Acteurist oeuvre-view – Dorothy McGuire – Part 2: A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945) and THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE (1946) + FEAR & MOVIEGOING IN TORONTO – Perpetratin' Realism series at TIFF Lightbox

In this week's Dorothy McGuire Acteurist Oeuvre-view, two very different roles for our subject: in Elia Kazan's first film, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), an imperfect mother in a difficult relationship with her protagonist-daughter; and in Robert Siodmak's Gothic noir, The Spiral Staircase, (1946) a mute girl targeted by a eugenicist killer. We discuss the unique qualities McGuire brings to what could be an unsympathetic role in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and the intricacies of that movie's family relationships. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, we look at Set It Off, F. Gary Gray's 1996 heist movie about four women who start robbing banks together, starring Jada Pinkett and Queen Latifah.  Time Codes: 0h 0m 45s:        A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945) [dir. Elia Kazan] 0h 46m 31s:      THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE (1946) [dir. Robert Siodmak] 1h 07m 36s:      FEAR & MOVIEGOING IN TORONTO – Perpetratin' Realism series at TIFF Lightbox – SET IT OFF (1996) directed by F. Gary Gray   +++ * Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive) * Read Elise's piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again" * Check out Dave's Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!  Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy Write to us at [email protected] We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!