Best Suzan Eraslan Podcasts (2024)

1
Episode 216: Anatomy of a Murder 44:37

3M ago44:37

44:37

Anatomy of a Murder is a courtroom drama that introduces some of the touchstones of the genre, including the the “I’m just a simple country lawyer” trope, with Jimmy Stewart as said lawyer. With a Duke Ellington score and a surprisingly nuanced approach to imperfect victims, a new decade is definitely on the horizon with this flick.…

1
Episode 215: The Diary of Anne Frank 42:05

3M ago42:05

42:05

The 1959 adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank (adapted from the stage play, in turn adapted from the original diary) has a lot to recommend it. Only problem? The lead, and titular character, isn’t one of them.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 214: Room at the Top 50:28

4M ago50:28

50:28

You know what there’s Room at the Top for? A new Bengal Lancer Episode! As we’re working through our backlog of recorded episodes, some of the topics discussed are old news, but some of them are news so old it’s new again. Enjoy some media recommendations that are not the worst movie of the 1959 nominees.…

1
Episode 213: Separate Tables 39:14

4M ago39:14

39:14

If we had a nickel for every time there was a film nominated for Best Picture in 1958 that was based on a play that dealt with the trauma of a man hiding his homosexuality in a post-WWII world, but rewrote the script so the gay character was straight in the film, we’d have 2 nickels. It’s not a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.…

1
Episode 212: Auntie Mame 1:02:55

5M ago1:02:55

1:02:55

Rosalind Russel plays the titular aunt with delightful flair in this first adaptation of the best selling novel. A perfect balance of zany and clever, Auntie Mame is deceptively thoughtful, though not without some glaring failures at the Screen Test of Time.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 211: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 42:13

7M ago42:13

42:13

Tennessee Williams hated this adaptation of his play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof so much that he went up to people standing in line for it and said, “This movie will set the industry back 50 years. Go home!” Our episode won’t do that, but we agree with him on the movie. It’s been awhile since we had a flick where the Hays Code made it completely pointles…

1
Episode 210: The Defiant Ones 50:33

9M ago50:33

50:33

Sidney Poitier makes his Screen Test of Time debut in this message movie, co-starring Tony Curtis, that's actually good. Two escaped chain gang convicts, one Black and one white, have to learn to work together to escape the law. Sounds like a simple, cheesy premise, but a nuanced story and incredible performances make this better than more recent m…

1
Episode 209: Gigi 1:08:50

10M ago1:08:50

1:08:50

Split score alert! David and Suzan both hate and love the same things about Gigi, most of which boils down to Maurice Chevalier (the former) and everything else (the latter), but that doesn’t mean they weigh each equally. Ernst Lubitsch may be dead at this point in film history, but his influence is alive and kicking in old Maurice.…

1
Episode 208: Witness for the Prosecution 1:01:14

11M ago1:01:14

1:01:14

The final film of 1957, Witness for the Prosecution has it all: Murder! Intrigue! Humor! Marlene Dietrich! So it’s more than appropriate that this episode has it all: The cast of Westworld! The Sonic the Hedgehog, Pikachu, and Spider-Man films of the last few years! A first ever for the Screen Test of Time end of year choice! Enjoy this Thanksgivin…

1
Episode 207: Peyton Place 49:09

1y ago49:09

49:09

The Hayes Code relaxed restrictions on certain issues related to sex the year before Peyton Place was released, and the filmmakers took that ball and ran with it. A melodrama that would go on to be a television soap opera, every plot point is as over-the-top and ridiculous as it possibly can be.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 206: Sayonara 47:11

1y ago47:11

47:11

Sometimes, our hosts' predictions from the previous week turn out to be wrong. It's rare that it's in this way, though... Sayonara stars Marlon Brando and Miiko Taka in a romantic drama about American soldiers falling in love with Japanese women in post-WWII Japan. Yes, it’s still problematic, but not in the way Suzan and David were anticipating.…

