Screening Room with Chet and Dee

We're back just in time for our favorite season: spooky movie month! This year's Halloween special offers the perfect mix of fright and fun in one of the first movies to take the haunted house genre seriously. The script, cinematography and music are top notch, and the cast keeps it classy. In addition to some decent scares, this movie has an interesting subtext, and its youngest star was destined...

Among the many things that Chet, Dee and Martin Scorsese have in common is their opinion that this is one of the scariest and most artfully crafted horror movies ever made. We try not to spoil too much of the creepy plot as we gush about all the little things that made this film a spine-tingling masterpiece. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094165091173 Letterboxd: https://lett...

Technically, this is a sequel to 1973's The Three Musketeers, but it's really just the second half of Richard Lester's epic adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' famous novel, shot at the same time as the original. In keeping with the spirit of the film, we recorded our two podcasts in one setting, and this one picks up without introduction where the previous episode left off.

Action, adventure, comedy, romance, intrigue—what more could you want out of a movie? Director Richard Lester packs it all into his adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas classic. This story has been given the silver screen treatment numerous times, but this version is by far the best. Like Lester, we broke our podcast into two episodes, covering both the Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers, which...

Instead of reviewing a movie, we’re reviewing a TV network this time. Turner Classic Movies has just undergone a major upheaval, resulting in the firing of most of its staff. Although the new bosses say they have no plans to close up shop, we’re concerned that our favorite network (and the primary source for all the movies we review) could jettison some of the features that make it great. Here’s w...

Chet and Dee marvel at the screwiest of screwball comedies, directed by an all-time great and starring two of Hollywood's biggest stars--all before they had won over audiences and critics. Real life didn't offer much to laugh at in 1938. The country was mired in the Great Depression and fascism was on the rise in Europe. Hollywood, long under fire from the Catholic Church and Congress, had submitt...

This gem serves as the prototype for countless romantic comedies in which unlikely couples are thrown together in the warm glow of the holiday season. Superstars Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray worked together for the first time, along with a standout cast. Preston Sturges’ script is both funny and touching, offering just the right dose of nostalgia without spinning into sentimental fantasies...

Jose Ferrer won an Academy Award for his performance in the lead role. Cyrano is a poet, a soldier, a scientist, a playwright and the most feared swordsman in Paris, but his ugliness prevents him from pursuing the woman he loves. Instead, he lends his words to a handsome but tongue-tied friend who also has his eye on the beautiful Roxanne. Edmond Rostand’s famous story is more than a romantic come...

Your Halloween experience won’t be complete unless you take in the 1957 horror classic, “Night of the Demon” (aka “Curse of the Demon”). Dana Andrews plays a psychology professor out to expose the leader of a satanic cult as a fraud, but viewers quickly learn the danger is all too real. Will the professor shake his skepticism in time to undo the curse that’s been placed on him? Chet and Dee talk a...

I’ve you’ve ever heard the term “Film Noir” and wondered what it was all about, we’ve got the perfect movie for you. “Double Indemnity” delivers brilliant writing, directing, acting, cinematography and music as it tells the tale of a lusty couple who try to pull off a murder. It’s got the gritty, poetic narration, the snappy, cynical dialogue, the shadowy scenes and characters making decisions we...

Why is this Alfred Hitchcock thriller widely considered one of the greatest films of all time? Listen to Chet and Dee walk you through this tale of possession, obsession, the terrible things they make us do and the guilt we feel as a result, and then maybe you’ll get an idea why critics and audiences gush. Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak star in this tale that Dee thinks is “so twisted that even my ge...

We discuss one of the most famous—and stylish—film noirs of all time. We love the mystery, the plot twists, the gorgeous sets and award-winning cinematography, but mostly we can’t get enough of Clifton Webb, who creates the unforgettable character of Waldo Lydecker. Just what is Waldo’s relationship with Laura? Why does Laura put up with him, or with her philandering fiancée? Which of these confus...

Guilt, faith, justice and redemption are all on display in this 1982 courtroom drama directed by Sidney Lumet. Paul Newman gives perhaps his greatest performance as boozing, ambulance-chasing attorney Frank Galvin, who tries to reclaim his soul by winning a malpractice case against a huge Catholic hospital, represented by a prestigious law firm. James Mason is deliciously evil as the rival attorne...

