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Sci-Fi December continues with a look at The Creation of the Humanoids. Copyrighted 1960, the film was directed by Wesley Barry and written by Jay Simms. It plays like a stage play about a post-Apocalyptic world in which androids are a large part of society and human beings fear being replaced by them.<br /><br />Jennifer Handorf and Dan Martin join Mike to discuss the film, science fiction as allegory, and intentional versus accidental genius.

We kick off sci-fi December with a look at Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). Based on the book by Walter Tevis, the film stars David Bowie as Thomas Jerome Newton, a strange man who appears in the office of a patent attorney with some big ideas that help him start on the road to untold wealth. Along the way he meets colorful characters such as Candy Clark as Mary Lou, a hotel worker, and Rip Torn, as Professor Bryce, a lascivious pedagogue. <br /><br />Samm Deighan and Skizz Cyzyk join Mike to discuss the film. Interviews include Candy Clark, Sam Umland and Susan Compo.

On this special episode Mike talks to Stew Buck, the writer/director/producer of a pair of upcoming documentaries — A World War II Fairy Tale: The Making of Michael Mann’s “The Keep” and Uncovering Wolfen.

Noirvember 2019 wraps up with Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity (1944). With a screenplay co-written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler and based on a story by James M. Cain, the film is one of the seminal works of film noir. It stars Fred MacMurray as fast-talking Walter Neff, an insurance agent who gets played for a dope by a dame. The dame in question, Phyllis Dietrichsen, is played by the one and only Barbara Stanwyk. The two cook up an insurance scam to pay off big after they bump off her husband. <br /><br />Keith Gordon and Kat Ellinger join Mike to discuss Double Indemnity, it’s 1973 remake, the adult adaptation Eruption (1977), Body Heat (1981), and the Body Heat/Double Indemnity mash-up, Jism (2003).

Noirvember 2019 continues with a look at The Conversation (1974). Sandwiched between the first two Godfather films, The Conversation is writer/director Francis Ford Coppola’s paean to European art films of the 1960s, most notably Antonioni’s Blow-Up. Instead of swinging London, however, The Conversation is set in San Francisco and stars Gene Hackman as Harry Caul, a schlubby nudnik whose life revolves around audio surveillance, his own privacy, and violating the privacy of others. Vincenzo Natali (In the Tall Grass) and Jamey Duvall (Movie Geeks United) join Mike to discuss the film and its spiritual sequel Enemy of the State.

Daniel Kremer returns to the Projection Booth as a director rather than a co-host with a discussion of his film Overwhelm the Sky (2019) along with the film’s lead actor, Alexander Hero.

We continue Noirvember 2019 with a look at Max Ophul’s The Reckless Moment. Released in 1949, the film tells the story of Lucia Harper (Joan Bennett), a mother who’s out to protect her family from the forces of evil including Ted Darby, a swindler who’s making moves on her 17 year old daughter. Mrs. Harper will go to extremes to keep her family safe. <br /><br />Cullen Gallagher and Samm Deighan join Mike to discuss the film. Our interview this week is with Lutz Bacher, author of Max Ophuls in the Hollywood Studios.

We kick-off Noirvember 2019 with a look at Joseph H. Lewis’s The Big Combo (1955). Written by Philip Yordan, the film stars Cornel Wilde as Lt. Leonard Diamond. He’s a cop with a soft spot for Susan Lowell (Jean Wallace), the main squeeze of Mr. Brown (Richard Conte). Diamond and Brown play a strange game of cat and mouse as Diamond seems to pursue justice while Brown is a psychopathic thug who thinks he’s anything but. <br /><br />Jedidiah Ayres and Brian Hoyle join Mike to discuss the film and posit just what that big combo of the title can mean.

The 1984 film from Adam Small and Peter Stuart, Another State of Mind, documents an international tour by two west coast punk bands, Youth Brigade and Social Distortion; capturing the attitudes, ethos, and lifestyles of the time.

On a very special episode of The Projection Booth, Bill Ackerman and Maitland McDonagh join Mike to discuss Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz’s Messiah of Evil. Released under a number of titles (including The Second Coming), the film is a creepy, atmospheric horror film about a young woman who goes in search of her father only to find something far-more-sinister than she could have ever imagined.