1
Episode 205: The Bridge on the River Kwai 49:17

1y ago49:17

49:17

The winner of the 1957 nominees, The Bridge on the River Kwai stars Alec Guiness, in what David calls “the role he was born to play” (please don’t get mad at us, Star Wars fans…), and William Holden (also arguably in the role he was born to play). It’s long, and ambitious, and cost a lot of money to make, which hasn’t necessarily been the mark of a…

1
Episode 204: 12 Angry Men 40:13

1y ago40:13

40:13

The curse of great poster, bad movie is well and truly over! (Well, at least so-bad-it’s-great poster…) Henry Ford leads a phenomenal cast of, well, twelve angry men in this tense, bottle episode of a movie, and meditation on the potential failings and virtues of trial by jury.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 203: Friendly Persuasion 49:09

1+ y ago49:09

49:09

Gary Cooper plays a father and husband in a Quaker family during the American Civil War, when his community is faced with the question of whether or not they will stay pacifists and out of the war or confront injustice with violence.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 202: The Ten Commandments 41:40

2y ago41:40

41:40

The Ten Commandments is Cecil B. DeMille’s apotheosis, and we mean that both as a compliment and an insult.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 201: Around the World in 80 Days 43:37

2y ago43:37

43:37

The winner of 1956, Around the World in 80 Days, features cameos from just about everyone who was alive at the time in Hollywood… which is probably why this hour too long, frequently racist mess got enough votes to take home the statue.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 200: Giant 1:03:37

2y ago1:03:37

1:03:37

James Dean’s last movie, Giant is a sprawling Texas epic also starring Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor, and it’s damn good. Not perfect. But damn good.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 199: The King and I 41:11

2+ y ago41:11

41:11

Well, this was painful. The King and I is a disaster of racist stereotypes, colonialist tropes, and yellow face casting, with, unfortunately, some really talented people involved in making it happen. Just agonizing.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 198: The Rose Tattoo 41:55

2+ y ago41:55

41:55

And we're back after a brief hiatus with the final nominee of 1955, the lesser known (for a reason) Tennessee Williams penned The Rose Tattoo, starring Anna Magnani and Burt Lancaster. Listen, there are more absurd romances out there, but somehow this one manages to be both less believable and less compelling. But in a year of nominees this bad, co…

1
Episode 197: Picnic 40:13

2+ y ago40:13

40:13

Kim Novak and William Holden star in Picnic, the CinemaScope adaptation of the William Inge play about (what else) a picnic in a small midwestern town. Which sounds super boring but is actually kind of weird and… good?By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 196: Love is a Many-Splendored Thing 43:43

2+ y ago43:43

43:43

Love is a Many-Splendored Thing; Jennifer Jones in yellow-face is anything but.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 195: Mister Roberts 41:36

2+ y ago41:36

41:36

Mister Roberts was the last movie William Powell ever did, and he’s great in it. Unfortunately, he’s not in it very much. Henry Fonda, Jimmy Cagney, and Jack Lemmon all co-star in this US Navy dramedy that had three directors before all was said and done, and the way the tone ricochets all over the place like a pinball launched from a shotgun, it s…

1
Episode 194: Marty 31:46

2+ y ago31:46

31:46

Marty was a one act play that was probably pretty good… So good, in fact, that Hollywood thought it was a great idea to make it into a movie, add a bunch of extraneous stuff, make it nearly twice as long, and ruin it.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 193: The Country Girl 35:03

2+ y ago35:03

35:03

Bing Crosby plays an abusive, manipulative alcoholic stage actor trying to make a comeback, and Grace Kelly his long suffering, salt of the earth wife, and yet it’s William Holden as the show’s director who is the least believable character in The Country Girl.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 192: On the Waterfront 48:24

