In this episode, we explore Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979) — a film as visually elegant as it is morally unsettled. Shot in luminous black and white and underscored by George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Manhattan presents New York City as both a romantic fantasy and a psychological refuge. But beneath its beauty lies a deeper inquiry into taste, power, maturity, and the stories people tell themselves to feel significant.

We examine Allen’s shift from gag-driven comedy to self-conscious artistry, his collaboration with cinematographer Gordon Willis, and the deliberate construction of Manhattan as an idea rather than a documentary reality. Through scene analysis and cultural context, we unpack the film’s depiction of intellectual elitism, emotional immaturity, and the uneasy relationship between aesthetics and ethics.

The episode also confronts the film’s most controversial element — the relationship between Isaac and Tracy — exploring how the narrative frames desire, age, and power, and how modern audiences reassess the film differently from its 1979 reception. Drawing on documented reflections from Allen, contemporary critics, and later scholarship, this deep dive treats Manhattan not simply as a romantic comedy, but as a portrait of artistic ambition and moral ambiguity.

A film about loving cities, fearing mediocrity, and mistaking sensitivity for integrity, Manhattan remains both beautiful and complicated — and in this episode, we take the time to examine why.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, we examine one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most divisive and psychologically daring films: Marnie (1964). A work that unsettled critics on release and continues to challenge audiences today, Marnie marks a turning point in Hitchcock’s career — where suspense gives way to trauma, and control becomes the central theme rather than the method.

We explore the film’s troubled production history, Hitchcock’s shift toward psychological realism, and the controversial casting of Sean Connery at the height of his James Bond fame. Through detailed analysis, we unpack how Connery’s commanding screen presence complicates the character of Mark Rutland, transforming the film into a disturbing study of power, coercion, and emotional manipulation.

Drawing on verifiable, sourced insights from Hitchcock himself, film scholars, and critics, this episode examines Marnie’s use of colour, performance, sound, and stylised mise-en-scène to express repressed memory and emotional fracture. We also consider the film’s legacy — from its initial rejection to its modern reassessment as one of Hitchcock’s most revealing and uncomfortable works.

Neither a traditional thriller nor a conventional romance, Marnie stands as a deeply conflicted film — one that exposes the limits of Hitchcock’s gaze while daring to confront trauma long before cinema was ready to do so.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, we examine Alfred Hitchcock’s most daring cinematic experiment: Rope (1948). Inspired by a real-life murder and staged to appear as a single continuous shot, the film transforms an elegant Manhattan apartment into a pressure chamber of guilt, arrogance, and moral collapse.

We explore how Hitchcock adapted Patrick Hamilton’s stage play into a radical exercise in form, using extended takes, theatrical blocking, and precise camera movement to erase the safety of editing and trap the audience inside the crime. Through production history, philosophical context, and psychological analysis, this episode unpacks the film’s chilling exploration of intellectual elitism, moral relativism, and the dangers of ideas divorced from empathy.

Drawing on verifiable, sourced insights from filmmakers, critics, and scholars, we examine the performances of John Dall, Farley Granger, and James Stewart, the film’s controversial themes, and Hitchcock’s own conflicted feelings about the experiment. We also consider Rope’s lasting influence on cinema — from long-take storytelling to films that blur the line between spectatorship and complicity.

A film of quiet terror and unsettling restraint, Rope remains one of Hitchcock’s most provocative works — a thriller that unfolds not through action, but through conversation, confidence, and catastrophic certainty.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.