Let's Finally Watch This

The year is 1926. The movie industry is a year away from its first big sound film, but another major technological advance is also slowly advancing–COLOR! The Black Pirate is a vital early success of Technicolor, due in part to actor Douglas Fairbanks’s swashbuckling athleticism. With its vibrant use of color and high adventure, The Black Pirate influenced many future pirate movies.What The Black Pirate offers casual movie fans who have always meant to watch classic movies: a successful use of early color technology; exciting archetypal characters and story beats; Douglas Fairbanks’s exuberant flair; and an all-around fun movie that doesn’t feel as old as it is.Show Notes

The year is 1916. It’s only been a decade since The Story of the Kelly Gang, but director D.W. Griffith has pushed the medium to new heights. With the same vision that created the cinematically groundbreaking (though racist) The Birth of a Nation (see episode 36), Griffith ushers audiences through four separate plotlines in what some have called the only “film fugue.” Intolerance sets out to tell “love’s struggle throughout the ages,” from present day troubles with crime and poverty to the downfall of the great Babylonian empire.What Intolerance offers casual movie fans who have always meant to watch classic movies: a massive scale in sets and story; a way-ahead-of-its-time intertwining of narratives; silent movie melodrama; and Mountain Girl.Show Notes

Welcome to Season 5 of Let's Finally Watch This, a podcast for casual movie fans who have always meant to watch classic movies. We have another 12 exciting, decades-hopping episodes for you.First up, we're back in 1906, where moving pictures are still very much a technology in its infancy. This time we're in Australia, where the legend of Ned Kelly holds sway in the cultural imagination. Enter Charles Tait and his brothers, who produce what many consider the first dramatic, feature-length film, The Story of the Kelly Gang. What The Story of the Kelly Gang offers casual movie fans who have always meant to watch classic movies: charmingly amateur acting; 17 surviving minutes of the original 70; a historically important but visually damaged view of early movie-making; and one artistic expression of the Australian interest in bushrangers.Show Notes

It’s time to wrap up our fourth season of Let’s Finally Watch This. Looking back at our season of heavy-hitters (and a few oddballs), we consider some of the unexpected themes and this season's emphasis on directors. Then we dive into the heart of the episode–our Ranking of Essentialness for this season’s movies! We also share our personal favorites from the season.Thanks for joining us again for this exciting journey through the decades of film!Show Notes

It's 2015. Franchises rule the box office. Disney, a powerhouse studio for decades, is in the middle of its current run of live-action remakes. This year's movie, Cinderella, is directed by Kenneth Branagh, known for his Shakespearean adaptations and portrayal of Hercule Poirot. The story itself is nothing new, but Branagh presents it with lavishly and directly, making it one of the best-reviewed of the modern remakes.What Cinderella offers casual movie fans who have always meant to watch classic movies: gorgeous costumes and sets; solid, traditional storytelling; a sincere, admirable heroine; and, arguably, everything one wants, and nothing one doesn't, in a Cinderella movie.Show Notes