Cold War Cinema
@coldwarcinema.com
A podcast about the historical context and politics of movies made during the Cold War. Hosts: @jasonachristian.bsky.social, @tonyjballas.bsky.social, and @ptklein.com 🎧 http://coldwarcinema.com
My appearance with @tonyjballas.bsky.social on the Varn Vlog hit Spotify and other podcast apps the other day. We discuss our podcast @coldwarcinema.com, propaganda, left-wing film analysis and more. Check it out! open.spotify.com/episode/34tV...
Cold War Cinema — History, Propaganda, and Left-Wing Film Analysis with Jason Christian & Tony Ballas
Varn Vlog · Episode
open.spotify.com
I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too! coldwarcinema.com/bonus-gettin...
Cold War Cinema@coldwarcinema.com · 4d agoNew bonus episode is live! Hosts @jasonachristian.bsky.social, @tonyjballas.bsky.social and @ptklein.com discuss their personal backgrounds, their scholarly interests, and the trajectory of the podcast. We had fun with this conversation and we hope you enjoy it! coldwarcinema.com/bonus-gettin...
New bonus episode is live! Hosts @jasonachristian.bsky.social, @tonyjballas.bsky.social and @ptklein.com discuss their personal backgrounds, their scholarly interests, and the trajectory of the podcast. We had fun with this conversation and we hope you enjoy it! coldwarcinema.com/bonus-gettin...
Tap in!
Jason A. Christian@jasonachristian.bsky.social · 4w agoHello, the great C. Derick Varn interviewed me and @tonyjballas.bsky.social about our podcast @coldwarcinema.com. (unfortunately, @ptklein.com wasn't able to make it this time.) History, Propaganda, and Left-Wing Film Analysis. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKhP...
Hello, the great C. Derick Varn interviewed me and @tonyjballas.bsky.social about our podcast @coldwarcinema.com. (unfortunately, @ptklein.com wasn't able to make it this time.) History, Propaganda, and Left-Wing Film Analysis. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKhP...
Cold War Cinema: History, Propaganda, and Left-Wing Film Analysis with Jason Christian & Tony Ballas
YouTube video by C. Derick Varn
youtube.com
The @coldwarcinema.com podcast is a consistently good listen & this episode’s no exception. Been interested in Robert Kramer’s films & their almost complete erasure from contemporary cinema ever since l touched on him in my book REVOLUTION IN 35mm. This new book on him sounds fascinating.
Cold War Cinema@coldwarcinema.com · last mo.New bonus episode is live! @jasonachristian.bsky.social interviews Whitney Strub about his new book, Films That Explode Like Grenades: Robert Kramer and the Search for a Radical Cinema, just published by University of Chicago Press. Check it out! coldwarcinema.com/bonus-robert...
This conversation was incredibly enlightening, and I think listeners will get a lot out of it. Check it out! coldwarcinema.com/site/bonus-r...
Cold War Cinema@coldwarcinema.com · last mo.New bonus episode is live! @jasonachristian.bsky.social interviews Whitney Strub about his new book, Films That Explode Like Grenades: Robert Kramer and the Search for a Radical Cinema, just published by University of Chicago Press. Check it out! coldwarcinema.com/bonus-robert...
New bonus episode is live! @jasonachristian.bsky.social interviews Whitney Strub about his new book, Films That Explode Like Grenades: Robert Kramer and the Search for a Radical Cinema, just published by University of Chicago Press. Check it out! coldwarcinema.com/bonus-robert...
+ My 282nd #ScholarSunday thread of public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ + blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
#ScholarSunday Thread 282 (6/28/26) – Black and White and Read All Over
Then is finally now—it’s Mel Brooks’ 100th birthday! I think the maestro of mensches would agree that there’s no better way to celebrate this momentous occasion than with a thread of phenomenal public...
blackwhiteandread.com
Be the life of the party. Invite folks over to watch Dr. Strangelove, then show them Fail Safe instead. Get's 'em every time. youtu.be/MIb9VTOa5NU?...
Joe Dante on FAIL SAFE
YouTube video by Trailers From Hell
youtu.be
Cold War Cinema@coldwarcinema.com · last mo.New episode is live! We discuss Sidney Lumet's 1964 film FAIL SAFE, a powerful (and bold) independent Hollywood production that paints a horrific picture of a potential nuclear war. LINK: coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-14-fai...
I need to watch this version at some point, even though I’m a massive fan of the 1978 film.
Body Snatchers: Man's Epic Point
ALT: Body Snatchers: Man's Epic Point
static.klipy.com
Cold War Cinema@coldwarcinema.com · 9mo agoNew episode is live! This week we discuss Don Siegel's 1956 sci-fi classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, unpacking the complicated (and often contradictory) political allegories from both the left and the right. Check it out! coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-8-inva...