2+ y ago48:24

48:24

In which Elia Kazan uses Marlon Brando to try to not only justify snitching on his friends and colleagues to the House Un-American Activities Committee, but convince his audience it was heroic. We’re not buying it.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 191: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 35:46

2+ y ago35:46

35:46

Look, David and Suzan normally don’t side with musical theatre haters, but in the case of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, they’ll make an exception.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 190: The Caine Mutiny 36:47

2+ y ago36:47

36:47

The Caine Mutiny can’t make up its mind if it is an excellent film about the stigma of mental illness, especially in the military, or an embarrassingly boring romantic class dramedy. When Humphrey Bogart and José Ferrer are around, it’s the former and at its best.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 189: Three Coins in the Fountain 46:02

2+ y ago46:02

46:02

A picture postcard movie of Rome and Venice, Three Coins in the Fountain answers a question our hosts didn’t even know they had: can a movie devoid of stakes be good?By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 188: The Robe 27:17

2+ y ago27:17

27:17

Richard Burton stars in what is quite literally Bible fanfiction that is almost so bad it’s good. Almost.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 187: Roman Holiday 36:45

2+ y ago36:45

36:45

Possibly the greatest casting of all time in any movie, ever. No one but Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck could have pulled this off. But wow, did they ever.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 186: From Here to Eternity 28:01

2+ y ago28:01

28:01

It’s got the most famous kissing scene of all time. It’s got at least 3 different plot lines. It’s got Hawaii, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It’s got Deborah Kerr, Montgomery Clift, Donna Read, Burt Lancaster, even Frank Sinatra! Surely the 1953 champion, From Here to Eternity, will easily withstand the screen test of time and hold its Best Pict…

1
Episode 185: Julius Caesar 53:47

2+ y ago53:47

53:47

Listen, we weren't so sure about Marlon Brando as Marc Anthony, either, but trust us, it works. Mostly. It mostly works.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 184: Shane 33:30

3y ago33:30

33:30

Despite its reputation as a classic, Shane leaves a lot to be desired as far as our hosts are concerned. Is it because the bad guys fought for the Union? Suzan and David discuss the weird failings of Westerns where the “good” guys fought for the Confederacy, with a detour remembering their confusing experiences learning Civil War history in Georgia…

1
Episode 183: Moulin Rouge 29:56

3y ago29:56

29:56

There is a reason that the 2001 Moulin Rouge exists, and it’s because this one from 1952 wasn’t good enough to make the subject closed. Is there anything more egregious than a boring movie about Belle Époque Paris and its artists?By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 182: Ivanhoe 25:50

3y ago25:50

25:50

The 1938 Robin Hood did all of this better.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 181: High Noon 48:53

3y ago48:53

48:53

Suzan is in heaven this week, because Hollywood has finally figured out how to make a good Western, and even David enjoyed High Noon. Gary Cooper stars as a deputy literally an hour from retirement who is called by a sense of duty to protect the town he’s about to leave, anyway, from a gang he put away before who are headed back to town on the 12:0…

1
Episode 180: The Quiet Man 31:43

3y ago31:43

31:43

The Quiet Man represents a profound shift in Best Picture nominees, but it’s not necessarily a positive one. As Hollywood gets better at film making, stories with pretty abhorrent morals are more easily nestled in well directed, beautifully shot movies… which isn’t a good thing.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 179: The Greatest Show on Earth 33:54

3y ago33:54

33:54

There is no question that Cecil B. DeMille was one of the greatest directors of all time, but giving him a pity Oscar for this nonsensical, barely acted, overstuffed story about a love triangle on the flying trapeze was not the best way to honor the guy.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 178: Decision Before Dawn 31:08

3y ago31:08

31:08

Maybe it was just too soon, historically, just a few years after the end of the war, to make a movie about how some Germans might have helped the US fight the Nazis in World War II. Or maybe Decision Before Dawn is just straight up boring.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 177: Quo Vadis 30:06

