I promise I’m working on something with actual written words for this substack. In the meantime, I’m sharing an episode of Junk Filter, a podcast hosted by my friend Jesse Hawken, in which we discussed one of my favorite movies of all time, John Ford’s The Long Gray Line (1955). If you enjoy it, I urge you to subscribe to Jesse’s podcast anywhere podcasts are available, or support it on Patreon. I recorded an episode with Jesse last Summer, where we talked about George Steven’s seminal Western masterpiece, Shane (1953), and I’m sure I’ll be back on in the future. This particular episode on The Long Gray Line was a Patreon-exclusive episode, but he’s given me the audio file, and permission, to post here. I hope you enjoy listening and that it convinces you to watch the film yourself!
As for what I’ve been working on since I began this newsletter, I can tell you that it features two brand-new documentaries from this year and the surprising connections I found they had with Douglas Sirk’s 1954 melodrama Magnificent Obsession. All three films are about science, faith (spiritual or otherwise), and the frameworks we construct to make sense of the world around us. Only the two documentaries, however, feature animals as subjects of scientific experiments. If you’re at all tuned into the world of independent, arthouse documentary, perhaps 🐬 and 🐦 will give you a hint as to what films have been on my mind…
