ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (479)

Thank you for joining us today

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Porky Pig Looney Tunes cartoon, the 1939 Looney Tunes Porky's Movie Mystery directed by Bob Clampett



Porky Pig as "Mr. Motto" is a parody of the fictional character, Mr. Moto, created by John P. Marquand.


It's been a long week. The staff of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour needs a bit of a laugh. Please join us in watching the comedy styling of the late, great John Pinette



It so very sad the John passed away so young. He was truly one of the best working stand-up comedians of his generation.


We’ve selected another entry from the excellent reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, edited by Steven Jay Schneider. Today’s film is the 1988 drama Distant Voices, Still Lives, directed by Terence Davies and starring Freda Dowie, Pete Postlethwaite, Angela Walsh, Dean Williams, and Lorraine Ashbourne. For the director, cast, and crew, making Distant Voices, Still Lives was truly a labor of love. The film’s very low budget meant that it had to be shot intermittently over a period of two years, often at weekends when equipment was cheaper to hire - or even free. This quiet, unassuming film about the lives of working-class families in Liverpool during the 1940s and early 1950s is now widely regarded as a forgotten British masterpiece.

Freda Dowie had already been in Terence Davies’ thoughts for the role of the Mother after he had seen her in several television roles. One day, while reviewing potential casting, Davies asked a colleague to toss him a copy of Spotlight for Actresses. When the book landed on the floor, it fell open directly to Dowie’s page. Davies took this as a good omen and confirmed the casting.

After their first meeting, Davies felt that Pete Postlethwaite was not particularly impressed with him as a director, nor with the modest setup of the production. Davies became convinced the actor would decline the role. However, the film’s producer reassured him not to worry. When Postlethwaite was shown the trilogy of earlier short films Davies had made, he agreed to take part in the project.

So find a comfortable chair, dim the lights, and join us here at the ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour as we watch this visually stunning drama: Distant Voices, Still Lives.



Postlethwaite initially found it difficult to believe that Terence Davies’ father - on whom his character was based - could have been so violent and cruel to his family. It was only after Davies asked his sister to describe being beaten in the cellar with a broomstick by their father (an incident depicted in the film) that Postlethwaite accepted that the story was true. Davies later admitted that the reality of his father’s behaviour and family life had actually been far worse than what was portrayed on screen, but he felt that audiences might not have believed it.



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