Podcast
Screen Test of Time
Hosted by Suzan Eraslan and David Daw · EN
The Screen Test of Time is a podcast where Suzan Eraslan and David Daw set out to watch every movie ever nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, in order, from the first awards season to eventually the present day. Each week, they watch and review a different movie, and when they've watched everything nominated in a particular year, they tell you whether the Oscar went to the right one!
11episodes
Episodes
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Episode 216: Anatomy of a Murder
Aug 14, 202400:44:37Tap to summarizeAnatomy of a Murder is a courtroom drama that introduces some of the touchstones of the genre, including the the “I’m just a simple country lawyer” trope, with Jimmy Stewart as said lawyer. With a Duke Ellington score and a surprisingly nuanced approach to imperfect victims, a new decade is definitely on the horizon with this flick.
Transcribe →Episode 215: The Diary of Anne Frank
Jul 28, 202400:42:05Tap to summarizeThe 1959 adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank (adapted from the stage play, in turn adapted from the original diary) has a lot to recommend it. Only problem? The lead, and titular character, isn’t one of them.
Transcribe →Episode 214: Room at the Top
Jul 18, 202400:50:28Tap to summarizeYou know what there’s Room at the Top for? A new Bengal Lancer Episode! As we’re working through our backlog of recorded episodes, some of the topics discussed are old news, but some of them are news so old it’s new again. Enjoy some media recommendations that are not the worst movie of the 1959 nominees.
Transcribe →Episode 213: Separate Tables
Jul 7, 202400:39:14Tap to summarizeIf we had a nickel for every time there was a film nominated for Best Picture in 1958 that was based on a play that dealt with the trauma of a man hiding his homosexuality in a post-WWII world, but rewrote the script so the gay character was straight in the film, we’d have 2 nickels. It’s not a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.
Transcribe →Episode 212: Auntie Mame
Jun 19, 202401:02:55Tap to summarizeRosalind Russel plays the titular aunt with delightful flair in this first adaptation of the best selling novel. A perfect balance of zany and clever, Auntie Mame is deceptively thoughtful, though not without some glaring failures at the Screen Test of Time.
Transcribe →Episode 211: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Mar 24, 202400:42:13Tap to summarizeTennessee Williams hated this adaptation of his play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof so much that he went up to people standing in line for it and said, “This movie will set the industry back 50 years. Go home!” Our episode won’t do that, but we agree with him on the movie. It’s been awhile since we had a flick where the Hays Code made it completely pointless to even try, but rarely with such incredibly good looking people as Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor.
Transcribe →Episode 210: The Defiant Ones
Feb 14, 202400:50:33Tap to summarizeSidney Poitier makes his Screen Test of Time debut in this message movie, co-starring Tony Curtis, that's actually good. Two escaped chain gang convicts, one Black and one white, have to learn to work together to escape the law. Sounds like a simple, cheesy premise, but a nuanced story and incredible performances make this better than more recent movies with similar setups.
Transcribe →Episode 209: Gigi
Dec 30, 202301:08:50Tap to summarizeSplit score alert! David and Suzan both hate and love the same things about Gigi, most of which boils down to Maurice Chevalier (the former) and everything else (the latter), but that doesn’t mean they weigh each equally. Ernst Lubitsch may be dead at this point in film history, but his influence is alive and kicking in old Maurice.
Transcribe →Episode 208: Witness for the Prosecution
Nov 23, 202301:01:14Tap to summarizeThe final film of 1957, Witness for the Prosecution has it all: Murder! Intrigue! Humor! Marlene Dietrich! So it’s more than appropriate that this episode has it all: The cast of Westworld! The Sonic the Hedgehog, Pikachu, and Spider-Man films of the last few years! A first ever for the Screen Test of Time end of year choice! Enjoy this Thanksgiving Day release stuffed full of way too many things.
Transcribe →Episode 207: Peyton Place
Nov 1, 202300:49:09Tap to summarizeThe Hayes Code relaxed restrictions on certain issues related to sex the year before Peyton Place was released, and the filmmakers took that ball and ran with it. A melodrama that would go on to be a television soap opera, every plot point is as over-the-top and ridiculous as it possibly can be.
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