The Unbreakable Movie Chain (2025)

22/01/2024

Dropping tomorrow, Art Director Cedric Gibbons is the link that takes usfrom a movie about the studio system, The Bad and The Beautiful, to arguably the studio system’s crowning achievement… The Wizard of Oz.

The legacy and cultural impact of this film cannot be denied and millions have taken it to their heart. But, is it all it’s cracked up to be as a piece of cinematic storytelling? One of us is unconvinced. Don’t miss what might turn out to be our most controversial episode!

“I was surprised by just how much I hated it.” - Which of us said this? You’ll have to listen to find out. (Points to anyone that guesses in advance! Let us know who you think it might be.)

21/01/2024

Director Vincente Minnelli won just one Oscar in his career (for the 1959 musical comedy, Gigi). However, he created an on-set environment where others could shine –his 40 films garnered an impressive haul of 24 Oscar wins, off 53 nominations, in an era when there were far fewer categories. On the latest episode, we dig into his forgotten gem from 1952, The Bad and The Beautiful. A film that places Hollywood, The Academy and the studio system front and centre.

Also on this episode: Festive comfort watches! The joys of bleak crime drama!! Ed’s turn to pick!!!

Catch the latest epsiode now, and tune in to find out what's next.

21/01/2024

What would you do in the name of ambition? That’s one of the questions at the heart of best picture winning, The Bad and The Beautiful. A melodrama of love, ambition and betrayal set against the backdrop of The Golden Age of Hollywood. Kirk Douglass is at his roguish best as shady producer Jonathan Shields in this forgotten gem from 1952. Featuring eavesdropping, adultery and Oscars Oscars Oscars!!!

“He’s a big success as a producer, and we know this because he’s grown a moustache.” - Ed

Available now on your favourite podcast app

20/01/2024

“If you dream, dream big”.

On the latest episode we’re taking another look at the studio system – this time from the inside. Made for MGM, Vincente Minelli’s The Bad and The Beautiful takes as clear-eyed a look at the movie business as was possible from within that system. Foregrounding the greed, the egos and the hypocrisies of Hollywood. It even goes so far as to have as its protagonist an unscrupulous movie-producer… as if such a thing could exist!

“There’s something interesting in viewing them as 1950s nepo-babies” - Gould

Catch it now, wherever you find your podcasts!

25/12/2023

Tired of turkey and arguments over presents? Why not listen to our latest episode!

The Coen Brothers wrote Barton Fink to try and overcome writer’s block while working on Miller’s Crossing. What started out as a simple writing exercise became the first film to win the three top prizes at the Cannes Film Festival: Best Actor for John Turturro, best director for Joel Coen and the prestigious Palme d’Or. Riotously funny, visually striking, unsettling and thought-provoking.

We think it might be the Coen’s best work, yet it was a financial disaster, making back just two thirds of its budget at the box office. We try and work out why these masterful filmmakers, who would go on to be a box office certain bet, struggled to find their audience early on.

Also on this episode: Ed gives Kubrick’s 2001 one more chance! We take up opposite sides of the Great Saltburn Divide!! Gould’s turn to pick!!!

24/12/2023

I’ll show you the life of the mind!” We're feeling the heat and peeling back the wallpaper to take a look at the Coen Brothers' classic Barton Fink. The film leaves us with a bunch of questions to take a stab at answering: Does an artist need to suffer to create great work? Who, or what, is Charlie? Who commits the murder? Does the murder even happen? Where is the Hotel Earle? And just what is in the box Barton ends up with?

"That's what his job is, is to suffer" – Ed

Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts!

23/12/2023

Checking in? Nightmare depictions of Hollywood is the link taking us from Mulholland Drive to the Coen Brothers’ early masterpiece, Barton Fink. A film rich in religious allegory, allusions to anti-semitism in the Hollywood studio system, the conflict of “high art” versus “low art”, the rise of facsism and other things we’re not really qualified to talk about. Nevertheless, we give it a good go on the latest episode of The Unbreakable Movie Chain!

"The Common Man is a choir of Fishmongers" – Gould

Available now, wherever you get your podcasts!

23/12/2023

There's still time to catch our last episode on Mullholland Drive, where David Lynch shared the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival with Joel Coen. He was also nominated for the equivalent Oscar, losing out to Ron Howard. His masterpiece has only grown in estimation since, placing 8th on the BFI’s list of the greatest movies of all time. Perhaps because of its status, we expected this episode to be hard work, but it turned out we had an absolute hoot pulling it apart and putting it back together. Join us!

Also on this episode: Anatomy of a Fall, Dream Scenario and The Lost Daughter! Is it possibly to enjoy A Clockwork Orange?! Ed’s turn to pick!!!

09/12/2023

We all need a little help sometimes. It’s a good thing that David Lynch provided a list of “10 clues to unlocking this thriller”. We use these clues as a guide to solving this cinematic Rubik’s Cube, but are they helpful? Is Lynch making mischief with a series of red herrings? Or, are they simply an invitation to follow him down the rabbit hole?

“Notice the coffee cup… which one? There are so many! Ashtrays! Ashtrays!!!” - Ed has a minor meltdown

06/12/2023

Time to wake up. On the latest episode we’re separating dreams from reality to try and piece together David Lynch’s sun-drenched Hollywood nightmare, Mulholland Drive. Just what is going on? Gould thinks it’s pretty straightforward, actually. Featuring: A sinister cowboy, ominous conversations and crippling identity crises!

