Westerns Episode 2
In this episode Dr. Fleming and Stephen discuss the virtues of the 1929 Victor Fleming adaptation of Owen Wister’s novel The Virginian. Homework for next episode: watch High Noon
Category: Access
Wednesday’s Child: From the Web
“The past changes so quickly,” a Twitter pundit has observed, “you have no idea what will happen yesterday.” Not very original, as the gentle reader may remark, seeing the thought is basically taken from Orwell or maybe a writer of a still earlier era, like Karl Kraus, but a sinuous phrase none the less, something undeniably well noted and prettily put. Try trawling for a mot this juste in The Spectator these days, to say nothing of The New Yorker.
America A Captive Nation: The Subversion of Language, Part A
Among the most precious parts of a cultural revolution is language, and it is inevitable that the language of a subject people is treated no more gently than religious shrines or historical monument.
Ray Olson at the Movies
In the 1930s, MGM’s top directors were Clarence Brown (a favorite of Garbo’s), the prolific W. S. Van Dyke, of whom I’ve written for FF, and Victor Fleming. In 1939, MGM observed its silver anniversary. Since it was the biggest American movie studio, it launched a campaign to make 1939 known as Hollywood’s greatest year
Jan. 6 “Narrative” Was a Hoax
Finally, we’re getting some insight into what really happened on Jan. 6. As I have said all along, there was no “insurrection.” It was just some aging Boomers and GenXers on heart meds being let into the U.S. Capitol building and roaming around.
Wednesday’s Child: NEP Comes Home to Roost
To my mind, today’s sociopolitical climate is a mélange of images from the NEP period, the short-lived “New Economic Policy” of the early 1920’s when Russia’s rulers attempted to combine totalitarian power with free enterprise rather the way China is now openly doing. What are some of those images?
Wednesday’s Child: A Modern Candide
The Lisbon calamity is estimated by modern historians to have taken 50,000 lives, almost exactly the number that perished in Turkey three weeks ago concomitantly with the collapse of an estimated 173,000 buildings.
The Dahl’s House–The Decline of the West in Miniature
The problem with Western civilization is not exemplified by the rewriting of the books of Roald Dahl, but by the success of a writer like Raold Dahl or Stephen King or…. “but the task of filling up the blanks I’d rather leave to you.”
We’re All Rockford Now
People in Rockford have an inferiority complex. In the nearly 40 years I have lived here, the city has broken into the national news on very few occasions, and virtually every one was a source of shame.
Westerns: The American Epic
In this first episode of the Podcast series, Dr. Fleming discusses the enduring appeal of the genre of the Western and things to keep in mind as we will watch films on which both he and host Stephen Heiner will comment. Homework for episode 2? Watch the 1929 version of The Virginian.
