Tipping My Fedora

A look back at Kenneth Branagh's box office hit, Dead Again (1991), a highly imaginative valentine to classic Film Noir co-starring Emma Thompson and Andy Garcia that daringly combines a murder mystery with the supernatural.  Sergio is joined by writer and actor, Nick Cardillo. A lifelong fan of mystery and detective fiction, Nick is the author of several Sherlock Holmes pastiches for MX Publishing and Belanger Books. These were collected in The Feats of Sherlock Holmes (2018) and The Improbable Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (2021). He is the author of “The Devil’s Book,” published in The Novellas of Solar Pons; the first collection of longer stories based on August Derleth’s pulp detective to be authorized by the Derleth Estate. When he’s not writing, Nick is an actor in the Philadelphia region and has been involved in productions of such diverse playwrights as William Shakespeare, Terrence McNally, Paula Vogel, and, of course, Agatha Christie. Nick is currently at work on his first novel. Find out more on his website, nickcardillocreative.com  

Sergio is joined by film and music expert John Leman Riley to provide an overview of some of the film scores written for Film Noir in the classic 1941 to 1959 period. The films explored in this podcast include: THE MALTESE FALCON (John Huston, 1941) - music by Adolph Deutsch THE BIG SLEEP (Howard Hawks, 1946) - music by Max Steiner SUNSET BOULEVARD (Billy Wilder, 1950) - music by Franz Waxman A PLACE IN THE SUN (George Stevens, 1951) - music by Franz Waxman ON DANGEROUS GROUND (Nicholas Ray, 1951) - music by Bernard Herrmann THE BIG COMBO (Joseph H. Lewis, 1955) - music by David Raksin ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (Robert Wise, 1959) - music by John Lewis John’s career has embraced photography, librarianship, archiving, teaching and lecturing, academic writing and editing, as well as journalism, reviewing, exhibition catalogues, CD and DVD notes and the like. Often focusing on film and film music, classical music, and Eastern European culture, he has been published by Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh University Presses, Routledge, Greenwood, BFI, Rough Guides and others. Highlights include Dmitri Shostakovich: a Life in Film (Tauris), Discover Film Music (Naxos) for which he curated two accompanying CDs of excerpts, Sound at the Film Society, (“The Sound of the Silents in Britain”, OUP), Keeping the Icons on the Wall: Shostakovich’s Cinema and Concert Music (“Dmitrij Šostakovič tra Musica, Letteratura e Cinema”, Leo S Olschki), Soviet Cinema: Between Art and Propaganda (Cité de la Musique, Paris, and Caja Madrid), Stalin (and Lenin) at the Movies (“Contemplating Shostakovich: Life Music and Film”, Ashgate), and Live Cinema: Silent Film, Orchestral Accompaniment and the Special Event (“Archival Film Festivals”, Edinburgh UP). He regularly writes for and is Reviews Editor of the DSCH Journal (www.dschjournal.com) and was the English Language editor for Apparatus Journal (https://www.apparatusjournal.net/index.php/apparatus). In From the Woods to the Cosmos, on the Severin BluRay release of Viy, he discusses Russian and Soviet horror and sci-fi cinema. Commissioned by the South Bank Centre, he wrote, produced and directed Shostakovich: My Life in Film, telling the story of the composer’s film career with an orchestra playing the scores to film clips. Shostakovich was played by Simon Russell-Beale in London and, at the Komische Oper, Berlin, by Ulrich Matthes (Goebbels in Der Untergang). He writes at https://johnlemanriley.substack.com/  

Sergio previews the UK Blu-ray release of the 1954 drama Black Tuesday, which is being released today by Eureka in their Masters of Cinema series.  He is joined by Barry Forshaw, Craig Ian Mann and Sheldon Hall - who all provided new extras for this release - and together they explore the contributions of stars Edward G. Robinson, Peter Graves and Jean Parker, director Hugo Fregonese, writer Sydney Boehm and cinematographer Stanley Cortez. Here are the full details of the Blu-ray extras: A new audio commentary with film noir expert Sergio Angelini, host of the Tipping My Fedora podcast From Argentina to Hollywood – a new interview with film historian Sheldon Hall on director Hugo Fregonese No Escape – A brand new video essay by Imogen Sara Smith, author of In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City A new video interview with Ehsan Khoshbakht, critic and co-director of Il Cinema Ritrovato  Theatrical trailer A collector’s booklet featuring new writing on Black Tuesday by critic Barry Forshaw and film writer Craig Ian Mann Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Scott Saslow https://eurekavideo.co.uk/movie/black-tuesday/  The latest books by this episode's guests include: Barry Forshaw: Simenon: The Man, The Books, The Films: www.oldcastlebooks.co.uk/bookpage.php?isbn=9780857304162 Sheldon Hall: Armchair Cinema: A History of feature Films on British Television, 1929-1981: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-armchair-cinema.html To receive a 30% discount on Sheldon Hall's new book, enter the code NEW30 at the checkout.  Craig Ian Mann: Phases of the Moon: A Cultural History of the Wewolf Film: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-phases-of-the-moon.html  

Sergio is joined by author and critic Mike Ripley to look at a tale of two tigers, or rather, two versions of The Tiger in the Smoke: the original 1952 novel by Margery Allingham, featuring her sleuth Albert Campion; and its film noir adaptation from 1956 that, despite being mostly very faithful, chose to completely eliminate her recurring protagonist.  We also look at the BBC TV series Campion (1989-1990), based on Allingham's novels and starring Peter Davison in the title role (and Mike's "controversial" contribution to that show), which is currently available to view in the UK on BBC iPlayer: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0hqd8lh/campion In addition, Mike tells us about his Campion continuation novels, authorised by the Allingham estate, to coincide with the release of his twelfth book in the series, Mr Campion's Christmas.  Here are the details of Mike Ripley's series of Campion continuation novels, all published by Severn House: https://severnhouse.com/ Mr. Campion's Farewell (after P. Youngman Carter) (2014) Mr. Campion's Fox (2015) Mr. Campion's Fault (2016) Mr. Campion's Abdication (2017) Mr. Campion's War (2018) Mr. Campion's Visit (2019) Mr. Campion's Seance (2020) Mr. Campion's Coven (2021) Mr. Campion's Wings (2021) Mr. Campion's Mosaic (2022) Mr. Campion's Memory (2023) Mr. Campion's Christmas (2024)