of lovable pissantism, the cultural and political implications Hitchcock did not want us thinking about it, and how the auteur’s finely tuned filmmaking sensibilities serve his eighth-to-last film.

Do these things:


Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog: https://www.perisphere.org/perisphere-blog-post-guidelines/

#Hitchcock125 #DCP

Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at trylon.org.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Closing audio: “Main Theme” by Bernard Hermann from the NORTH BY NORTHWEST soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 278: NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)

3:01 - The episode actually starts

6:44 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

9:47 - How NORTH BY NORTHWEST plays to Hitchcock’s well-rounded filmmaking style

23:38 - Hitchcock looking back

45:43 - Critique of masculinity, nations, Cold War politicking

52:47 - Balancing critique and lighthearted fun

1:01:33 - The Junk Drawer

1:13:04 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1959

1:14:21 - Cody’s Noteys: Trylove Movie Draft