3y ago30:06

30:06

Okay, so maybe we took a 5 minute diversion to talk about the ludicrous sounding films listed in the filmographies of two of the stars of Quo Vadis, but listen, there just was not that much to say about this three hour long epic of incredible boredom.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 176: An American in Paris 41:49

3y ago41:49

41:49

An American in Paris was the winner of the 1951 nominees for Best Picture, entirely because of the 17 minute, half a million dollar dream ballet at the very end to Gershwin's orchestral composition of the same name. That’s it. There is no other reason.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 175: A Streetcar Named Desire 44:36

3y ago44:36

44:36

The film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’s play, A Streetcar Named Desire, is wildly famous for Marlon Brando in a wet t-shirt, but the film is largely the very sad story of a deeply wounded and traumatized woman, played by Vivien Leigh, who only gets further wounded and traumatized during the movie. It’s considered a classic, but is it good enoug…

1
Episode 174: A Place in the Sun 27:19

3y ago27:19

27:19

A master class in why method acting can actually make a performance less believable, A Place in the Sun is a real downer. Montgomery Clift gets typecast as a slack-jawed jerk who chases after yet another rich woman, but the twist is that, unlike in The Heiress, the woman he doesn't really care about and treats abhorrently isn’t the one he’s trying …

1
Episode 173: Born Yesterday 28:40

3y ago28:40

28:40

The final film in the 1950 Best Picture nominees, Born Yesterday start Judy Holliday giving an incredible performance as a ditzy chorus girl whose mobster boyfriend, played by Broderick Crawford, regrets forcing her to get smart. In any other year, Holliday’s performance would have still made this otherwise weirdly paced romantic comedy, with Willi…

1
Episode 172: King Solomon's Mines 28:40

3y ago28:40

28:40

David refers to King Solomon’s Mines as the movie that dares to ask, “What if Trader Horn was in color?” but what it really answers is why the character of Allan Quatermain, who was as popular and well known at the turn of the 20th century as James Bond is today, and played here by Stewart Granger, disappeared entirely from the popular imagination.…

1
Episode 171: All About Eve 51:55

3y ago51:55

51:55

The Best Picture winner of the 1950 awards, All About Eve is so good that it made David do a complete reevaluation of Bette Davis, his long standing Screen Test of Time nemesis. Suzan isn’t sure that film historians are right about certain readings of this film, but doesn’t really care, because it’s absolutely fabulous. Oh, and Marilyn Monroe is in…

1
Episode 170: Sunset Boulevard 41:18

3y ago41:18

41:18

Good news, Screen Testers! Suzan did not, in fact, hate Sunset Boulevard, so David will not, as he threatened last week, have to stop being her friend. It seems like 1950 is shaping up to be an extraordinary year already, and Sunset Boulevard is an early lead for our hosts’ choice for Best Picture.By Screen Test of Time

1
Episode 169: Father of the Bride 36:27

3y ago36:27

36:27

The original Father of the Bride starring Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor may suffer a bit in light of the Steve Martin remake... even if it's maybe a better movie. As the first of the 1950 nominees, Father of the Bride has some stiff competition on its heels, and likely won't survive to be the best of the year, but it's still an enjoyable cupca…

1
Episode 168: Twelve O'Clock High 25:24

3y ago25:24

25:24

After last week’s episode, Suzan and David find themselves with a sense of déjà vu— another week, another boring war movie. Not even Gregory Peck’s good looks could save Twelve O’Clock High. Also, find out if the Academy chose correctly among the 1949 nominees, or if our hosts think they should have picked something else.…

1
Episode 167: Battleground 30:36

3y ago30:36

30:36

An early attempt at the “Band of Brothers” style war movie (and about the 101st airborne, weirdly enough), Battleground is something of an unwieldy mess, with unmemorable characters, no real theme, and generally a step backward in competency compared to even the silent war movies nominated for the very first Oscars. But it does have one good speech…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Suzan Eraslan Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Quick Reference Guide