While lying here unable to sleep ‘Fail Safe’ is great for also depicting the ‘Big Board’ at HQ NORAD in Colorado Springs (or it could be SAC in Omaha. The entire philosophy behind pulling in all the available information and centralising decision making is exposed in this film.
Cold War Cinema@coldwarcinema.com · last mo.New episode is live! We discuss Sidney Lumet's 1964 film FAIL SAFE, a powerful (and bold) independent Hollywood production that paints a horrific picture of a potential nuclear war. LINK: coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-14-fai...
We’re back on @coldwarcinema.com looking at Sidney Lumet’s eerily salient, troubling prescient, and deeply bleak masterpiece Fail Safe. It’s a dark vision of a world on edge, run by men so in awe of their ingenuity and technology that they cannot fathom that warmongering makes us all less safe. 🎧:
Cold War Cinema: S2 Ep. 14: Fail Safe (1964, Sidney Lumet)
The Cold War Cinema team returns to discuss Sidney Lumet's 1964 film Fail Safe, a powerful (and bold) independent Hollywood production that paints a horrific picture of a potential nuclear war. The film was released the same year as Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove and has remained in its shadow, unfairly, ever since. In this episode we discuss: Sidney Lumut's fascinating and underrated cinematic career The political and historical context of Fail Safe (1964), a film that captures the paranoia of nuclear proliferation The film's critique of war technology and how that maps onto our current era of AI-assisted warfare. The limits of Hollywood storrytelling for a truly radical critique of US imperialism _____________________ We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Jason recommends the 1992 book Signatures of the Visible by Fredric Jameson. Paul recommends the novel Advise and Consent by Allen Drury and Otto Preminger's 1962 film adaptiion Avise & Consent. Tony recommends the book Raymond Chandler: The Detections of Totality by Fredric Jameson and W.E.B. Du Bois's book Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil. _____________________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don’t forget to leave us a review! Want to continue the conversation? Drop us a line at any time at coldwarcinemapod@gmail.com. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at , or find us online on Bluesky or on X at . For more from your hosts: Follow Jason on Bluesky at , on X at , on Letterboxed at . Jason also writes an infrequent newletter on left-wing cinema at . Follow Anthony on Bluesky at , on X at or on Letterboxed at . Follow Paul on Bluesky at , or on Letterboxed at . Paul also writes about movies at _____________________ Logo by Jason Christian Theme music by (Charles Ballas and Jeremy Averitt). Happy listening!
coldwarcinema.com
Cold War Cinema@coldwarcinema.com · last mo.New episode is live! We discuss Sidney Lumet's 1964 film FAIL SAFE, a powerful (and bold) independent Hollywood production that paints a horrific picture of a potential nuclear war. LINK: coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-14-fai...
Absolutely brilliant film, and I also have a new account to follow on my favourite type of movie. No spoilers, if you haven’t seen this please do so. There is a remake, but watch the original. Henry Fonda plays the president, Larry Hagman his translator and Walter Matthau as a defence expert.
Cold War Cinema@coldwarcinema.com · last mo.New episode is live! We discuss Sidney Lumet's 1964 film FAIL SAFE, a powerful (and bold) independent Hollywood production that paints a horrific picture of a potential nuclear war. LINK: coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-14-fai...
New episode, and I think you guys are gonna like it. We get into Lumet’s film career, the discourse around nuclear paranoia and machine-based warfare, and US imperial hubris, among other themes. Check it out! coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-14-fai...
Cold War Cinema@coldwarcinema.com · last mo.New episode is live! We discuss Sidney Lumet's 1964 film FAIL SAFE, a powerful (and bold) independent Hollywood production that paints a horrific picture of a potential nuclear war. LINK: coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-14-fai...
New episode is live! We discuss Sidney Lumet's 1964 film FAIL SAFE, a powerful (and bold) independent Hollywood production that paints a horrific picture of a potential nuclear war. LINK: coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-14-fai...
I have no idea why, but @coldwarcinema.com is number 3 in film history in Hong Kong on Apple’s chart. Thank you to the good people of Hong Kong! You will be happy to know that I watched a Ringo Lam film just last night.
A little more to say on this here, and even more on the next episode of @coldwarcinema.com.
