City Lights / Town Branch Rye feat. Marya Gates

0:00 As we get into today's episode, I just want to take a second, remind you that there's a ton of extra content, available to the members of film and whiskey Nation who support us through our patreon. Check us out on patreon.com film. Whiskey in 1931 director and star Charlie Chaplin, gave the world. A dynamic comedy, that pulls not a single punch in 2023. We hang out in Kentucky, to try a different kind of whiskey. The film is City Lights. The whiskey is Town Branch rye and we'll review them both. This is the film that whiskey podcast. Welcome to the film and whiskey.

1:00 Cast were each week, we review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey. I'm Bob book, I'm Brad G. And this week we are looking at our first silent film in the history of the filmin. Whiskey podcast bought a bomb. I am so excited brat, like I've been waiting for this moment for many seasons. See and that's the thing, man. When you get your, your excitement up, your hopes up, I everything in my soul Just wants to crush it. I can tell, ya. I already know that you're coming in here. Just ready to test. All of my patients today, Brad, because we're looking at our first silent film and it is perhaps the the highest regarded American silent film from that entire era.

1:44 We're talking about Charlie, Chaplin's 1931, film City Lights Brad. This is a movie that is ranked, I believe. Now, inside the top ten on the American Film institute's updated top 100 list. It's a movie that It appears on the BFI Sight and Sound pull Brad. This is, this is a juggernaut of Silent Cinema from a guy that I think most people know, if you haven't actually watched Charlie Chaplin, they know him from just being, like, the silly guy with the funny mustache. And here he is being a silly guy with a funny mustache. And people are saying it's one of the greatest films of all time. Yeah, I mean I was going to say the other day you sent me. His Oscar. What was it? Kind of like an honorary lifetime Oscar that they gave. Yep.

2:27 And I don't That to disqualify it. I don't. He is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and his speech if you could call it that was utterly heartwarming and touching. Hmm. But the movie itself Brad, where are we standing on that? That's the question. That's what we're here to answer and I think that you were hedging your bets, you knew my darker impulses and so you brought like, you know, Bob you you consider yourself the Expert here. But if you know about 5% of film you brought in somebody who probably knows 99% of silent film. Honestly, you know, and I don't mean this like to make anybody blush here, but we're going to introduce Our Guest. It is the film critic Mariah Gates and she is maybe. I mean, she's got to be among the world's pre-eminent silent film Scholars.

3:22 We literally were just talking to her before we press record about her the movies that she watched last year and logged on. And she said that on average she logs about 800 movies a year on letterbox. So she's seen quite a few more movies than I am. And Brad, if anyone is going to be able to stand in my corner, like, Charlie Chaplin in this boxing scene, in this movie, it's Mariah. So Mariah, thank you for being here today. How are you is Mariah? Going to be the referee standing between us would be that I could be that. It's great to be here. Yeah it's great to be here. I love talking about silent. Movies. Anytime someone's interested. I'm like, I'm things to say, maybe too many things to say, well, let me ask this, I think this is like a good introductory question because, you know, our podcast is built around. The premise that a lot of the movies that were watching are being introduced to Brad for the first time as someone who has seen as many silence as you have. We talk all the time about the fact that, like, 90% of silent films have been lost to time and deterioration but even The 10% that survived.

4:29 I feel like we really only talk about a small handful of them and you know, it's for good reason. These are great, great movies that are still mimicked and and parodied and lifted from today. Does it ever get old to you to talk about the same? Like, five silent films all the time? No, I do like it when I am with my my people. And I can talk about a deeper cut, they'll I could talk about John each car. Islands or you know. So they use directors that he died in the 1919 Spanish influenza. So treating a lot of people have seen his self but the fact that there are some silent films that normal people will watch is and I'd not to put all silent film fans under the category of abnormal, but I think if you have to be a little abnormal, its watches many, if some of us do, he's a testament to what you said that some of these films truly are And I love all of the silent era. It's about 40 years worth of Cinema. And it's as I was I think I was saying earlier before everyone was listening that it's a specific mode of of art, it's a different type of art.

5:44 It's a different any, within those 40 years. There's different modes of Storytelling. And that's why Each decade practically. And sometimes every five years, you have different ways of making a film. The fact that some of Those films are still watch today and and you can put chaplain in front of children and, and they see the magic, or you can put one of my favorite screenings. Ever was the mark of Zorro with Douglas Fairbanks. I watched that with a bunch of eight year olds. I think in terms of Cisco, maybe 10 years ago and they were cheering just as if he was that man or something. Yeah so the fact that some of these movies are so timeless The children can watch them or you know whatever age you are, you can come to it, it's 100 years old. This one's not quite a hundred years old, but getting there and people love it.

6:39 The same exact way. I think is a testament to the height of this artistry for some of these films. Yeah, it honestly is an interesting illustration of a question. I've always had which is like you know, music has been around for forever but we from a certain era We only really remember Beethoven Bach like these big names and I'm always curious like when you think about music from the 1960s like how long will the Beatles last? And like these are young people who don't like Mia, right. Yeah. But like 150 years from now, like how many of their songs will people remembers?

7:21 Is it just going to be one or two? And it's interesting to look back on film because I think you have that question, kind of being Because we're getting to the point where these films are 100 years old and what what lasts. And like you said, you know, I'm looking at City Lights here, there's 188,000 rankings on IMDb for this movie, so it's not like, it's a not well seen film. Yeah, exactly. Brad, you know, I, if I can wax poetic here for a minute, one of the things I love about silent film and I have obviously not seen nearly as many as our guest today, but it is timeless, and it is so accessible. Able to everybody from young to old, you know. And this was the thing about Chaplin was it spanned ages, it spanned classes. It was an iconic character, that transcended all of the societal divisions in America and the movies themselves. Even today, you know, I like to put my children down in front of the TV and have them watch quiet TV, because there's a lot of loud children's programming now.

8:24 And so like we ought, I try to do mr. Rogers with them and that worked like gangbusters. For a couple of years until they figured out what I was doing when I put mr. Rogers on, and then I was like, you know what, I'm going to try some chaplain, I'm going to try some Buster Keaton, my son, my six-year-old has watched the clip. There's a specific clip from Modern Times which we're going to watch in a couple weeks here. Brad of chaplain being strapped into this newfangled feeding machine and it is, I mean, it's hilarious. I laugh out loud. Every time I have never seen my son laugh as hard as he laughs at that clip every single time we play it you know we just started watching. Chewing Buster Keaton. He has a short called one week that is just absolutely hilarious. And it's so cool to see that without words and just with a little bit of reading comprehension, this kid is locked into these movies in a way that he's not with super bombastic. You know, sensory overload, kind of children's programming that you get elsewhere today.

9:20 Anyway, that's my plug for taking your kids in front of silent films. Yeah, no. I mean, that's the reality. I mean, why? I didn't grow up with silent films. I did grow up with, like, things like The Three Stooges and so, there's something about the physicality that children are drawn to. I don't think there's anything wrong with saying, hey, like put your kids down, have them watch Three Stooges. Have them watch Charlie Chaplin because they have such an engaging manner of visualization that I had entertained me for hours and hours and hours. And I know it would any other kid listen. Like people falling over and poop jokes are Universal.

10:02 And they last forever. And this movie has both of those things. So we're going to get into talking about them. Brad. We will set the stage for this movie and the the context into which it was released in just a minute. But before we get there, it is time for America's favorite segment, which we call Brad explains. That's gonna give us the movie plots with only 60 seconds ticking on the clock. So let's go ahead and do your take with this little segment that we call Brad explain. Brad explains his Part of the podcast, where Brad breaks down the plot of the movie that he has just seen often for the first time Brad. I assumed this was your first time seeing City Lights. Absolutely. It was, this is your first silent movie ever, right? Yes. Okay, I think I've said before I've seen Clips here and there, I know I've seen the clip you were referring to, from Modern Times.

10:49 Okay. So it's, you know, but this is the first time I sat down and just watched it start to finish. I was thinking that it would be difficult to do an episode on silent film. Um, and so seasons and seasons ago, I started planning ahead for this. We used to splice in Clips audio clips of the movies into our episodes, and I was like, one day, we will do Chaplin and I will have nothing to splice. And so we kind of stopped doing that. But the more I think about it. There really is no difference in, describing the plot of the movie, the mechanics of the movie here. So you've had seven years of practice leading up to this point. Brad, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on the clock to break down the plot of this movie and go sit. Lights is a film, about a tramp.

