Ep973: There's No Stalgia Like Nostalgia: DANTE'S INFERNO (1924)
This year, "There's No Stalgia Like Nostalgia" is looking back on decade milestones from the last hundred years of cinema--and we're kicking things off with a hot-button review of Dante’s Inferno from 1924!
Henry Otto's contemporary update of Dante's famous tour through Hell stars Ralph Lewis as Mortimer Judd, a wealthy and very, very cruel businessman who may be the template for every greedy bad guy you've ever seen in a movie. Judd becomes so wrapped up in reading Inferno that he begins to see visions of Dante and Virgil's descent into punishment--all while his real-world personal life begins to unravel at a rapid pace.
In this fiery but mostly peaceful discussion, Ian and Pat talk about Otto's brilliant decision to weave concepts of 20th Century fiscal morality into the vivid nightmare scenarios of Dante's epic 14th Century poem. But when Pat brings up one of the film's brief-but-oh-so-"problematic" use of blackface...well, let's just say the episode becomes something else entirely!
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Show Links
Watch Jonathan Simpson's restoration of Dante’s Inferno (1924) on YouTube (the version we watched for the show):
Listen to Ian and Cole Rush's "Late Screening" review of Blazing Saddles.
Watch Ian discuss the Charlie Chan film Dark Alibi on The Spoiler Room (mentioned in the show).
Keep up with Pat at HollywoodChicago.com.
Listen to Pat's movie reviews on the radio at STAR 96.7.