A ★★★★★ review of Fail Safe (1964)
Fail-Safe's 1964 press book describes the film as "set in the America of today, tomorrow, next year or next decade." Indeed, watching the film six decades after its initial release, Sidney Lumet's ble...
boxd.it
PT Klein@ptklein.com · 2mo agoSidney Lumet’s 1964 masterpiece Fail-Safe locates its technological tensions in the Cold War standoff between the United States and Soviet Union. Its geopolitical anxieties remain wildly relevant today, but its emphasis on human responsibility and intervention in technology seems even more salient.
I said something similar to this, though briefer, in our latest @coldwarcinema.com episode, which will be out soon. Fantastically well put, @jasonhickel.bsky.social
So much of Ford’s work is about national reconciliation or unification, but The Searchers is a moment where he grasps the darkest parts of the America and wonders if it’s ever possible to reconcile the irreconcilable. We spoke on @coldwarcinema.com about this skeleton key for understanding America:
Cold War Cinema: S2 Ep. 10: The Searchers (1956, John Ford) w/ guest Aspen Ballas
The Cold War Cinema team returns with special guest Aspen Ballas to discuss John Ford’s 1956 western The Searchers. Aspen is a PhD student of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hi...
coldwarcinema.com
John Bleasdale@www.johnbleasdale.com · 2mo agoI started watching The Searchers today by accident. And ended up watching the whole thing. What a complete masterpiece. Such a complicated and disturbing portrait of racism and hate and so sumptuously shot. You can tell Ford started in the silent.
People are going to want to tune into this new episode of @coldwarcinema.com with our friend and comrade Taylor R. Genovese. It’s a very good discussion, and I learned a lot! coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-13-iva...
Cold War Cinema@coldwarcinema.com · 2mo agoNew episode is live! We invited our friend and comrade Taylor R. Genovese to help us discuss Andrei Tarkovsky’s debut feature film Ivan's Childhood (1962), Tarkovsky’s aesthetic vision, the concept of “toska,” the Great Patriotic War, and more! Link below: coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-13-iva...
I had a fantastic time talking with comrades @jasonachristian.bsky.social, @tonyjballas.bsky.social, and @ptklein.com about one of my favorite films! Check it out and follow @coldwarcinema.com!
Cold War Cinema@coldwarcinema.com · 2mo agoNew episode is live! We invited our friend and comrade Taylor R. Genovese to help us discuss Andrei Tarkovsky’s debut feature film Ivan's Childhood (1962), Tarkovsky’s aesthetic vision, the concept of “toska,” the Great Patriotic War, and more! Link below: coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-13-iva...
In the ep, I mention the aesthetic bookending shots from Ivan's Childhood (Tarkovsky's first film) and The Sacrifice (his last). Here's a side-by-side (or, I guess, top-to-bottom) that shows how precise of a filmmaker he was. www.instagram.com/reel/DXxJyjL...
New episode is live! We invited our friend and comrade Taylor R. Genovese to help us discuss Andrei Tarkovsky’s debut feature film Ivan's Childhood (1962), Tarkovsky’s aesthetic vision, the concept of “toska,” the Great Patriotic War, and more! Link below: coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-13-iva...
I speak more about this over on the @coldwarcinema.com episode on this film. If America is so good at keeping us down, maybe the best we can hope for is a material existence in the afterlife. coldwarcinema.com/s2-ep-6-pick...
Cold War Cinema: S2 Ep. 6: Pickup on South Street (1953, Samuel Fuller) w/ guest Stephen Gillespie
“Are you waving the flag at me?” The Cold War Cinema team returns to look at Samuel Fuller’s 1954 noir masterpiece, Pickup on South Street, with special guest Stephen Gillespie, film critic and cohost...
coldwarcinema.com
Heads up, @coldwarcinema.com listeners! @tonyjballas.bsky.social and I will be joining C. Derick Varn on his YouTube channel The Varn Vlog to discuss our podcast, Cold War history, propaganda, nuclear anxiety and more. The episode drops on July 7. Tune in! www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKhP...
After a life-changing visit to Cuba this week, I got inspired to write an essay about the documentary filmmaker Santiago Álvarez, the brutal US embargo, and the Cuban people's revolutionary resilience. I hope people enjoy it! notesonradicalcinema.substack.com/p/movie-watc...
“But the best of Cuban cinema is complex and nuanced, not the one-dimensional didacticism imagined by detractors, and the creators always prioritize aesthetic concerns…” A terrific read from @coldwarcinema.com’s @jasonachristian.bsky.social on his recent visit to Cuba.
Jason A. Christian@jasonachristian.bsky.social · 3mo agoAfter a life-changing visit to Cuba this week, I got inspired to write an essay about the documentary filmmaker Santiago Álvarez, the brutal US embargo, and the Cuban people's revolutionary resilience. I hope people enjoy it! notesonradicalcinema.substack.com/p/movie-watc...