11:30 In what I would assume to be New York City, New York City look alike at the very least Who falls in love with a blind. Flower girl and is trying to do his best to win her love. He runs into a well. His title is the erratic millionaire who tries to kill himself because his wife has left him, chaplain saves his life, and they become best. Drunken Ends until he's not drunk anymore and then he doesn't like him and doesn't remember him, but then he gets drunk again and they hang out, but then he's not drunk and they stopped hanging out. But Chaplin the Tramp finds a way to get into a boxing match in order to win money and he is given money from the millionaire to be able to help heal his his blind five-second friend, and it is he successful.

12:27 You'll have to watch the movie. The find that bomb. We're going to spoil everything until the last five minutes and then you have to watch that for yourself. I mean it's only been out for like what 89 90 years. So yeah. You know, Mariah you have been waiting so patiently in the background here and I appreciate you letting us ramble as we set the stage for this movie. Can you give us like just a brief overview of the history of the character of the Tramp? This was Chaplin's, you know, like honestly it was the only character He played for decades. I don't know if I can adequately explain the hold that this character had on the American culture leading, up to City Lights. Yeah, and what's interesting is that Chaplin started out sort of like Keaton as a physical performer for the British version of Vaudeville and was a physical comedian. His whole life, the Tramp was created on this 18:14 short films that were over 100 years called Mabel's strange. Predicament starring Mabel Normand. Who is one of those stars?

13:35 Who was so famous and now, no one knows who she is. Except a handful of people but Mabel Normand everything Chaplin knew about working on screen he learned from Mabel Normand. So but essentially he accidentally created this sort of trampy character. He showed up in a few other Schwartz, he was in In this other Keystone film, called kid auto races at Venice, which sounds exactly what it is. It's a bunch of kids doing Auto races in Venice and slowly his Tramp clown character, became this National and then later International phenomenon, but also aspects of the visual Styling of the little Tramp with the hat and the mustache came from a very famous French comedian called Max Linder who had just come to America and sort of was starting to influence, American Comedy, was actually film comedy really came out of Frank's, like a lot of things in cinema France was really the first International Superstar.

14:50 International comedians Superstar comedian. Mostly we're Out of France. So we have Max Linder. You have Mabel Normand. Now, you have the Tramp Charlie, Chaplin, usurps them all Chaplet, obviously is more remembered. You can get, like, Blu-rays of Chaplin's movies. You cannot get, Blu-rays of Max Linder. Although I think some of Mabel arm is homes are now on like Blu-ray set. So there's at least that but obviously he was this, this probably I think still the most famous feasts of the silent era you You come kind of close with Buster Keaton and then you have the three American comedians, everyone remembers which saw Harold Lloyd those three guys are sort of who you remember, now, but they all sort of came out of this earlier history of Silent comedy. That's also came out of Vaudeville like almost everyone came out of Vaudeville.

15:46 So by the time this film came out 1931, Chaplin had been the Superstar for 15 years or more and but also silent Cinema had gone away. It was the jazz singers. 1927 by making 28 you started to have more and more very primitive. I would say sound films, there are little creaky, they're trying things and some of the greatest silent films, truly it was an art that was like ascendant and then sound came in and it went like in the gutter again. And I don't know if it'll ever get Vaccination 28 frankly, but that's that's another podcast. So chaplain was in the middle of developing this when sound came in and he was like I don't care and I'm very popular. So I'm going to do this movie and people are still going to watch it and people did watch it. And some 1931 you were seeing like pre-code, you know, gangster films, you had pretty much would be like the equivalent of, you know, we're in the Marvel films now, right? If you the equivalent Has like a Terrence Malick like spiritual movie in the forest being the number one box office. Well, you can you you, can you imagine that? But he was, he was so popular that people were like, you know, Cagney can wait, I'm gonna gotta see chaplain. And he five years later made Modern Times, which I think you said, you're going to be watching also a silent film, but I do think his greatest work is

17:20 the silent films and that's partially because his face is so expressive. It's I said, which I'm sure you noticed while watching the cell, not something we can put on a podcast like something, we can put the essence of his eyes. Like, you know, sound which is sort of, the hard thing about writing and talking about silent film. And I what I always find the most difficult is that there's something ineffable about the magic that comes off in the silent film. And, you know, there's that quote in Sunset Boulevard, we had faces then and I do think it fear is Is something about her secret to that. Yeah, it really is something about the faces that made it into Hollywood and the expressive eyes and the kind of talent that directors, and, and Camera people found.

18:06 And we're looking for that brought something that isn't necessarily there. For once you have sound there, you know, there's some actors who I think are still a little ineffable, but it's never been the same. Well, I mean by I were talking about it before we got on here, the final scene of the film. Yeah. Like, Charlie is acting his heart out and it's incredible and like the close up on his face. He said, the reason it's so good. As he's a, not acting and beaky underplayed it and you watch that in your like, what? I think this is a minor playing. Yeah, like, we will get into talking about, Chaplin the actor to, but I think that scene is a really great key into talking about Chaplin, the filmmaker here, Brad because this movie Has close-ups very sparingly. Like most of this movie is done either in wide shot. So you can see his whole body or in like a two shot. You know, I'm thinking specifically of like the scene where he's getting ready to go box and he's sitting across the table from the guy that he's going to box with and they have them both framed in the shot.

19:10 But the reason that ending works so well is you don't see that face in close-up, you know, in that extreme of a close up until the very end of the movie and and it's so effective because Chaplin knows how to play a Shot where the camera is 15 feet away versus how to play a shot where the camera is 6 inches from his face, you know? And honestly, Brad like, I, I'm so excited to dive into talking about the filmmaking behind this movie. So chaplain transitions for making shorts to making feature-length films in 1921 when the movie, The kid comes out, so he's been doing it for a decade now, and audiences have come to expect that a Chaplin film is going to be a big event. They're really expensive movies and they make a killing at the box office.

19:53 Yes, he comes out with a movie in the late 20s called the circus, and the circus is a great movie that has kind of, like, I don't want to say it's like Fallen by the wayside because it's really, really revered. But it's kind of like when we talk about Hitchcock, Brad and how you, and I have reviewed now, like the four biggest Hitchcock movies, and then everybody kind of has like their fifth favorite, Hitchcock movie. It's kind of like that with with the circus. It was a movie that Chaplin had a ton of personal outside. Affecting. And it was really, really a hard period of his life. The movie was successful, but it wasn't as successful as he wanted it to be. He doesn't win any Oscars for it, except they give him an honorary Oscar, which made him feel like even more embarrassed and insulted by it, because the movie wasn't really good enough in their eyes to win competitive Oscars. And so, that's when The Jazz Singer gets released, and the world is going crazy for talkies and perhaps stubbornly, perhaps, because he really did think this, he would work better as a silent.

20:55 He decided to plow ahead with this movie as a silent, but he figured out that there were elements of the new sound that you could have basically imprinted onto the film, that really worked in his favor for the first time, he could put a score to the movie and it would be the same score in the exact same spot at the exact same tempo as he's always wanted it to be. And so the, you know, the music is part of the movie. And then he also does this thing where he's really Ragging on the crappy, sound quality of early talkies? Because it, you know, I just imagine a crowded theater, the lights go down this movie starts and this is an audience that's been used to like craning their necks to try to figure out what people are saying on this horribly recorded. You know, Contraption for the last three years that we've had talkies.

21:44 And the first thing you hear is Chaplin, making fun of that because it fades up on this scene of a mayor, dedicating a statue. Ooh and instead of a voice coming out of his mouth, it's Chaplin playing a kazoo and just going to another and it is like it's it's such a mean joke, but it is so silly and it's so funny and it perfectly sets the stage for what's going to happen in the movie. Yeah, I when re-watching, it this this week, I forgot how funny that sounds you is, because it is sort of like, the peanuts. Yes. You know, when the adults speak it? Yep. The and it's so that eats it's funny because it's this in joke about sound, but it's also sort of similar to all of his. He's running.

