Lights Camera Accolade

This episode spoils 1939’s nominees Dark Victory, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights, and winner Gone With the Wind. Widely regarded as the strongest year for movies in Academy history, the lingering effects of the nominees and winners can still be felt to this day— for good and for bad. It’s the...

This is the full release of 2025’s January bonus and spoils the movie M (1931). The otherwise cinematically dismal year (1931) is salvaged by the 11th hour intervention of a groundbreaking German thriller: M. Listen to us discuss the morality of capital punishment and the potential origins of true crime in film. If you don't want to wait a full year before listening to our full bonus episodes, con...

This episode spoils Netflix’s hit Christmas movie My Secret Santa (2025). Join us as we yet again take a simple, feel-good movie way too seriously and dissect every part of the movie worth talking about. We also may or may not go down a rabbit hole looking at Netflix’s version of manifest destiny and how monopolization and the corporatization of the internet ruined everything. Normal Christmas con...

This episode spoils 1938’s nominees The Adventures of Robin Hood, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Boys Town, The Citadel, Four Daughters, La Grande Illusion, Jezebel, Pygmalion, Test Pilot, and winner You Can’t Take it With You. It’s a confusing year for the Oscars. Big Opera is officially overtaken by Big Tobacco, America shields its eyes to tensions continuing to rise in Europe, Robin Hood is a confir...

This is the full release of 2024’s December bonus— join us as we discuss our most technologically advanced movie yet: Hot Frosty (2024). If you don't want to wait a year before listening to our full bonus episodes, consider supporting us on patreon

This episode spoils 1922’s silent film Nanook of the North. This is a preview. Become a subscriber to listen to the full episode at patreon.com/lightscameraaccolade This proto-”documentary” helped invent documentaries… and also helped invent faking them. The movie vividly portrays elements of Inuit life as it follows “Nanook” and his “family” through many of their traditions and survival tactics....

You asked, we answered. In this episode, we all learn a little bit more about the origins of film, the structure of the Academy, what the Hays Code was, and some (fun?) trivia about Hollywood's most and least expensive films up to 1930. We also get to share what each of our favorite eras of film is-- and it turns out there might be a right answer to that question. This will be a recurring bonus se...

This episode spoils 1931’s Dracula and Frankenstein. It's alive! Or, technically, undead. This episode we're spoiling the movies that launched Universal's cinematic Monsters universe which defined what cinematic horror could be. Find the full episode at patreon.com/lightscameraaccolade

This episode spoils 1937’s nominees The Awful Truth, Captains Courageous, Dead End, The Good Earth, In Old Chicago, Lost Horizon, One Hundred Men and a Girl, Stage Door, A Star is Born and winner The Life of Emile Zola. We’ve finally made it to the double digits! We’re still in the 30s, but we’re already starting to see big changes in Hollywood this year— primarily the swan song of Big Opera’s cho...

Join us for the full re-release of our very first October bonus episode where we shared our unique relationships with scary movies and discussed three of 1920s' finest horror films: Haxan (1922), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), and Nosferatu (1922). The scariest thing about this episode was probably Jake's mic quality. Additionally, if you want the full experience of new bonus episodes without...

This episode spoils 1933’s La mujer del puerto (The Woman of the Port). The Hays Code would never have approved of the film picked for our first foray into the beginning of Mexico’s Golden Age of Cinema. The main character of this movie truly cannot catch a break, and this movie certainly doesn't shy away from taboo subjects and shock value. Find the full episode at patreon.com/lightscameraaccolad...

This episode spoils Slow West (2015). For Abby’s (not) birthday month, she decides to abuse her power and force us all to make an impossible choice: a choice between two westerns. Some would potentially consider a contemporary western as taking the easy way out-- but the consequences of that decision would weigh heavily on Jake for at least 24 hours after credits rolled. Find the full episode at p...

This episode spoils 1936's nominees Anthony Adverse, Dodsworth, Libeled Lady, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Romeo and Juliet, San Francisco, The Story of Louis Pasteur, A Tale of Two Cities, Three Smart Girls, and winner The Great Ziegfeld. This year gave us some of the best comedies so far (intentionally and unintentionally). Despite the Hays Code seemingly influencing movies to include more tidy, happ...

This episode spoils 1935's nominees Alice Adams, Broadway Melody of 1936, Captain Blood, David Copperfield, The Informer, Les Miserables, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Naughty Marietta, Ruggles of Red Gap, Top Hat, and winner Mutiny on the Bounty. 1935 was a year of dueling themes: loyalty vs. betrayal, old vs. new, dark vs. light, pirates vs. pirates-- and we were treat...

This episode spoils 1934's nominees The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Cleopatra, Flirtation Walk, The Gay Divorcee, Here Comes the Navy, The House of Rothschild, Imitation of Life, One Night of Love, The Thin Man, Viva Villa!, and winner It Happened One Night. The White Parade gets an honorable mention by thankfully deciding to (mostly) be a lost film and saving us the watch time. 1934 delivered epi...

This episode spoils 1932/33's 42nd Street, A Farewell to Arms, Cavalcade, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Lady for a Day, Little Women, The Private Life of Henry VIII, She Done Him Wrong, and State Fair Prohibition ended and the Academy decided to celebrate by nominating basically every movie that came out. Join us as we discuss some good movies and some terrible movies-- with almost no consens...

This episode spoils 1931/32's Arrowsmith, Bad Girl, The Champ, Five Star Final, Grand Hotel, One Hour With You, Shanghai Express, and The Smiling Lieutenant Battlelines are drawn as the gang is split by differences of opinion over taste and content. What makes a film truly great -- fashion, cinematography, story, vibes? We get closer to the answer as we discuss the largest pool of Best Picture nom...

This episode spoils 1930/31's Cimarron, East Lynne, The Front Page, Skippy, and Trader Horn. Jake struggles to pronounce names while the Academy struggles to nominate a good movie. 1931 was a terrible year for the economy, and an even worse one for the movies. Problematic doesn’t begin to describe some of these films.

This episode spoils 1929/1930's All Quiet on the Western Front, The Big House, Disraeli, The Divorcee, and The Love Parade. A new challenger arrives! Join us as we cover the third year of the Academy Awards.

This episode spoils 1928/29's Alibi, Hollywood Revue, In Old Arizona, and The Broadway Melody. Hollywood hits some highs and lows as 1929’s nominees grapple with the introduction of sound, and we gain a newfound respect for quality sound design. 

The movies were silent, but we are not. This episode spoils 1927/28's 7th Heaven, The Racket, and Wings. Join us as we discuss the first ever Academy Awards, and some of the history around why they came about. 

Amateur film buffs - Sarah, Jake, and Chrysantha - discover podcasting and talk a little about early Hollywood, and a lot about themselves in the inaugural episode of Lights, Camera, Accolade.