After an initial hesitance from a few film fans, Michael Mann’s Heat has cemented itself as an all-timer, as both a great Los Angeles movie, an actors’ showcase, and, more importantly, an expansively novelistic character study inside a cops-and-robbers heist movie. So, when the Heat-universe expanded last year into book form, co-authored by Meg Gardiner, and became a bestseller, did the film world rejoice? On this episode is Mann-fanatic Ted Haycraft, who explains:

- the long history of the Heat universe as a project;
- the odd circumstances its initial version, the TV-pilot-turned-TV-movie LA Takedown;
- why Ted took so long to finish the book extension of one of his favorite movies.

Also:

- this novel as a Rosetta stone for all of Mann’s themes;
- the Godfather II structure of the sequel novel;
- and casting speculation for an eventual, hopeful, inevitable film adaptation.

Ted Haycraft is film critic for WFIE-14 and co-hosts Cinema Chat on its Midday show. He can also be found on Cinema Chat’s Facebook page.

Heat 2 is published by Harper Collins and is now available in paperback.

First declared as Europe’s answer to D.W. Griffith, later (after emigrating to Hollywood) credited as the creator of the modern musical and, as Jean Renoir said, the creator of modern Hollywood, Ernst Lubitsch was also one of the first celebrity directors. And while the “Lubitsch touch” started as a piece of marketing, its influence is still felt over 100 years later. On today’s episode I’m joined by writer/director/author Nicholas Meyer, no stranger himself to classy, erudite wit, to discuss Lubitsch’s fiercely felt WWII take on Hitler. On this episode, we talk:

- how is it that Lubitsch’s 100 year old movies are more adult and modern than many current Hollywood movies;
- why is someone who never took a writers’ credit known for some of Hollywood’s best post-talkies writing;
- and the brilliance of the “heist” in the Lubitsch-produced, Frank Borzage-directed Desire.

Also:

- how the Mel Brooks-produced remake, along with popular Shop Around the Corner remake You Got Mail, are as good of illustrations to be found of the “Lubitsch touch”;
- why many modern viewers come to Lubitsch through filmmakers he’s influenced, from Billy Wilder to Wes Anderson;
- and which famous French filmmaker told Meyer that To Be or Not to Be was his favorite film.

Nicholas Meyer is a director and Oscar-nominated screenwriter. He’s written over 11 books, including his Sherlock Holmes novels, the most recent of which is The Return of the Pharaoh, from the Reminiscences of John H.Watson, M.D.  His films as director include Time After Time, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Day After, and Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country. He lives in Santa Monica, California; more information can be found at his website.

To Be or Not to Be is streaming on both Max and the Criterion Channel, and is available on Blu-ray from Criterion.

Over the course of his career, but mainly in a period from 1950-59, French director Robert Bresson kept a notebook of advice to himself on keeping his very distinct filmmaking technique. In 1975, he published Notes to the Cinematographer, which was then translated and published in the United States two years later. In 2011, a Sight & Sound poll of 51 critics named it the second best book on filmmaking. On this episode, I’m joined by editor Keith Fraase.

Keith Fraase has edited such narratives features as To the Wonder, Knight of Cups, Song to Song, Chappaquiddick, and A Mouthful of Air, along with the documentaries Voyage of Time and Long Strange Trip. His most recent edited film, Celine Song’s Past Lives, is one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2023.

Robert Bresson’s Notes on the Cinematographer is current published in the U.S. by the New York Review Book (under the translated title Notes on the Cinematograph).