22:36 Not hatred, but running ragging of organized. Yeah. Like 40 figures it already. Yeah, he's always. He's always trying to find ways to cause chaos and he just starts his movie, straight up being like his mares full of full of crap. So, why we don't even need to listen. And I I love that. Hehe doesn't give him an intertidal either. So you don't know. You don't know what he's supposed to be saying it's time we don't need the speech. And and the best thing is as with any great comedian, the inside joke, works like everybody who was there in the time understood what he was trying to say, but it still is funny. If you have no idea, the joke he's trying to make about, you know, Takis at the time like here, here we are.

23:21 You know, 90 years later. It's still just funny to hear like it still is something that's amusing. I think it's, it's stuff like that. That makes him stand out to me, that it doesn't just work as an inside joke. It also works as just a funny gag. You Know, audio gag in the film Brad, you know, it's hard to talk about performances when we think about this movie, because it's like so dominated by chaplains character, and we will obviously be talking about chaplains performance throughout this episode. But Where would you like to start in terms of like other players in the cast that you really like their performance? Honestly, I really like the butler.

24:02 Mmm. And I really liked the other fighter who he was fighting against. Yeah. Like I think we'll get to Virginia Cheryl and Harry Myers who played the millionaire in the blind girl. But if we're just going to give a quick shout out to anybody else. I really enjoyed the butler who, you know, engages in some of the physical comedy. Midi with Chaplin as well as the he seems to be titled A Prizefighter. So both of those actors are actually people to Chaplin had worked with a ton in the past and they were kind of like part of his company and the guy that plays the butler will actually see him again in Modern Times And like a really small role when we watch that movie. But yeah, man, I'm totally with you. They're both just like the great thing about a Chaplin movie is and this is kind of like the terror of working with chaplain from all those stories that Said he was such a micromanager. The little boy that is blowing, like spit wads at him at the end of the movie, he gave an interview years and years later where he talked about how onset chaplain would would basically be saying, okay, here's how you blow like, a spit wad at me, and then he would go mimic that and then, run over here and mimic him reacting to it.

25:16 And then he would mimic what the other little boys supposed to be doing and then he would tell every extra in the background. Exactly what they're supposed to be doing. And It's such a choreographed, you know, I don't know, Symphony kind of a thing, but it also makes for every tiny performance in the movie being pitch-perfect. Like I was laughing my ass off. At the moment. We're Chaplin driving a Rolls-Royce dressed to the nines. You know. Pretending he's rich but needing a cigar sees one sitting up sitting on the ground. Pulls his Rolls-Royce over and just knocks a Over so that he could pick up the cigar for itself and then the reaction shot of the homeless guy is like it's Pitch. Perfect, dude.

26:02 Yeah, dude, there's just so many little gags throughout the film that I like, I don't even think that directors would understand how to keep things moving the way Chaplin does here. Like the he just keeps things moving and there's so many little things kind of happening on the side that honestly, I want to go back. Back and watch this again because I know for a fact that I missed a lot and I'm like, I need to come back to this. And here's the beautiful thing. Bob under 90 minutes and 82 minute movie as God intended, am I right? The best things about chaplain is that he's such a visual Storyteller.

26:45 But there are always like multiple gags going at once even in some of the scenes that are really heartfelt. There's Often something else if you if you're notif you, if it's, if you're looking there, I'm like he understood that. Every part of the frame should have some sort of information should make you think of something. One of the things I love is how intuitively he uses the camera. And so, there's a very famous story, Brad that I will. Now introduce you to about how he and the co-star of this movie. Virginia cherrylle did not like each other. At all, they did not. Get along. She actually got fired for a period of time and then rehired by chaplain, when he basically figured out he had shot too much to replace her so he just had to bring her back but the scene that he could not crack for months and months and months of the shooting schedule was their introduction to each other. How is, how are we going to convey that? She mistakes him for being a rich man visually because obviously you can't do it.

27:48 You know, through dialogue and she's blind. So there has to be something that she encountered. Doctors that she hears that would Q into her. That he was a rich person and start this whole kind of comedy of errors and it didn't occur to him until way later in the schedule. The idea of a slamming car door that a rich guy is getting into and she thinks that it's him but leading up to that moment. Brad Chaplin had done 342 takes of this scene and it was trying to work it out as they were acting it out and that's kind of what drove Virginia cherrylle crazy about it was because she could tell that he didn't really have it figured out and he just was waiting for the inspiration to come by making them. Continue to perform it until something happened. He did more takes on that than we have done episodes of this podcast but like Far and Away.

28:41 More like, 150 more take. Yeah, I was gonna say when they talk about filmmakers like Fincher Kubrick who did life, lots of cakes Chaplin is absolutely on that list. I think this is the record on a, for his, in terms of how much. But is she shot me? Because he made the film over two years and not normally. When you hear like, oh, it took two years to make this movie like normally that's because, you know, like Claudia Wheels girlfriends or something where she was shooting it on a Saturday once a week. You know, when she had the money - thing, like it was not common for a movie, unless it was like Von stroheim's greed.

29:22 It was not common for a movie. To take that long to make and you know in the teens when he was starting out those filmmakers are making the to reelers wanted to realize they were making one of those a week. It was a new TV episode he shot over three hundred thousand feet of film for this movie. This is the equivalent of like went not to bring my leg up again, with Malik made The Thin Red Line. And he shot so much footage. There was supposedly an eight hour Our assembly cut of that film before, you know, before they whittled it down to what we ended up seeing. That's why I like half the cast for The Thin Red Line is not in the movie but eventually from the three hundred thousand feet of film, The the 89 minute film is yeah 8,000 just 80 100 feet so like that's It's a lot of filled that didn't end up on The Cutting Room floor and, you know, it's a good digital you can you can just keep shooting with film.

30:24 You have to keep buying more film you have to, um, you know. Oh, so I was going to say one of the things I love about him as the as a director though is that, he's so clearly understands how to move the camera and that scene in particular is such a very simple pan. Like it is, it is like the two of them standing against this gate and then when she hears the car door, slamming the A very quickly it's like almost like a whip pan at pans right over to what she's hearing and then very slowly, pans back over again as chaplain sneaks away. And one of the things that the silent the great silent directors did so well, was to know how to choreograph the action and how to consider the camera as like another member of that kind of dance.

31:09 I guess, you know, I remember talking to you about the movie are our last year and how everybody freaked out about the the choreography to that song. Now, You not to and the very famous clip that's been gift to death. Now of just them like fixed in the center of the frame as it kind of tracks to the right and they just follow it as they're dancing. Like as hard as they can and I remember, you know, making a post about this and saying like this is what American directors of modern musicals are not remembering anymore. Is that the most compelling camera move in the musical is just to put your subject in the dead center of the screen and then either track or pan along with them because bodies, And motion are compelling in themselves. Like you don't have to make the most complex camera move to go along with it.

31:53 And I think, Chaplin understood that better than almost any director because he knew what he was capable of and he knew what he could choreograph in front of the camera. And so the camera moves are never Superfluous. You know what I mean? It's just exactly what needs to be done, and if it tracks a little bit, if it Wheels around the boxing ring a little bit, it's just because that's what's needed for that shot and then everything you see is creating Enough movement to accentuate that and he said that he thought of himself as a dancer always. And I think you see that in a way he performs as the Tramp but also you see it like you said in the fluid camera movements. And I think some of the reasons he had issues with some of his leading ladies, he did not repeat leading ladies that often was he didn't always cast.

32:42 Somebody who thought of themselves as a dancer who thought like a dancer who understood the that I, that way of making a film. Whereas, like, some of the actors, like, you mentioned the boxer. He was a keystone cop. They had no, they'd known each other, you know, going back to the beginning of each in their careers and the Keystone Cops while you know, very funny were sort of It's more similar to dancers than any other kind of Comedy because that that running chasing athleticism that they did and the tumbling. And the following is sort of a mixture of dance, and acrobatics, really.