“It’s an escape room of a film” - Gould

Download the episode now, wherever you get your podcasts.

06/12/2023

Director Jonathan Lynn, best known as one of the co-creators of classic sitcom Yes Minister, has a law degree from Cambridge. No wonder My Cousin Vinny has been roundly praised for the accuracy of its depiction of court procedure – whilst being riotously funny at the same time. On this week’s episode we discuss this achievement and wonder whether the film has made it onto the syllabus for any university law courses.

Also on this episode: Halloween led to a full on feast of horror movies! Was Charlton Heston any good?? Gould’s turn to pick!!!

Available at all the podcast places

27/11/2023

On this week’s episode we’re getting stuck in the mud deep in Alabama – land of guns, grits and the electric chair.

If we accidentally confess to murder we’ll have to call in a fast talking New York lawyer… let’s hope one of us is related to one!

While we’re chilling out on death row we’ll have a chat about classic 90s courtroom comedy My Cousin Vinny. Starring Joe Pesci, in a rare leading role, an Oscar winning Marisa Tomei, and Fred Gwynne in his final screen performance.

“Is it a punch? It doesn’t look like a punch. The sound effect is definitely a punch.” - Ed

Available wherever you get your podcasts

21/11/2023

This week we’re scoffing Chekov’s Grits on death row while we dissect cult 90s courtroom comedy, My Cousin Vinny.

Marisa Tomei and Joe Pesci are engaged, she’s a mechanic, he’s a lawyer, the Karate Kid’s been banged up for murder… and somehow we believe it all! Featuring all of the mud, inappropriate courtroom attire and Barry off Friends.

“What is a grit?” - Gould

Available now, wherever you get your podcasts.

17/11/2023

Did you catch our latest episode? Stephen King only published Pet Sematary to get out of a bad contract, he believed it was too dark and troubling to have audience appeal.

In the late 80s, director Mary Lambert was told by Paramount Pictures that, after a glut of Stephen King adaptations, there was no more public appetite for them – especially not for one of Pet Sematary. It was the writer’s strike of 1988 that led to Paramount’s appetite for “camera ready” screenplays and the film finally got made.

The novel is now considered one of King’s finest, and Mary Lambert’s 1989 big screen adaptation made five times its budget at the box office. It spawned a sequel a reboot and an ongoing franchise. On the latest episode of The Unbreakable Movie Chain, we investigate why this novel, unloved by its author and dismissed by film studios, has confounded them all by becoming a cultural phenomenon.

Also on this episode: Killers of the Flower Moon! The joys of film festivals!! Ed’s turn to pick!!!

13/11/2023

Sometimes dead is better.

For this week’s episode we’re continuing our dalliance with the undead as we peek from behind our hands (at least, the more squeamish of us did) at the 1989 version of Stephen King’s most horrifying novel… Pet Sematary. Featuring terrible parenting, inevitable roadkill and the most adorable zombie in cinema history.

“The pet sematary looks like a Halloween display outside someone’s house.” - Gould

Available now wherever you get your podcasts.

12/11/2023

We may be into November, but we're still in a Halloween mood, so this week we’re looking at our first out and out gore-fest.

We're following the theme of raising the dead from Frankenstein to the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Flawed as it is from a filmmaking and storytelling perspective, this one features some deliciously gnarly prosthetic effects and a terrific performance from Herman Munster himself, Fred Gwynne.

Join us as we separate the good from the bad in this cult classic horror.

“Because of its inherent crapness I don’t trust the camera to look away at the right moment.” - Ed

Available now wherever you get your podcasts.

07/11/2023

October has finished (and somehow we're a week into November!) and we know the question on everybody's lips is 'did Gould complete her challenge?'

Well. Not quite! But with 25 movies watched, we're still calling that a win, and as a horror fan, Spooky Season lasts all year for Gould and will more than make up for it as the nights draw in.

The challenge rounded up with some notable mentions from Gould...

"I finally saw An American Werewolf in London - turns out it's a total banger, who knew? Scream VI was another highlight, I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. Lastly I want to shout out an animated short that I saw at Mayhem Film Festival earlier in the month - Jack Nop's thesis film, "Absolution, Parsin". You can catch the whole thing on YouTube and you absolutely have to, it's masterful. I can't wait to see what Nop does next."

31/10/2023

It's Halloween and why not indulge in a spooky double bill? If you haven't caught up with our latest episode yes, listen to our Frankenstein ep where we ask who says an actor needs lines?

As the monster in 1931’s Frankenstein, Boris Karloff doesn’t utter a word. He brought such presence, vulnerability, and ferocity – dare we say depth – to the role that he overshadowed Bela Lugosi’s Dracula and Lon Chaney’s Phantom to become a movie icon as recognisable as Chaplin, Bogart and Monroe.

We discuss the power and empathy of this unique star of the silver screen on this week’s episode of The Unbreakable Movie Chain.

Also on this episode: Saltburn, The Lesson and The Creator! The treasures of Edinburgh’s Surgeons Hall Museum!! Gould’s next pick!!!

Disinter it from your favourite podcast crypt.

The Unbreakable Movie Chain

22/01/2024

21/01/2024

21/01/2024

20/01/2024

25/12/2023

24/12/2023

23/12/2023

23/12/2023

09/12/2023

06/12/2023

06/12/2023

27/11/2023

21/11/2023

17/11/2023

13/11/2023

12/11/2023

07/11/2023

31/10/2023

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