(You probably didn’t get that ad campaign, did you?)

Yeah, that pullback was a good laugh too. I liked him scribbling on the tablecloth, and his wife tries to stop him, but the hostess is too interested to care.

I’m very glad you convinced me to see it with your words! I will have to hunt up the DVD sometime, because I will definitely want to see it again.

Yes, you’ve put your finger on it, Rev: DEMB is one of the few films out there to start with the assumption that science means well…

The two things I love about the dinner party scene are the calm way our hostess repeats THAT word – a great lady, indeed – and the end of it, when the camera pulls back from the two of them to show…

Anyway, after all that, I’m very glad you liked it!

Once again, I tip my imaginary hat to her, for bringing a fine movie to my attention that I no doubt would have otherwise never made an effort to see, simply because it’s not what I usually look for in movies. Which is stupid, because science is so fascinating to me, and yet I might never have looked twice at something like this if she hadn’t given it such a glowing review.

Her word should be enough, but if it wasn’t for some crazy reason, I definitely recommend it as well.

Random thoughts:

Without knowing it was Edward G. Robinson, I don’t think I would ever had guessed it was him. He truly gives a wonderful performance. Despite it being lightly sketched, the love and affection he and Ruth Gordon display for each other is a delight. My favorite moment for them is at the piano after he presents their ticket to Egypt; it made me say, “AWWWWWW, they’re so CUTE!!” (Then a few minutes later, I repeated it when he and von Behring reconcile at the trial with tears in their eyes, but anyway.) Not a poor performance anywhere, really, although I admit I was distracted by the appropriations committee. I kept waiting for that short guy to start rambling on about how the old country knows all about werewolves and crossing himself.

Even seeing it coming, that suicide is a shocker.

The dinner party got my biggest laughs. I was SO happy that one of the guests fiddled with his monocle during that series of shocked close-ups after Ehrlich told them all what he was working on. I also love how he says it so matter-of-factly and keeps eating his soup.

This movie made me want to throw up my hands and cry, “Science — is — GOOD!!!” at least twice. I think that aspect along is unique enough to make it worth a watch; the movie’s high quality just adds to the experience.

I feel better now. A world without basement laboratories….well, it’s just not a world I want to live in. Thank you for making my Monday a little brighter.

Well, perhaps we’ll leave it there.

Hopefully you enjoy the work, even if it’s not your first choice. I understand that sort of thinking; I went back to school for similar reasons.

Damn those lying movies! Bah! BAH I SAY!!!

You DO at least have a basement laboratory, right? It doesn’t have to have the conical flasks of mysterious, possibly bubbling colored fluids or a Jacob’s ladder, but at least tell me you’ve got the lab! Leave me a little light in this cold, dark world, I beg of you!

Not very romantic, I know. This would be another thing that the movies don’t get quite right.

(Yes: oncology = cancer medicine.)

Is your research still related to marsupials? If not, what led to what seems to be a bit of a switch of focus (unless that’s what you’d always planned to go into)?

I think my “Bah!” is going to go to the movies. My “Feh”s will suffice for you for now, I suppose.

What else have you done besides marsupial research, or is that your main body of work? (If you’re willing to tell us, that is.) I’ve suspected you were in the zoological/biological field(s), but always wondered what exactly you worked on.