33:23 And I think you see the more successful Co-stars for chaplain are ones who came out of that earlier era of filmmaking because they understood that way of filmmaking. As opposed to the sort of matinee Idol drama style actresses who are quite as used to thinking about their bodies that way. Yeah, exactly. And what's interesting about this coming in 1931, is that you stopped seeing that kind of fluid camera movement, but in the 19 late 1900's like from 1925, to 1928 those. Montero films, tend to be the ones people watch the most. I think because they have that beautiful camera movement and they've gotten to a point where they've been doing it for 30 years, and they understand how to choreograph big Scopes, or to move the camera in such a way that you feel like you're immersed in the film. When 1831 most films weren't doing that. They had the creaky sounds, they had more stationary camera shots again because you had to worry about where's the microphone, right?

34:27 And You do see some filmmakers making pre codes that have a little more finesse to them and they tend to be again, the filmmakers who started out as silent film directors in the teens. And so they've been doing it for so long that just adding, adding a microphone didn't, you know, salt their game too much but you but the bulk of what you saw. And then I early, 1930s is the camera movements just gets gets really stationary and so you have a movie like this. Come out and people are so used to, you know, not this anymore, like they've gotten. They've gotten used to the new normal and suddenly they reminded of what film could be and I think that's part of why this has a legacy to it in a way that few films from this year do.

35:18 That's a good point, I didn't think about that. I mean, it's kind of the opposite of what I was saying because I'm like, you know, chaplains, not moving the camera in these really intricate wonders like Spielberg would you know? And that's because the camera is huge and bulky at that point. But also what you're saying is because of the the kind of restrictions that a lot of these directors were facing with the implementation of sound. They just didn't move the camera at all. Yeah. And so this probably looks 10 times as fluid to the normal person who is used to just seeing a Asian every camera, I love that. Yeah, you, it really like pre codes and interesting era because the stories get really racy a costume to get really, really beautiful, but scandalous.

36:00 But the camera work is leaves a lot to be. Except for the busy, obviously, the Busby Berkeley ones because he again, he was a choreographer and he figured out ways. You don't need the sound to really work. When you're, like, going underneath someone legs right around them to use able Do a lot of what's beautiful and known in his craw, graffiti because the sound was added later for all those dance numbers that Busby Berkeley shot when when you're doing like a costume drama or like a Joan Crawford film or something. Where it's dialogue, heavy, you end up having less interesting camera moves for quite a while because you would hear everything with the boom mic and and I think those films tend to be sometimes a little creepy and I love them. I love the pre-code era.

36:49 I pretty much love every era. It's hard hard for me to find an arrow that I don't like, but you have to kind of have more context in a way and so it's another are that's not well remembered. I think prequels are starting to have a little more of a Resurgence of think Criterion channel has done a great job of trying to get people to watch them but begin you just you have a film like this and you look at this film and you look at most of the other fellows from 1931. You're like but be we did Like maybe we should just stop having sounds reliable again. Yeah. Brad real quick. Before we go to break because we do need a break. I want to say up front, like, we've been talking about all of the incredible technical achievements of this movie and all of the historical context that it was released in two. I just want to say very plainly.

37:36 This is a very silly, very funny movie for most of its run time. It's, I mean, it's super profound and yet wrenching at the end, but like, this is a hilarious comedy and I was I was going to say, The boxing scene the physicality of that scene reminded me of watching Looney Tunes growing. Yeah, you know I mean like it feels like something where you have Bugs Bunny being chased by the hunter, whatever his name is Elmer farmer. Fuck. Yeah. Like it feels like that but it's live action and it's hilarious. And that there's so many visual gags in that scene that Yeah, but I have with you.

38:18 This is just a fun movie that just so happens to be technically. Brilliant, yeah, well and that's that's another thing like talking about that boxing scene. You know, I think the people who have never seen a Chaplin movie, they have an idea of chaplain as like this. Funny pratfall guy. He's a guy that's gonna get knocked over or do something silly with his body but what I love is like when you actually watch the gags, not only are the gags incredibly intricate with their physicality, but they also have so much like character. And behind them and he does a great job of setting up the gag. There's like ten minutes of build-up to the actual fight and chaplain gets roped into fighting so he can win money for this blind girl.

38:59 And the guy that he's going to fight is going to split the money with him 50/50, because he just wants a quick Buck. But then that guy gets a telegram, it says, get out of town, the cops are after you. So they pull another guy off the street and he's big and lumbering and he's just going to beat the hell out of Charlie Chaplin. And so, then you get this great sequence, were chaplains trying to like flatter him. And like be real chummy with him so he won't get beat up and then when they finally get into the ring chaplains, taking every opportunity to take cheap shots at this guy so that he can knock him out because he's scared. And when the guy finally starts to get woozy, you get that great little beat of Chaplin, like, pushing down on his shoulders, to try to get him the ball quicker. It's just like, I think the thing that people don't realize if you've never watched one of these movies, is that it's not just a guy falling over for a gag.

39:46 It is like, it's Really well thought out and we'll get around to this. When we do our let's make it a double. But I think that the influence of Chaplin's comic timing and the way these gags are set up are still being mimicked to this day and Cinema Brad. Yeah, no, I'm with you man. I think that it's almost like when you see a brilliant stand-up comedian the way that they intro with the joke and then three or four times throughout the set, they refer back to that joke. They just weave it into their other jokes and then there's a Brilliance to it and you see that with chaplain here that he sets the stage. And then he uses that stage throughout the rest of the film building on itself to to build better and better jokes. Well, Brad, I like to think that our podcast builds to better and better moments.

40:38 So like when we invite people like Mariah on. Exactly. Let's hit pause here. Let's go. Try this Town, Branch rye, and then we'll come back and finish. Talking about City Lights. What do you say? Let's get to it. Alright, so today we are checking out Town Branch. Why Brad Town Branch is a distillery in Lexington Kentucky that is near and dear to my heart because it is the first Distillery I ever took a tour of on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Hey, when I first moved to Lexington, the Lexington area, my wife and I went to All Tech which is the giant conglomerate that owns Lexington Distilling Company.

41:22 They also, in fact, so how'd they make Kentucky bourbon? That's right, which is incredible. They also have a brewery on site and so when you go on the tour you check in you pay your $10 or whatever it is and they give you a little cup full of tokens. And the cool thing about this Distillery tour is that you can cash in the tokens to try samples of whatever you want, along the way. So you could spend your four or five tokens on four or five beers to try, you could spend them on all the spirits they make, or you could mix and match. So it's a really, really fun and super customizable. Abel tour. That was actually the first two are. I took my parents onto and they came to visit when we lived in Kentucky. I just think it's a really fun entry point.

42:03 Like if you're not all consumed by being a bourbon bro, then you just want to kind of dabble in the world of bourbon. It's a really good starter level. Distillery tour. So Town, Branch Rye, here's the thing. Brad, I don't know what to do with this because the bottle that I have sitting in front of me right now has been discontinued. No, of you will remember I'll send you a picture of what the bottle used to look like they. Have since rebranded, and they've kind of relaunched Town Branch as a brand. In these Nifty looking Square bottles. The thing about the Old Town Branch, why is that? I can't actually tell if everything in this bottle was distilled on all Tech's campus in Lexington and this is just a little insight into the jargon that they put on labels when when you flip a bottle over and on the back of it it says something like Like this whiskey was made in Indiana or something but bottled by Jack and Jill's distillery in Bardstown Kentucky, like they didn't make it.

43:05 They got it from Indiana. One really confusing word that they use sometimes is produced by. Because what does that even mean? Like, there's no regulation behind produced by it's not, it doesn't say distilled by. So I have no idea because it says, produced by all text Lexington Distilling Company. In Lexington, Kentucky, I don't know that if they distilled all this or not by produced you mean like pulled it out of a hat like a magician. Yeah, I think I know that they're more. Recent label says that it was all distilled on-site. So this may be a combination of stuff, they distilled. And then they blended with older stock that they sourced from somewhere else.

43:49 Here's the other thing about it, when I tried to look this up online even though they make a lot of Of whiskey and they're a fairly, you know, a fairly sizable player in the industry. Now there's not a lot of information about this whiskey online. I know that some of our more learned friends, probably know the ins and outs of All Tech so like Zach Johnston yeah. Hit me up after this episode and let me know what was going on with the old label Town Branch. But for now Brad, I'm just going to assume this was all made at The Distillery in Lexington. All I hear you saying is welcome to film and Where everything is made up and the points don't matter. This is why whiskey scares people off Brad, like people who aren't in the world of whiskey.

