November 2020 – What's in the Basket

Bonus 18. Whirlpool (1950): Gallbladder Widower

It’s a Noirvember bonus this week as we discuss Otto Preminger’s hypnosis thriller Whirlpool (1950), starring Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, Jose Ferrer, and Charles Bickford. Subjects include kleptomania, Hulkamania (not that kind), gallbladder crises, and our very healthy parasocial relationships with the terrible stars we love. Please forgive the audio issues, particularly toward the end of the episode, which was recorded on 70-year-old equipment stolen from Richard Conte’s home office in a trance.

18. The Omen (1976): Baby-on-Baby Crime

It’s another shot of Gregory Peck this week as we wrap up our Halloween cursed film series with Richard Donner’s demon-child classic The Omen (1976). We explore what the movie has to say about motherhood and post-Watergate political anxiety, pay tribute to the unsung women who have been bringing films to life behind the scenes for over a century, and sing the praises of our newfound favourite sequel Damien: Omen II (1978), in which friend of the pod Lew Ayres endures the single greatest death scene ever committed to celluloid.

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