Screen Test of Time

Finally, the long, slow march toward The Maltese Falcon is over, and our hosts are delighted to offer you a rave review again at last!

Just in time for everyone to be on lockdown for COVID-19, we bring you our third “Bengal Lancered” episode— prepare to have plenty of recommendations for what to do with your time while you’re social distancing, none of which are watch One Foot in Heaven.

After last week’s divergent score, the pendulum swings back with Hold Back the Dawn — never have our hosts agreed so completely on a score before!

The Little Foxes , starring Bette Davis, is the first movie in awhile that has led to a serious split vote between our hosts. Did David finally reconcile his disappointment with the famous star to give it higher marks, or did Suzan find a way to see past her one note performance to more good than bad in the film? Find out!

Here at Screen Test of Time, our hosts can usually figure out why a movie was nominated for Best Picture, even if we don’t agree that it should have been. Here Comes Mr. Jordan has the distinction of absolutely confounding Suzan, and enraging David, as to why it’s even a nominee.

It’s back to back awkward biopic weeks here at Screen Test of Time, this time with the frustratingly miscast Gary Cooper in Sergeant York . Not the worst WWI movie Suzan and David have watched so far, but just how many rank beneath it?

Blossoms in the Dust falls into the category of movies that Hollywood doesn’t quite know how to make yet, subcategory: biopic. It’s in color. The costumes are pretty. It’s still really boring.

Hey, have you all heard about this movie, Citizen Kane ?

Bless her heart, but Ginger Rogers is pulling a lot of thankless weight in this adaptation of a novel butchered by the Hays Code. Also, another year in the can— which of the three 10s will David and Suzan choose as the rightful winner of 1940?

In this episode, Suzan nearly has a complete bisexual meltdown over The Philadelphia Story , starring Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, and Cary Grant, which is entirely too many attractive people if you ask her. David, however, is a little clearer eyed and probably offers to give a more accurate (and very precise) score on this extremely problematic, but ultimately entertaining film.

What is the deal with Bette Davis, anyway? Screen Test of Time investigates… and comes up blank on this week’s episode reviewing The Letter .

Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, starred in, and composed for this (sadly) still very relevant satire of the rise of fascism in Europe. David struggles not to give it a 10, and Suzan struggles with why she doesn’t want to for once.

It’s John Ford and Greg Toland vs boats— which will win out for David, the director and cinematographer he loves or the setting and subject he hates? Certainly this combo will work for Suzan… right? See what our hosts think of this adaptation of 4 short Eugene O’Neill plays.

The second of two Hitchcock films nominated in this year proves to be a little divisive for our hosts!

After multiple days of trying to record, our hosts finally get to sit down and talk about yet another Bette Davis film that leaves them baffled at her superstardom (though with a brief interruption by Suzan’s cats). Charles Boyer co-stars as Davis’s employer and… sort of? love interest, in a film that could have been captivating but had to bend so much to the Hays Code as to be an overlong, toothl...

Thornton Wilder’s Our Town is widely considered to be THE Great American Drama, a sentimental paean to small town Americana that tells the story of two families joined by marriage and separated by tragedy that just happens to be performed on a mostly bare stage. But the 1940 film adaptation starring Martha Scott and William Holden inadvertently challenges the order of importance of these elements—...

It’s our 100th episode we watched and reviewed Alfred Hitchcock’s 1st American film— 1940’s Best Picture winner, Rebecca , a creeping gothic story of a never named woman (played by Joan Fontaine) who marries dashing but obviously troubled widower, Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier). Suzan and David both think it’s great, but can they justify 10s two weeks in a row?

The Grapes of Wrath  makes two Steinbeck adaptations in a row here at Screen Test of Time. John Ford’s classic starring Henry Fonda is a masterwork of American cinema, with beautiful cinematography by Gregg Toland, already demonstrating some of the genius he’ll bring to 1941’s Citizen Kane. It’s an excellent movie, no doubt about it— but should you watch it? 

Of Mice and Men is a solid, workmanlike adaptation of the famous Steinbeck novel— competently made, well acted, and with a script by the author himself. But does it rise to the level of Best Picture? It’s the last movie of 1939, so find out if it’s the nominee that’s best stood the Screen Test of Time, or if David and Suzan choose another one of the nominees for the real Best Picture of 1939!

The long awaited (...or should we say dreaded?) watch of the wildly dated, over long, overrated, and overtly racist Gone With the Wind .

Perhaps the best thing about 1939 is that it brings our hosts the final Ernst Lubitsch film they will have to watch! After loathing every other film by the prolific director, will Greta Garbo in the title role upset the streak of poor ratings for Lubitsch, or is even she unable to salvage a film that was marketed only with the two words “Garbo laughs!”?

Frank Capra’s classic is considered the ultimate story of a Washington insider taking on the corrupt political machines holding Congress hostage, thanks to an absolutely brilliant performance by Jimmy Stewart in the titular role. But how well does it stand the Screen Test of Time in today’s political climate?

The first of the nominees that both of our hosts have already seen, The Wizard of Oz is getting some scrutiny neither of them had ever given it before. Will the classic starring Judy Garland hold up to our hosts’ critical evaluation, or will David and Suzan pull back the curtain to reveal it’s not so wonderful after all?

Editor’s note: Screen Test of Time would like to apologize for the brevity of this week’s episode, but there really wasn’t much to say about Goodbye, Mr. Chips. We assure you that next week we will be back with a very long episode.

The first of the sick bed tearjerker dramas to be nominated for Best Picture, Dark Victory is another in the list of movies where if people just talked to one another, there would be no story. Starring Bette Davis, some incredibly forgettable guy, the only real tragedy here is an underused Humphrey Bogart. Oh, and Ronald Reagan is in it.