44:33 All this jargon, all this like does any of this matter at the end of the day, does the whiskey taste good or not? And that's what we're here to figure out. This is a 100 Proof rye whiskey. It does not say that. It is straight rye whiskey. Which is what the new label says. So I have no idea how freaking old this is either. So I'm gonna assume it's at least four years old because there's no age statement on the bottle. Let's give it a try Brad. What do you picking up on the nose? The nose here has some Vanilla, some, some clove, some some rye coming through, and then almost like a, like, a spiced cherry, and it's kind of unique and interesting. I'm intrigued by it. I will give it a seven and a half out of ten. I am not ashamed to admit.

45:16 That drinking Rye is always a humbling experience for me, Brad, because I like to think that with as many Whiskey's as we try to have a fairly discernible. In palette now. But there's something about the Rye grain that I could never pick up as many things on the nose, as you can with Rye. Like I just can't, I smell ride. It smells like a ride. It doesn't smell like a minty Rye. I think in my mind I have two categories of Ryan. It's like minty rye and Dill rye and this is more Dill Rye for me, which I'm people with peated, scotch and non peated. Exactly. I like it a lot. I actually, if I'm gonna drink Rye, I want it to taste like rice. Why? Like, I wanted to go all the way and this one really has a strong Rye grain with that almost kind of soured ill presence to it. A little bit of sweetness, kind of undergirding it. I like it a lot.

46:06 I'm going to give it a seven and a half on the nose. Yeah. And when I got into the palette, there's some really nice complexity here that that isn't overwhelming. I think that there's a little bit of a citrus flavor in the middle of my palate. There was some honey on the tip of my tongue and then they're there. There is just this really nice feeling of like a fresh spongy spice cake that had that, you know, wasn't as sweet as it was kind of savory. And then at the at the back end I finished after drinking a little bit and felt like, you know, there's just some really nice vanilla here. So 8 out of 10 on the pallet for me, I do not like this, this who, you know, sometimes like you can just kind of tell that something's not working for you.

46:59 It doesn't mean it's not good but like it just doesn't work for you. For me, the way this manifested was like really young Rider grain and then it tipped into like super bitter. Grapefruit like not sour but really, really bitter. And then the bitterness kind of fed back into the youthfulness of it and it's like this /, self-perpetuating cycle and by the Time I swallowed. I was like, oh man. I don't like this at all. It started off, okay. It's like one of those experiences really like, hmm. Oh, it's just it kept getting worse and worse for me. This is a 4.5 out of 10 on the pain. The power 0.5.

47:45 I mean, I'm not, this is wow. And like the longer I sit here with this aftertaste, it is not not doing it for me, man. Man. Well I'm just gonna I'm just going to finish out my finish and balance scores, seven and a half on the Finish. There's some Oak, some Vanilla, some ride, nothing too crazy, but nothing, nothing bad, nothing, sour, bitter, gross or anything, anybody who tells you otherwise is crazy seven out of ten on the balance decently complex has some good flavors but nothing that makes it stand out. I'm on step number three and it is approaching palatability at this point.

48:29 But yeah, man, this is like the closest thing that I like. I don't know what I could compare it to. It's like, if a whiskey could get skunked this is like what what it's doing in my mouth. Does that make sense? Like I know you're not having the same experience but I'm trying to parse out what part of it of this is just like a really herbal experience versus youthfulness on the Grain versus something really off in how bitter it is and it's just not working for me, man, I'm going to give it, I don't know a 5 out of 10 on the Finish. It's a little bit better than the palette was for me, but I'm like slightly worried that something is off with my bottle. And therefore, the balance is way out of whack on this bad boy.

49:18 It started off okay. And it's Early tipped into fearing for my safety. So I am going to give it a five point five on the balance, the Han. Yeah, so the value here, Bob, I'm seeing this bottle at $49. Is that what you're having at? Yeah, Brad, that looks about right now. Again, this bottle that we're drinking out, it has been discontinued which is really hard. It's hard to review a product that they may or may not have completely overhauled at this point. And I would be more than happy to come back around to this someday. And try the New Town Branch Rye. If in fact, it is new and not just the same whiskey with a new label on it. So, let's be very clear here Old Town, Branch Rye.

50:01 I don't know how much it would cost you to find a bottle of it. I would not advise you seeking this out by any means, but we're going to score it as if it is priced at the New Town, Branch Rye price. And at that price, Brad, I cannot advise against this strongly enough. This is this Is the most visceral reaction to a whiskey on a regular episode that we've done in a long, long time for me. Yeah, what's your score for a $50 bottle then? I trust your palate enough to think that maybe I'm just reacting weird to this and that it's not just like a horrible product but I trust my palate enough to know that I would never spend money on this so I'm going to give it a 3 out of 10 on value.

50:49 Yeah I actually gave it a 5 out of 10. I don't think this is a great value. I think that overall it's a decent product that should be about 10 to 15 dollars cheaper. Like If this was a thirty to thirty five dollar bottle and say Yep this is really solid value, but at $50, I don't know. It's just, it's just not quite as worth it for me. I'm coming to a 35.5 out of 50. Bob, where are you at? In the teens, I am coming out to a 25.5 out of 50. So let's bring us to an average of a 30.5 or a 61 out of 100. I absolutely.

51:30 And unequivocally do Recommend trying or buying this. However, I will say, I absolutely recommend going on the alltech tour. Like I'm I'm shocked at how? I don't remember this being this bad, which is making me wonder if like, if they did. In fact, just overhaul the entire, you know, product itself. Yeah. Yeah. And maybe they did and like you said, we are both big fans at alltech. They make great beer. They make good whiskey. So go check them out. Out. If you are in Lexington, I think I would man out of it. It doesn't matter if I recommend this Bob, you can't get it anymore.

52:10 So go drink, go drink, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, it's delicious, it's real good. My wife's favorite beer. That's, that's my, that's my recommendation for the day, get it on tap, if you can that I will say, like, in the bottle it's like a solid seven and a half beer, but getting it on tap as like a nine and a half out of ten experience. All right, man, that was a letdown. But, you know, what's not a letdown is talking to our new friend Mariah Gates about silent movies. So what do you say? We get back into talking about City Lights. Let's get to it. All right, everybody that was Town Branch Rye, a whiskey that is might be one of the most simply named Whiskey's.

52:54 We've drank in a long time. Bob they really have been a mouthful lately. It's nice to just stay in town Branch. Right. And be done with it. That's it. Well, Brad. It is time for us to get into our next segment of the day Canada's favorite segment, which we call to fax in a falsehood is gonna try to stop you. Bob All right. And what is wrong to fax in a falsehood to fax in? A falsehood, is the part of the podcast where Brad presents three items to me, as fact about the making of this movie, one of which is a complete fabrication that Brad has made up. And it's my job to figure out which one is the LIE Brad. I believe I am sitting at 500 on the year right now at a comeback.

53:40 Victory last week. Oh no I didn't. I had to defeat last week. You definitely had VI had to. Thank you very much. Thanks Vince for that one. Vince, Mancini did not help me out on that one at all. So, I think you're right, I am, I might be one under 500, which puts the pressure on Mariah, to help me with this to facts in a falsehood Brad. I am a little comforted by the fact that you don't know anything about silent movies. Yeah, I feel is Eero confidence. I almost wanted to, like, call a truce for the next four or five weeks, however, long, we're doing chaplain, but I'm going to Soldier on. On ahead and see if I can catch you. I'll be honest. If I can catch you this week.

54:21 I think I should just win for the season, all right. With Mariah helping you and I don't doubt that you will get this one. Well, I am not sweating over here. So hit me with your two facts and falsehood. Alright fact. Number one, one of Sir, Charles Chaplin's friends, the famous illustrator Ralph Barton was on set one day during the filming of the scene where Charlie in the blind, girl. Me Meet his home movies, which appear in unknown Chaplin from 1983? Are the only known behind the scenes footage of chaplain at work in costume as the Tramp. Fax number to the scene where chaplain first, meets The Eccentric eccentric millionaire had to be reshot many, many times over due to chaplains insistence that Harry Myers was not, quote falling properly and quotes into the river.

