This 1932 MGM Studios Year by Year episode is a Robert Montgomery double feature, although the spotlight is on his leading ladies: an incandescent Marion Davies in Blondie of the Follies (directed by Edmund Goulding), and a distraught Tallulah Bankhead in Faithless (directed by Harry Beaumont). We discuss the strengths and incoherencies of Anita Loos' and Frances Marion's screenplay for Blondie of the Follies (spoilers: it may have been tampered with by some guy named Hearst) and then turn to our strong reactions to MGM's intense Depression melodrama, in which Hugh Herbert plays a sexual predator so convincingly it gave Elise a nightmare! Speaking of nightmare fuel: in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto we discuss Mike Figgis' Leaving Las Vegas (1995), starring Elisabeth Shue and Nicholas Cage in a kind of reverse Vertigo, which was playing as part of the TIFF Story in 50 Films series.

Time Codes:

0h 00m 25s: 1932 and MGM

0h 05m 41s: BLONDIE OF THE FOLLIES [dir. Edmund Goulding]

0h 37m 26s: FAITHLESS [dir. Harry Beaumont]

01 00m 20s: Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto – Mike Figgis’ Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

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Studio Film Capsules provided by The MGM Story by John Douglas Eames

Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler

1932 Information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer

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* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise’s latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating.

* Check out Dave’s new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!

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