Start with a story from a great American novelist, give it to one of the best directors of Hollywood's Golden Age, sign the top movie star of the era and introduce a starlet who's going to make a sizzling debut. That's the formula for the 1944 Romance/action classic, "To Have and Have Not." Humphrey Bogart is the cool-headed American who reluctantly lends a helping hand to the French Resistance, a...

We got in the spirit for New Year's Eve by re-watching one of our all-time favorites, Billy Wilder's 1960 classic, "The Apartment," starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. C.C. Baxter is working his way up the ladder by loaning out his apartment to adulterous executives, but circumstances cause him to question whether he's giving up more than he bargained for. Join us in discussing how C.C. lea...

During the holiday season, you can't swing a yule log without hitting a TV playing some version of Charles Dickens' classic novel, but we're here to tell you which TWO versions you should be sure to see before the clock strikes one on Dec. 25. Alastair Sim gave perhaps the greatest film performance of the old miser in 1951, and Albert Finny appeared 19 years later in a colorful musical version tha...

If you're looking for a little romance in your Christmas movie, you've come to the right place. Cary Grant is a suave angel who's sent to Earth to help a bishop (David Niven) who's trying to raise money for a new cathedral. But maybe the real problem lies in the the bishop's marriage, and Cary Grant is hardly the kind of guy you want to help with that. Chet and Dee talk about this unusual love tri...

We're making an exception to our rule about not discussing any movie that's younger than a Millennial. Too many people have told us that they don't like Will Ferrell movies, which means they've never taken in this contemporary classic. This has to change. We'll talk about how Ferrell's unique talents bring both hilarity and warmth to this tale about a young man who was raised by Santa and the toy-...

As the 2020 holiday season dawns, Chet and Dee begin their discussion of classic Christmas movies with "It's a Wonderful Life." While every Christmas film tries to convince us to not be jerks, Frank Capra's 1946 masterpiece offers us one of the least jerky characters ever in George Bailey, a guy who's postponed most of his personal dreams for the sake of his family, neighbors and hometown. Unfortu...

Sometimes rich and famous people have a hard time coming to grips with the fact that they're no longer sitting on top of the world. Take, for instance, Norma Desmond, forgotten silent film idol who hides out in her creepy mansion, convinced she's still famous and about to get a call to resume her career. Sometimes people who've yet to make it big have a hard time deciding whether they should keep...

Just in time for Veterans Day, we're discussing the film that asked Americans to consider what war veterans go through—after their service ends. William Wyler's masterpiece tells the stories of three men who struggle to resume relationships and careers while coping with physical disabilities, memories of trauma and new perspectives. More than 70 years later, the film is as touching and thought-pro...

By the way, it's "Lockwood and LaMont." That's right. It took us more than 39 steps, but somehow we got from Alfred Hitchcock to "Singin' in the Rain." Follow us and contact us on Twitter: @screeningroomCD Instagram: @screeningroomwithchetanddee Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/210852346666226/?ref=share_group_link

If you find an alien monster frozen in a block of ice, don't let him thaw! These and other important life lessons await you in this science fiction classic. Chet and Dee explain how master filmmaker Howard Hawks used an ensemble of character actors to create a frightening realistic story and a movie so fun you'll want to watch it over and over, even if you're not stranded at an Arctic research sta...

Chet and Dee talk about some of the artistic and technical marvels that James Whale and company pull off to create this iconic work, and they also dive deeply into questions about what it means to be created and then rejected by both your creator and by the society into which you're born. Follow us and contact us on Twitter: @screeningroomCD Instagram: @screeningroomwithchetanddee Join our Faceboo...

A small-town doctor confronts an apparent case of mass hysteria: People think their neighbors and family members have been replaced by imposters. Chet and Dee talk about why this low-budget Sci-Fi film deserves to be ranked among the all-time greats. They discuss why this film was considered an allegory about communism or McCarthyism in the 1950s and what it might tell us today about humanity, con...