55:14 Fax number three, Sir Charles Chaplin had invited Albert Einstein and his wife Elsa to join him at the Los Angeles premiere on January 30th 1931 when the house lights came up, Chaplin was surprised to see Einstein's eyes. Were tearing over at the final scene. I believe number three is a fact because I do well. I know the first part of that statement is a fact. I know he took Albert Einstein and his wife to the premier, and I like to think that mr. Einstein dr. Einstein had a heart and was affected by the end of this movie. So, I'm going to say three is true. One and two both sound plausible, but I might have to phone a friend here Mariah.

55:54 Are you gravitating towards either of these as the falsehood? I feel like there's more behind the scenes. That's what to catching me up there because I know, I know that that documentary but I feel like there's more behind the scenes than just the one movie. Yeah, the in costume is what's throwing me off here? Yeah, he wasn't it. And, you know, I actually was just watching the Criterion Blu-ray for city lights before we started recording. And I had just started watching that behind-the-scenes footage, so I know that that's a thing, I know it exists. But yeah, is it the only? I don't know, definitely one of those. Like is this, is this too much information? And therefore, it's wrong. Or is it too much information? Because that's exactly the truth.

56:35 I'm, I'm a terrible phone a friend here because I don't actually know let's. All right, I will, I will bite the bullet. On this one. I'm gonna say number two is the falsehood even though it sounds very plausible. I just think that it sounds a little too simplistic and so I'm going to say Brad wrote that. That sounds insulting our I'm sorry what? I didn't mean it like that, that 100% sounded insulting I will say this. This is the disclaimer. We always let our guests know. These are true as IMDb says they're true. These says, I lifted from the IMDb trivia section. However, Bob you are correct.

57:22 Number two was the falsehood written by simpleton brows just gonna say thank you. Mr. Simms Plastic. I feel terrible. I didn't mean it like that at all but it worked in my favor. So I do you feel tearing do not retract that statement. At all Mariah has helped me pull ahead on the season and I can Lord it over you now for at least a couple more weeks. Brad. Hmm. Yeah, you're welcome. You're welcome, Baba, suppose. All right, let's get back into talking about this movie. We have left out one, huge component of the movie. When it comes to actress, Virginia cherrylle. We haven't talked about her performance. This is by far the performance that she is best remembered for. I think I said in the first half that they did not really get along at all.

58:05 I don't think you can really tell this is a pretty exceptional pairing on screen. And, you know, there I don't say their chemistry is palpable, but it kind of is, but I think their commitment to their characters and the way that they dramatically portray each of their respective States, you know what I mean? Him being down on his luck. Her Having a disability Brad. There's a great story of chaplain hiring her because he noticed that she was very near sighted. And so her way of kind of looking like, physically looking at her surroundings made her, the only actress that church, that chaplain screen tested, that could play Blind without being offensive.

58:47 That's what's that was his, his quote about it. So, that's impressive. I think she's great in this movie, man. Yeah, I think that she has an Credible softness to her, hmm. That counteracts the physicality of Chaplin's, you know, just sticky elating. And just the way he commands the screen, there's there's a gentleness to her that draws you in, and makes sense to why the Tramp would fall in love with her. Is it does that make sense? Oh, 100% Mariah. Like when you think about all of you were mentioning this in the first half, like all of the partners.

59:27 Has that he shared the screen with over the years? Where would you rank her? And this pairing, I think they are really wonderful together. I think my favorite is, is poly Godard from me to Modern Times names because she's also a clown. But in terms of what I think he wanted to achieve with, with this movie, I think it was perfect casting, even if she was very difficult and she wasn't ever really intending to be an actress. She was just one of those, you know, modern women who got a divorce and move. Moved to LA and made a go of it, kind of thing was a very twenties thing to do. She's like, of the first generation of women who really had the freedom to try to do something like that ended up in this movie. It's almost got fired for this movie, made a few other movies, they're not, not very many of them, are very good. I like Fast workers.

1:00:19 It's got John Gilbert in it and make Clark but Virginia tyrol is like fifth cast in it. And then really What's interesting is that she may have been a great actress in The Silent era, right? Because you mention, she has that softness and she has that sort of magical quality it, to her eyes that were valued in the silent era. But if you watch some of her later films, I think fast worker is the only one I've seen. She's not great, she's not a great actress in terms of speaking. So the drachma tiered. Yeah, so the fact that she has acted she ended up in basically the last great silent film other than modern times last great American silent film is, is kind of almost appropriate. Like this was the end of this kind of art and she, she came to this Hollywood, write it as this part of the art was dying and gave one of the last great silent film performances in a film that became Timeless, but she's at Timeless Beyond. And I think that's because her what the talent she had and maybe it was like, Chad Chaplin, maybe the 3,000 or 300,000 feet is just bad footage of her, I don't know, but he was able. He was able to find that magic in her and put it in this movie and I think it's both a testament to him as a director editor and her at least having

1:01:51 that somewhere in her, you know, right. Even if even if that's only 1% of what was on the film, right? Right. Mariah normally Bob is the expert at giving underhand in childhood but man. Oh man, you are gunning for the crown. My friend I was gonna save it is it's it's fascinating that she is so well known for this one roll, and that's it. And I probably more people, I would, I would venture to say more people have seen her one, great performance, then probably everything that like, Louise Brooks ever did right? And you know one is the only looking at Virginia Terrell Louise Brooks and saying like they're on the on par or like Mabel Normand, same part of its Mabel Normand spells are a lot of them are lost but it's interesting and shows sort of the the irony of this business that it is, you know, they always say like it's not just the talent you have, it's who you know. And in this case, you know she met Chaplin, she got in this last great Chaplin movie.

1:02:57 See this last great. Silent era, Chaplin movie. And she was nearsighted. There it is, right? You can't plan that. So before we wrap up today, guys, I want to say that, you know, Brad, we could go on and on about our favorite gags in the movie. I talked about just that little throwaway moment of him shoving over a hobo. I don't know why I laughed so hard at that moment, but it really got me. There are so many, like, little throwaway gags in this movie, but I think On a deeper level than that. The reason that chaplains movies are remembered even more than his contemporaries like Keaton or Harold Lloyd is that they are unashamedly sentimental. I mean they just are like they and they so perfectly pair The Melancholy with the comedy and I think that that is like the key to understanding chaplain as a director, he had like a very keen sense of what the average person who was going to his movies.

1:03:57 Was going through like that. This movie comes out as America is recovering not recovering from is like plunging headfirst into the Great Depression and it's a movie about insane, wealth versus insane, poverty and the Tramp as kind of navigating this crazy world around him, and it's appropriate. Brad that we just did another little mini series on Billy Wilder, because I think that we had a really great discussion about how Wilder uses suicide. As like a pointing device, in a ton of his movies. I've been thinking about that this whole time where I'm like, I was completely wrong like, like Brian for reference.

1:04:38 I kept saying I was like I feel like there's nobody in Hollywood that's willing to go in the like hey let's talk about suicide, you know there will be a fun time for everyone and yet Billy Wilder does it and then I come here and I watched our own you know mr. Chaplin sir Chaplin and he it's like Like 15-20 minutes into the movie and you got the millionaire trying to kill himself. Mmm, I mean like and it's not just done for last. Like, that is one of the funnier gags in the movie. It's also like the darkest gag in the whole movie, but I think it's really indicative of the fact that chaplain is always willing to go. There Chaplin is willing to show P, you know, in the movie, The Circus, I started watching it with my six-year-old and there's a very funny gags and then like the, the main female protagonist in that movie is getting like horrifically. To buy her dad and that movie just like getting the crap kicked out of her in more a six-year-old kid, I was like, all right, we're gonna press pause on the circus and let's go to something else now.

1:05:37 But I think, again, the reason that it's so successful is that chaplain knows when to use the dark moments of humanity to alike to find the humor in it. But then to also like Leverage those moments into something like the ending of this movie which we still haven't really talked about. I really wouldn't discuss the ending of this movie. Definitely one of those greatest endings of all time. Endings. You see the SRU, just you see that ending? And you're like, why can't people why do people not know how to end movies anymore? Like, I that's what I and literally said that out loud. When I watch this couple days ago, it's like you don't know how to end movies anymore is like, this is a perfect ending, yeah, right? No 100%.

