Nov 12, 2025
Robert Mitchum’s preacher in The Night of the Hunter was
inspired by real murders that also shaped Jayne Anne Phillips’s
novel Quiet Dell.
Ed and Melanie trace the link between book and film, exploring how
truth becomes myth and how art transforms tragedy.
More at melanieanded.substack.com or...
Sep 24, 2025
Robert Mitchum's sinister preacher, Charles Laughton’s only
directorial effort, and one of cinema’s most haunting thrillers —
The Night of the Hunter
(1955) went unappreciated in its day. Ed and Melanie explore its
striking imagery, Shelley Winters’ fate, and Lillian Gish’s quiet
strength.
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Aug 31, 2025
It’s Book Club week as Ed and Melanie take on Laughing Gas (1936) by P. G. Wodehouse. A book with aristocrats colliding with Hollywood child stars in a screwball farce of body-swapping and mischief.
📧 melanded@whothehellarewe.com
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Aug 19, 2025
Melanie and Ed discuss Maurice (1987), the Merchant Ivory adaptation of E.M. Forster’s novel of forbidden love. They explore the film’s emotional tone, literary legacy, and what it meant to tell this story in 1987.
📧 melanded@whothehellarewe.com
🔗 melanieanded.substack.com
🌀 Originally released: July 8th,...
Aug 3, 2025
A 1931 film about a washed-up boxer and his son turns into one of the most emotional episodes Ed and Melanie have ever recorded. They walk through The Champ scene by scene, with reflections on Frances Marion, child actors, and a performance by Jackie Cooper that still stuns.
📬 melanded@whothehellarewe.com
📰...