Deep Focus

This Deep Focus discussion in our Hollywood Classics series is led by Hannah Jack (writer for Turner Classic Movies). Recorded on July 19, 2022. Double Indemnity sets the gold standard for film noir. Insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred McMurray) is slowly reeled in by femme fatale Phyllis Dietrich (Barbara Stanwyck) as they plot to kill her husband and collect on his life insurance. In voiceover throughout the film, Neff narrates his fall from the promising protégé of claims adjuster Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) to a sinister and lovesick insurance fraudster. Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler co-wrote the tightly-constructed script for this classic tale of cynical lovers out to make their way in the world — at whatever cost.

This Deep Focus discussion in our Hollywood Classics series is led by Hannah Jack (writer for Turner Classic Movies). Recorded on May 10, 2022. Set in the trenches of WWI, Kubricks's first major commercial success follows a group of French soldiers sent by General Mireau to attack a German fortification with the odds absurdly against them. After the failure of the attack, General Mireau court martials some of his soldiers for what he claims to be cowardice. Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglass), who previously displayed bravery in the hopeless attack and was a criminal defense lawyer before the war, offers to defend the men. Douglass's performance is remembered as one of the best of his illustrious career.

This Deep Focus discussion in our Hollywood Classics series is led by Hannah Jack (writer for Turner Classic Movies). Recorded on April 12, 2022. This rom-com stars Greta Garbo as Ninotchka, a woman sent to Paris to help three Soviet agents sell stolen jewelry from the Russian Revolution of 1917. She eventually begins to fall not just for the city of Paris, but also for Count Leon d'Algout, who happens to be the love interest of the former Russian Grand Duchess Swana, the owner of the jewels that have been stolen. The film boasts Billy Wilder as a writer, the famous "Lubitsch touch” from the director, and Greta Garbo in a rare comedic role.

This Deep Focus discussion in our Hollywood Classics series is led by Hannah Jack (writer for Turner Classic Movies). Recorded on March 15, 2022. This early screwball comedy features spitfire dialogue between Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. A spoiled rich girl escapes from her millionaire father, who wants to stop her from marrying a worthless playboy. En route to New York, she gets involved with an out-of-work newsman. When their bus breaks down, the bickering pair set off on a comic hitchhiking expedition.