1:06:22 The the beauty of the unspoken like Ride off into the sunset. You don't, you don't know if they get together, you don't know if all these things happen but the, the sentimentality of his smile and he's still a little bit like bashful and and it's just slowly Fades to Black and the end and it's, it's beautiful and it's heartwarming and you don't expect it after all the gags that have come through out like, like, you're expecting him to fall, you know, pratfall The end and yet it's utterly and I'm going to use my favorite word. It's utterly sincere Bob. Hmm.

1:07:05 You know, Brad like we don't often make comparisons to like great works of philosophy or religion on this podcast. But listen is about to quote gorgeus, listeners of this podcast. Know, you know, Brad and I both went to Seminary. And so, once in a while, something Sparks are interest on the theological front and I was watching this movie and I kept thinking of this, this Story in the New Testament where Jesus is talking about. He encounters a woman at the temple that puts her last two mites into the offering and talks about how she ain't more than anybody else. And I think, honestly, you know, Chaplin not known for his religious allegories. But this is, this is his most like nakedly religious symbolism iconography kind of movie for me because it is, it is such a, an obvious like self. A pouring out kind of thing.

1:07:59 And it's so obviously connected to the poor and to the impoverished. And like, I just love the ending of this movie where you don't know, if this person who is at his most destitute. He's been destitute the whole movie, but when you see him come out of jail, at the end of the movie and he is just literally wearing Rags that are tattered and he has no shirt on underneath his iconic Jacket anymore. It's like a pitiable state. And for him to leave the character of the Tramp in an even more. Pitiable State and asking the question of like, will he be accepted like this and the the last line of the movie to be her saying?

1:08:41 Yes, I can see. Now it gives you the hope but it never actually shows you the payoff and I think that is exactly why it's the perfect ending for this movie. It's ambiguous, but he still won't let you leave without holding out hope that the rest of the world will. I'll be as sacrifice self-sacrificial as the Tramp is, dude. And even like that line of, like, yes, I can see. Now, like that, that for me, just sounds like Jesus calling out, like, he who has ears. Let him hear. Well, I think like there's, there's a very like again, like the way that I was reading in a book about city lights today and the the author was commenting on how there is a supernatural kind of element to this miracle cure for for blindness. That this doctor is healing, you know, the poor for free and it's a miracle.

1:09:33 And all you have to do is come to him. Like, it is a very obvious, kind of symbolism in this movie, and I don't know to what end like. I don't really know why chaplain is being so overt with it, but I really just, I just do love the idea of this movie coming out in the middle of the Great Depression about Sympathy with and I don't know, solidarity with the poorest of the poor and using the Tramp to exemplify that and also kind of bashing on the millionaire. Little bit like he loses his wife. He has thousands of dollars stolen from him. They'll not stolen. He gives it away and forgets that he gave it away. Robin Hood thing, you know?

1:10:16 Yeah, totally. Totally Mariah. When you think about this movie, you know, obviously, we're over here talking about Theology and everything like, What is your big takeaway in terms of like the overarching sentiment of the movie and what? It's trying to communicate at the end, I likes your point about it, having a little glimmer of hope at the end. I think a lot of Chaplin's films wrestle with Melancholy and wrestle with systems that are not for lack of a better word Fair. Even even though the American, Remus that everyone with a little gumption can make it right.

1:10:57 But that's not this, that's not how the systems are actually set up. And a lot of his movies, especially his his teachers sort of investigate that idea like the kid is all about, not to spoil the kid but it's about poverty and about living on the street and as a child and wanting to adopt a child and the issues of like Who's allowed to be a parent and who's actually got the best intention for what is a family, right? And it's a beautiful film. Jackie Coogan is fantastic in it, but it's a lot of his films. Look at these systems. And look at how someone like a tramp will come in and he doesn't care about the systems.

1:11:42 And he just kind of fumbling through in between, he sort of a, like, a trickster kind of, he's got the coyote God, right? And he just sort of in between the lines liminal space kind of person and shows you the Folly of, of systems and the Folly of the idea that things are fair things. Wherever fair not just in America, but like anywhere. But, but even though, that's, that Bleak line is always there, he always ends on a place of, but maybe right. But maybe, maybe with love Things that even as the bad system is still in place, will we can find a little Paradise for ourselves. And I think that's, that's part of why his films are even more Timeless than even Buster.

1:12:27 Keaton, whose films are may be funnier. I think they're funnier, but they're definitely not as deep in terms of the emotions. They try to evoke. Yeah, in its viewers. Well, you know, if this all isn't your cup of tea, dear listener, there is a joke about an elephant pooping in this movie. So, Oh, like you get. You get the best of both words. I have to say, I don't know if you saw Babylon. Oh yeah. Babylon, the fact that people were upset about that and I was like, okay. But do you love City? Only, it's like all of this. I like, it's there. So everyone has re-watching, this. That was like, ah, it's a reference Aeneas that I love that movie memories really smart. And I feel like a lot of people who knows, Enough to not know everything.

1:13:18 He's doing thinks that it's not as smart as it is. But it's a very smart movie. And, and the main thing that every silent comedian knows is here. Boy, people falling down and poop jokes are funny and barf jokes like Harley times funny. It's funny and Babylon, it's funny in the sound joke in Babylon, where it's like, who's gonna want sound. And then the guy likes in that in the stall, that's so funny. Me, I like that movie. Three times, I laughed every time. That's a great. That's a great Timeless, Timeless joke. And so he the thing that's great about chaplain as he does both those things. He has this very big bra heart and then he just does the it's slapstick for a reason and you know, it's so you get both, you get everything. Well, on that note, if we can have both Brad, I think this is a good segue into our final segment of the day which we call.

1:14:13 Let's make it a double we near the end of the episode. So thanks for listening to the film and whiskey show, but spare another film with this one. Even if it's struggling, it's a final segment of the day. Now let's make it a double. Let's make it. A double is the part of the show, where we pair this movie up with another film to make the perfect double feature. We were kind of walking Mariah through the outline of our show before we hit record. And she said, oh, I've already got something for that segment, so I want to turn the floor over to you Mariah. What is your? Let's make it a double film. So I'm actually targets we used to films, so I want a proposition to separate double features.

1:14:54 Now, let's have a feature. Number one, if you want to stay in the silent era, double feature. Number one is 1928 Lonesome, which is also Criterion film. Suzy, did it to get on Blu-ray and it's about this couple played by Barbara, Kent and Glenn tie rod who meet at Coney Island and they fall in love, fall in a whirlwind 24. Ours. And it's all about Modern Life and isolation of City, living. And what it is to connect with somebody and the magic that it to be in a city of millions of people and find your person, and it's another short one. I feel like it's like 70 something and it's 75 minutes 1769 minutes. I don't know.

1:15:35 There's two different things. It has some sync sound in it as well. It's just beautiful and I think pairs nicely with the the romantic comedy side of city lights. But on double feature. Number two, if you want Melancholy nights of cabiria, the Fellini film, mmm, sorry. His wife, do we had a mussina who was often referred to, as the female chaplain for her expressive face and specifically the how can it ever? Yeah. How it keeps getting worse and worse and worse for the Tramp and see lights cabiria. Goes through a lot of trials and tribulations and things, get really bad and she's Too trusting and they'll be trusting in this world. It is not a world for anything, but by me end, again, it leaves you with some hope and it leaves you. She's at her lowest point.

1:16:29 I don't want to spoil why, but she's in is literally the worst possible place you could possibly be as a like a single woman alone in the world and it ends with his beautiful smile, very similar to the way City Lights ends. And you realize the like is she still got her? You know her Coat on her back and she's got her smile and she's got her feet. Things can be a things will look it up. And and so there these two movies that are for people who are like everything's terrible but at least I'm alive. Yeah, so that's a double feature. I love that. All right. Brad. You have just seen your first silent movie, ever. What would you pair it up with? All right, this is going to be nowhere near what has just been offered II think I might give two double features as well. The first one is going to be Some Like It Hot. I just think that Wilder has so much philosophically in common with with chaplain and I think that there's so much going on there that just feels like it would vibe together that. I think those two movies together would be a great great double feature if I may I think it was Joshua Logan In the director Joshua Logan said of Marilyn Monroe that she was the only other film actor who could simultaneously hold Melancholy and comedy with just her face.

