Episode 40: The Genius of the System, Hellzapoppin' and The Barefoot Contessa

This week Mike and Sean discuss their summer reading, Thomas Schatz's seminal study of the Hollywood studio era, The Genius of the System. In between rants about misguided and wrong-headed critics of auteurism, they also take a look at a couple examples of the studio system at work: the anarchic 1941 Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson "film" Hellzapoppin' and Joseph L. Mankiewicz's stately 1954 melodrama The Barefoot Contessa, with Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner.

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A George Sanders Alternate 100: #25 - 1

This is the fourth and final part of our alternate Top 100 Films of All-Time list. Part One, with films 100-76, an explanation of what this is and why certain movies aren't included, can be found here. Part Two, with films 75-51, can be found here. Part Three, films #50-26, is over here.

25. Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977)

23. A Touch of Zen (King Hu, 1971)

23. Pennies from Heaven (Herbert Ross, 1981)

21. An Autumn Afternoon (Yasujiro Ozu, 1962)

21. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand, 1937)

20. Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978)

19. I am Cuba (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1964)

18. Lola (Jacques Demy, 1961)

17. The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963)

16. Kiki's Delivery Service (Hayao Miyazaki, 1989)

15. Only Yesterday (Isao Takahata, 1991)

14. Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979)

13. F for Fake (Orson Welles, 1973)

12. Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)

11. The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946)

10. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)

8. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)

8. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)

7. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Lau Kar-leung, 1978)

6. Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater, 1993)

5. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

4. The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)

3. Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)

2. The Red Shoes (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1948)

1. Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)

A George Sanders Alternate 100: #50 - 26

This is the third part of our Alternate Top 100 Films of All-Time list. Part One, with an explanation of what this is and why certain movies aren't included, can be found here. Part Two, with films #75-51, can be found here.

50. The Iron Giant (Brad Bird, 1999)

49. Good Men, Good Women (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1995)

47. The Lion in Winter (Anthony Harvey, 1968)

47. Gremlins (Joe Dante, 1984)

45. Fort Apache (John Ford, 1948)

45. Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, 1941)

44. Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946)

43. The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg, 1930)

41. The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952)

41. Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (FW Murnau, 1922)

40. Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)

39. Peking Opera Blues (Tsui Hark, 1986)

38. The Docks of New York (Josef von Sternberg, 1928)

37. Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)

35. Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938)

35. Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1953)

34. Hard-Boiled (John Woo, 1992)

33. The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)

32. Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954)

31. What's Opera Doc? (Chuck Jones, 1957)

30. All that Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979)

28. Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2001)

28. Safety Last! (Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor, 1923)

26. Oki's Movie (Hong Sangsoo, 2010)

26. King Kong (Merian Cooper & Ernest Schoedsack, 1933)