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We kick off French Month with a look at Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Doulos. The second of his several and seminal gangster films, Le Doulos is the story of two men — Silien (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and Faugel (Serge Reggiani). They are denizens of the underworld where loyalty and honor are everything. When a burglary Faugel has planned goes awry he thinks that it’s Silien who set him up. Is Silien the titular “Doulos,” an informer? Samm Deighan and Ken Stanley join Mike to wax fondly about Jean-Pierre Melville and his rich career.

We wrap up Polish Month on the Projection Booth with a look at Wojciech Has’s Hourglass Sanatorium. Based on a 1937 book from Bruno Schulz, the 1973 film stars Jan Nowiki as Josef, a man who travels to the titular sanatorium to see his father who is somewhere between life and death. Things only get stranger from there.

Polish month continues with a look at Walerian Borowczyk’s Goto, Island of Love. Released in that magical year of 1969, the film tells the tale of a thief (Guy Saint-Jean) on the Island of Goto which is ruled over by Governor Goto III (Pierre Brasseur). After being pitted in armed combat and somehow surviving he is put in charge of the Governor’s dogs, boots, and the killing of flies. Daniel Bird (Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection) and Kat Ellinger join Mike to discuss Borowczyk’s live action feature debut as well as his early shorts.

On this special episode of The Projection Booth, Mike talks to director Ben Kasulke who’s had a long career as a cinematographer, working often with Lynn Shelton, Guy Maddin, and Todd Rohal. Ben’s feature debut, Banana Split, is an endearing coming-of-age story and is now available on Amazon Prime.

Released in 2005, Shane Black’s KISS KISS BANG BANG stars Robert Downey Jr. as Harry Lockhart, a two-bit thief who lucks his way into a Hollywood audition which puts him on a very crooked path of playing a detective along with Val Kilmer as Gay Perry. The film pays homage to pulp detectives of old by way of the slick writing style of Black in his directing debut.

On this special report, author Mark Edlitz talks with Mike about his latest book, The Many Lives of James Bond: How the Creators of 007 Have Decoded the Superspy.

We continue Polish Month with a look at two films from Andrzej Żuławski. First up is his feature debut, Third Part of the Night (1970) which is a horror thriller regarding lice, the apocalypse, and doubles. We also discuss The Devil (1972) in which a man jailed for regicide is freed, given a straight razor, and pointed to all the people he feels have betrayed him. Samm Deighan and Rondo-Award Winner Kat Ellinger join Mike to discuss these early works in Andrzej Żuławski’s filmography.

Every Friday while we’re in Lockdown, I’ll be doing a triple feature of movies over at http://www.tinyurl.com/projectionboothkastparty — You’ll need to download the Kast App and sign up for an account but it’s free.

On this special episode of The Projection Booth, Mike talks with Joseph Lanza, author of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Film That Terrified a Rattled Nation.

On this episode we’re looking at a pair of films from Roman Polanski. First up we’re discussing the 1962 film Knife in the Water. It’s about a couple, Andrej and Krystyna, who run across a young man without a name. After that we discuss another film with a trio of characters, 1994’s Death and the Maiden.