Lights Camera Accolade

This episode spoils Dorothy Arzner’s 1932 film Merrily We Go to Hell starring Frederic March and Sylvia Sidney.

We’re back to pre-Code movies as we celebrate Women's History Month this year, so of course that means the movie is going to tackle themes of infidelity; stooping down to the level of your philandering, alcoholic spouse; and recognizing when it's time to cut your losses.

Technically the full episode also spoils Alice Guy-...

This episode spoils 1941’s nominees Sergeant York, Blossoms in the Dust, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, The Little Foxes, Citizen Kane, Hold Back the Dawn, One Foot in Heaven, The Maltese Falcon, Suspicion and winner How Green Was My Valley.

This year had a little bit of everything: patriotism, biopics, scheming families, biopics, ghosts, biopics, private investigators, biopics, important discourse about religion and immigration, and biopi...

This is the full release of 2025’s Women's History Month bonus and spoils the movies Suspense (1913) and The Blot (1921).

Did you know women were directing Hollywood films years before they gained the right to vote? Neither did most of us, until we were introduced to Lois Weber. Listen to this preview of our bonus episode where we take a look at two of this trailblazer's most famous films.

If you don't want to wait an entire year b...

This episode spoils 1929's Hallelujah.

For Black History Month, we’re revisiting King Vidor’s 1929 film Hallelujah (one of the first major studio productions to feature an all-Black cast). Celebrated for groundbreaking performances and sound design, yet complicated by stereotypes and studio-era framing, Hallelujah sits at a crossroads of representation, exploitation, and opportunity. We unpack its legacy, its music, and what it mea...

This episode spoils 1940’s nominees The Grapes of Wrath, Our Town, All This and Heaven Too, Foreign Correspondent, The Long Voyage Home, The Great Dictator, The Letter, The Philadelphia Story, Kitty Foyle and winner Rebecca.

This year brings us some of the highest highs and the lowest lows. It’s the year in which the looming world war becomes more real and Hollywood has to start acknowledging it. Meanwhile, two movies break Jake th...

This is the full release of 2025’s February bonus and spoils the movie Within Our Gates (1920).

We honored Black History Month by viewing the oldest existing feature film from a black American director; Oscar Micheaux's 1920 classic: Within Our Gates, a landmark of early Black cinema that confronts racism, violence, and hypocrisy in Jim Crow America head-on. Unfortunately, the type of narrative that we don't see in mainstream media...

This episode spoils the pre-code movie Baby Face (1933).

Join us as we discuss one of the movies credited with causing the enforcement of the Hays Code. A woman sleeps her way to the top, and gets away with it relatively unscathed? Can't say the same for the men she leaves in her wake or William Hays's ghost.

If you don't want to wait a year before listening to our full bonus episodes, support us on patreon and get access to monthl...

This episode spoils 1939’s nominees Dark Victory, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights, and winner Gone With the Wind.

Widely regarded as the strongest year for movies in Academy history, the lingering effects of the nominees and winners can still be felt to this day— for good and for bad. It’s the year of toxic romance, ugly hats, ...

This episode spoils Netflix’s hit Christmas movie My Secret Santa (2025).

Join us as we yet again take a simple, feel-good movie way too seriously and dissect every part of the movie worth talking about.

We also may or may not go down a rabbit hole looking at Netflix’s version of manifest destiny and how monopolization and the corporatization of the internet ruined everything.

Normal Christmas conversations.

Happy holidays and happ...

This episode spoils 1938’s nominees The Adventures of Robin Hood, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Boys Town, The Citadel, Four Daughters, La Grande Illusion, Jezebel, Pygmalion, Test Pilot, and winner You Can’t Take it With You.

It’s a confusing year for the Oscars. Big Opera is officially overtaken by Big Tobacco, America shields its eyes to tensions continuing to rise in Europe, Robin Hood is a confirmed sociopath, Boys Town is a PR ni...

This episode spoils 1922’s silent film Nanook of the North.

This is a preview. Become a subscriber to listen to the full episode at patreon.com/lightscameraaccolade

This proto-”documentary” helped invent documentaries… and also helped invent faking them. The movie vividly portrays elements of Inuit life as it follows “Nanook” and his “family” through many of their traditions and survival tactics. It ultimately raises several questi...

You asked, we answered. In this episode, we all learn a little bit more about the origins of film, the structure of the Academy, what the Hays Code was, and some (fun?) trivia about Hollywood's most and least expensive films up to 1930. We also get to share what each of our favorite eras of film is-- and it turns out there might be a right answer to that question.

This will be a recurring bonus segment, so if you have any questions...

This episode spoils 1937’s nominees The Awful Truth, Captains Courageous, Dead End, The Good Earth, In Old Chicago, Lost Horizon, One Hundred Men and a Girl, Stage Door, A Star is Born and winner The Life of Emile Zola.

We’ve finally made it to the double digits! We’re still in the 30s, but we’re already starting to see big changes in Hollywood this year— primarily the swan song of Big Opera’s chokehold on nominees (possibly in fav...

Join us for the full re-release of our very first October bonus episode where we shared our unique relationships with scary movies and discussed three of 1920s' finest horror films: Haxan (1922), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), and Nosferatu (1922).

The scariest thing about this episode was probably Jake's mic quality.

Additionally, if you want the full experience of new bonus episodes without having to wait an entire year-- vi...