The Best Pick movie podcast

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky. Episode 54: All the King's Men (1949) Released 12 February 2020 For this episode, we watched All the King's Men , written, produced and directed by Robert Rossen, based on the novel by Robert Penn Warren. Rossen was nominated in all three capacities. Star Broderick Crawford won Best Actor, Mercedes McCambridge won Best Supporting Actress...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky. Episode 52: Hamlet (1948) Released 15 January 2020 For this episode, we watched Hamlet , based on the play by William Shakespeare, directed by Lawrence Olivier (nominated), and starring Olivier (won), Basil Sydney, Eileen Herlie, Norman Wooland, Felix Aylmer, Terence Morgan and Jean Simmons (nominated). It also won for its art direction a...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky Episode 67: Gentleman's Agreement (1947) Released 12 August 2020 For this episode, we watched Gentleman's Agreement , written by Moss Hart (nominated) from the novel by Laura Z Hobson and directed by Elia Kazan (won) and starring Gregory Peck (nominated), Dorothy McGuire (nominated), John Garfield, Anne Revere (nominated) and Celeste Holm...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky. Episode 43: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) Released 11 September 2019 For this episode, we watched The Best Years of Our Lives , written by Robert E Sherwood (won) based on the novella Glory for Me by MacKinlay Kantor. It was directed by William Wyler (won) and starred Myrna Loy, Frederic March (won), Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright and H...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky. Episode 37: The Lost Weekend (1945) Released 19 June 2019. For this episode, we watched The Lost Weekend , written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, directed by Wilder and starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman. The film won Oscars for its screenplay (adapted from the novel by Charles Jackson), Best Director for Wilder and Best Actor for...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky Episode 66: Going My Way (1944) Released 29 July 2020 For this episode, we watched Going My Way , written Frank Butler and Frank Cavett, directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald and Risë Stevens. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won seven including Best Director for McCarey and Best Actor for Crosby. Ca...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan, Tom Salinsky and special guest Deborah Frances-White Episode 28: Casablanca Released 13 February 2019 For this episode, we watched Casablanca , live at the Cinema Museum in London. The screenplay was credited to Julius and Philip Epstein and Howard Koch, and it was directed by Michael Curtiz, based on the unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick's by Murra...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan, Tom Salinsky and our special guest Helen O'Hara Episode 78: Mrs Miniver (1942) Released 13 January 2021 For this episode, we watched Mrs Miniver based loosely on the 1940 novel by Jan Struther. It starred Greer Garson (won), Walter Pidgeon (nominated), Henry Travers (nominated), May Whitty (nominated) and Theresa Wright (won) and was directed by William W...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky Episode 60: How Green Was My Valley (1941) Released 6 May 2020 For this episode, we watched How Green Was My Valley , written by Philip Dunne, from the novel by Richard Llewellyn and directed by John Ford who won his third Best Director Oscar for it. It starred Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Donald Crisp (won Best Supporting Actor), Roddy...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky. Episode 45: Rebecca (1940) Released 9 October 2019 For this episode, we watched Rebecca , written by Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison, Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan, based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier. It was directed by Alfred Hitchcock (nominated) with music from Franz Waxman (nominated) and cinematography by George Barnes (w...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky. Episode 29: Gone with the Wind Released 6 March 2019 For this episode, we watched Gone with the Wind, written by Sidney Howard (won), from the novel by Margaret Mitchell and directed by Victor Fleming (won). It starred Clark Gable (nominated), Vivien Leigh (won), Leslie Howard, Olivia de Haviland (nominated) and Hattie McDaniel (won). It...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan, Tom Salinsky and special guest Sam Bain Episode 81: You Can't Take it With You (1938) Released 24 February 2021 For this episode, we watched You Can't Take it With You , written by Robert Riskin, adapted from the play by George Kaufman and Moss Hart, directed by Frank Capra and starring Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Edward Arnold, Mischa A...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky Episode 64: The Life of Emile Zola (1937) Released 1 July 2020 For this episode, we watched The Life of Emile Zola , written by Norman Reilly Raine, Heinz Herald and Geza Herczeg (won), directed by William Dieterle (nominated) and starring Paul Muni (nominated), Gloria Holden, Gale Sondergaard and Joseph Schildkraut (won). It was also nomi...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky. Episode 27: The Great Ziegfeld Released 30 January 2019 For this episode, we watched The Great Ziegfeld , written by William Anthony Maguire, directed by Robert Z Leonard and starring William Powell, Luise Rainer, Frank Morgan and – eventually – Myrna Loy. As well as Best Picture, it was one of only three films to win Best Dance Direction...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky Episode 75: Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) Released 2 December 2020 For this episode, we watched Mutiny on the Bounty , written by Talbot Jennings, Jules Furthman and Carey Wilson based on the novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. It was directed by Frank Lloyd and starred Charles Laughton, Clark Gable and Franchot Tone (all nomina...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky and our special guest Nat Luurtsema Episode 20: It Happened One Night (1934) Released 24 October 2018. For this episode, we watched It Happened One Night, written by Robert Riskin and Samuel Hopkins Adams and directed by Frank Capra. The stars were Clark Cable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns and Jameson Thomas. The film w...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky. Episode 56: Cavalcade (1933) Released 11 March 2020 For this episode, we watched Cavalcade , adapted from the Noel Coward play by Reginald Berkeley and directed by Frank Lloyd (won). It starred Diana Wynyard (nominated), Clive Brook, Una O'Connor, Herbert Mundin and it was also nominated for its Art Direction. https://www.independent.co.u...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky Episode 14: Grand Hotel (1932) Released 1 August 2018. For this episode, we watched Grand Hotel, written by William A. Drake from his play, adapted from the German production Menschen im Hotel , written by Vicki Baum. The director was Edmund Goulding, the producer was Irving Thalberg and the all-star cast included Greta Garbo (who wants to...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky Episode 24: Cimmaron (1931) Released 19 December 2018. For this episode, we watched Cimmaron, written by Howard Estabrook and Louis Sarecky based on the novel by Edna Ferber. It was directed by Wesley Ruggles with music by Max Steiner. The stars were Richard Dix, Irene Dunne and Estelle Taylor. The film earned seven Academy Award nominatio...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky Episode 2: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) Released 7 February 2018 For our second episode, we watched All Quiet on the Western Front, based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, directed by Lewis Milestone and produced by Carl Laemmle, Jr. ("Uncle Carl Laemmle has a very large faemmle.") As well as Best Picture (then known as "Outst...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky Episode 25: The Broadway Melody (1929) Released 2 January 2019 For this episode, we watched The Broadway Melody , written by Edmund Goulding, Sarah Y. Mason, Norman Houston and James Gleason with songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, and Willard Robison. The director was Harry Beaumont (nominated) and the film stars Charles King, Ani...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky Episode 69: Wings (1928) Released 9 September 2020 For this episode, we watched Wings , written by John Monk Saunders, Hope Loring, Louis D Lighton, Julian Johnson; directed by William A Wellman and starring Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Richard Arlen, Gary Cooper. As well as Best Picture, Wings also won for its Engineering Effects. N...

Best Pick with John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky Episode 0: It Begins… Released 10 January 2018 Our quest begins in the time-honoured way by assembling the team and assessing all of our special skills. Next time we will be discussing The Sting . If you want to watch it before listening to the next episode you can buy the DVD or Blu-Ray on Amazon.co.uk , or Amazon.com , or you can downloa...