June Special Subject – Silent Dreyer Sampler – MICHAEL (1924) & MASTER OF THE HOUSE (1925)

This Week's Special Subject is a look at the early silent cinema of Danish master Carl Theodor Dreyer, during the years preceding The Passion of Joan of Arc. We discuss Michael (1924), about the relationship between a famous painter and his male model, and Master of the House (1925), a comedy about the taming of a tyrannical patriarch. Subjects include Dreyer's unique take on the visionary possibilities of love, which can allow you to transcend ordinary human experience in one way or another; and the interrelationship of patriarchy, matriarchy, and the use of violence and fear in maintaining domestic discipline. And in our Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto segment, we briefly discuss Carné's romantic epic Children of Paradise (1945), generally considered one of the great masterpieces of French cinema, and another Kinuyo Tanaka film, Girls of the Night (1961), about the consequences for sex workers when prostitution was proscribed by law in mid-1950s Japan.    Time Codes: 0h 01m 00s:     Brief Intro. Carl Theodor Dreyer 0h 10m 29s:     MICHAEL (1924) [Dir. Carl Th. Dreyer] 0h 31m 35s:      MASTER OF THE HOUSE (1925) [Dir. Carl Th. Dreyer] 0h 49m 19s:      Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto – Carné's ENFANTS DU PARADIS & Tanaka's GIRLS OF THE NIGHT   +++ * Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project (coming next week!) – 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!