1:17:57 Hmm. In the exact same way as chocolate he referenced chaplain when talking about her her, as an actor. So I think that's actually a brilliant double man. Well, I admit I should probably do there but I want to shout The movie that I loved to watch as a child. And I think that there's this, this movie might be the cheaper form of Chaplin comedy, and I'm okay with that. I'm going to recommend the time of their lives with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, because I loved that movie growing up. And I think that, at the very least, some of the physical comedy that you, Get from Abbott and Costello can kind of mimic the older style.

1:18:51 And I just, I love that film. So I'm going to put that one up there as well, Brad. I'm gonna, I'm gonna bring this into the modern era and when I was watching City Lights this time, one thing that I really want to call attention to, and I hope people go watch this like as their first silent movie because like I said, the influence of this movie is felt even today. And I'm most, especially noticed it in this All scene, where the eccentric millionaire is hosting a party for Charlie Chaplin After, he finds him out on the street. A second time, he gets drunk and he has all these, all his friends over, and somebody puts a whistle in Charlie, Chaplin's mouth. And Charlie, Chaplin is slap on the back, and then swallows the whistle. And there is this extended gag where there's like an opera singer.

1:19:36 That's going to perform a little song. You know, an aria or something in the room and chaplain starts coughing and every time he coughs, it makes a whistle sound. And he interrupts it and they all look at him and then he stops and then they get ready to start again. And then the whistle starts again, and it happens like three or four times and the sheer comic timing of that moment. I was like, oh my gosh, I have seen this kind of moment replicated for decades and decades and decades and in the spirit of bodily fluids on screen, it reminded me of this moment in the first Austin Powers international Man of Mystery.

1:20:16 Yes, when right, after Austin Powers gets be thawed, he has to p. And this p goes on for like 45 seconds and then every single time you think the scene is gonna go on. There's just a slight, little dribble more of p. And it is truly Chaplin himself would be proud and like, honestly, the more I thought about it, the more I realized Mike Myers really, really leaned heavily on chaplain in those movies and the weather way that, you know, No, the physicality of it but also just the comic timing of those scenes. I just, you know I can never recommend Austin Powers highly enough so that's my let's make it a double that's he's having never seen in Austin Powers.

1:21:00 What what? But Brad you've seen a Chaplin film. How have you never seen? Austin Powers. Come on. Hey I'm a man of culture. What can I say? All right guys, it is time for us to give final scores on this movie. I will get mine out of the way right now Brad. This is Only one of my top 20 or 25. Movies of all time is a 10 out of 10. The end Bob, I am going to let Mariah go first. Oh yeah, I mean I think it's also a 10/10. I feel like I think it's a perfectly weighted, I don't know. So here's here's my caveat. I will come back and score this.

1:21:46 Us another day. I'll score it today, but I'm gonna come back, watch the movie again at some point once I've watched more silent film, like I trust your guy's opinion having seen, I don't know, a billion silent films at this point between the two of you. I just haven't seen another silent films. And I don't know how to gauge this against other movies that I've watched because every single other film I've watched, has had sound attached to it. I'm going to go ahead and give this an eight and a half out of ten and that's just based purely on your level funny. Now, say it again, your love of Fellini my deep and adoring love of Federico Fellini. Yes, obviously, that's just based on my enjoyment. I like, it was hilariously funny. I really enjoyed it.

1:22:39 One of the one of the better comedies I've watched I think that I could probably come back and give this a nine, nine and a half. Its Some point. But for today I'm going to sit and at an eight and a half. All right. There you have it between Brad and I we are at a nine point, two five out of ten. Now, I do not expect that a lot of film, and whiskey nation has seen this movie, but if you have, I would like to know what you think. If we have inspired you to go watch your first silent movie. Once again, a plug for the fact that it is 82 minutes long and it is currently streaming on HBO Max or Max, as it has rebranded to now, and you can watch it with your age. Nine and ten-year-old like yeah totally fine. You know as long as she can get over a couple suicide jokes, you should be good, but we're at a 9.25. Let us know what you think you can find us on our social medias Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tick-Tock at film whiskey. Or you can jump onto our Discord. We are on there every single day talking to you guys, the fans of the film and whiskey podcast.

1:23:41 So please join the conversation. You can find a link to our Discord at the end of every Engel one of our show notes. We want to thank our guests again today, Mariah Gates Mariah. I'm going to turn the floor over to you. Is there anything you'd like to plug and where can we find you? Sure, I think I said, would plug my sub stag. It's is where like, in the 2010's again, where newsletters are the new blog, which are the new Twitter, but it's old films flicker that sub stack.com. I write a every Friday. I write a feature called strike. Women viewing guide where I recommend seven films directed by women to watch every sea of a film a day for the whole next week. Usually, it's one or two new releases and then five to six streaming pics.

1:24:29 I just recently hit over 500 films recommended. Well, there are lots of films directed by women and occasionally, I will talk about silent films on that as well. But on the sub stack itself, I also that's where I tend to do my writing about silent film. Because believe it or not, people did not pay that much. Although coming out of Babylon, I did get several pieces and that and then strangely Harold Lloyd's safety last hit 100 years last month and I said, okay me to write about that and I was like everything's coming up Mariah. So if you are a listener who does have money, and once writing about silent film, please contact me, but otherwise, I write on the subject, I just launched a feature called called you are silent. Ace where which is a new orders on that. I love, but we're right about.

1:25:22 I've only done one so far. I did it was Mary Astor but mostly I write about our plan to write about silent film. Actors, who transitioned successfully at are, maybe more known for their acting in talkies. So, for example, Mary Astor is probably best known for Maltese Falcon among the other 1940s films but she was One of the actresses to sort of come out of the late era of the silent film. And that's, that's how she started. And she's got the most expressive eyes. And there's a lot of actresses, like that, like Norma Shearer, who was the queen of MTM. I'm going to write one about her at some point, just to get people sort of thinking about these stars that maybe they think, in other than one mode And are afraid to go back and look at the silence and and try to get people interested, Joan Crawford's another one.

1:26:16 I'm going to write about it at some point. So I want to sort of highlight some of those actors that got, you know, the we're able to transition. But now they're silent films are sort of the ones that people take for granted. I just keep hearing like Crossover with film and whiskey episodes were like, I will talk about Mary Astor all day because nestor's amazing, she's got an iv personal life to that. Sad, Brad down and just told, like I made Brad, watch Meet Me in st. Louis, because it's may be my favorite movie of all time. And I was like, Mary Astor in the scene where they sing the song You and I is like one of the best pieces of acting I've ever seen in my life. You know, you know why, she's so good. Why is he started what acting?

1:26:57 She said they had faces. That's why she's so good Brad before we get out of here. I want to do one thing. We've never done. On the history of filming whiskey podcast. Oh my goodness. My favorite Charlie. Chaplin movie is on the docket for next week and that is modern times is a film that like goes back and forth with City Lights as you know chaplains greatest, do you want to do it next week or do you want to do the two other Chaplin films? First, and do that? One last, would it be better for you to do them head-to-head or to get more chaplain context and then do that one? At the end of the series, man. Look at, I just want to savor this moment of Bob, giving me a choice like that light has happened for 15 of our, what 202 movies, where I actually had a say in what was happening. Bob, I think that we should just forget chaplain for a few movies.

1:27:55 And go into some I don't know. Mariah can guide us who's to say no, Max Linder. Yeah, Max Linder. Let's throw them in there. No, I think we should do the other two films first. Okay. I'd like a little more time before to, you know, get my feet wet before I jump into modern times. Well then, what we're going to do is we're going to throw it back a few years from this, and we're going to look at 1925 s the gold. Rush next week so we'll be watching the Gold Rush week. What we're calling an audible on film and whiskey for the first time in history. Thank you for that Brad. And thank you once again to our guests, Mariah Gates, we will see you next week for the gold rush, but until then I'm Bob book, I'm Brad G and we'll see you next time.