Love is a Crime

In one last noir twist, Joan marries for a fourth and final time to a man with a secret life. The last chapter of our story takes us from the Greenwich Village cross-dressing scene of the 1960s, to the set of Dario Argento’s giallo classic, Suspiria (Joan’s last film), to post-reunification Berlin, where Bennett’s legacy as a key face of film noir is solidified. What are the lasting reverberations of the violent act Walter Wanger committed in 1951 -- on Joan Bennett’s family, on film culture, politics and society? What, if anything, would be different today? Listen and subscribe at http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime or wherever you get your podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac Apple Podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime Spotify: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac-spotify Stitcher: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac-google For a transcript of this episode, please follow this link. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While the shooting seems to enhance Wanger’s reputation in Hollywood’s eyes, the media frenzy that follows enacts a sharp price on the lives of Joan Bennett (Zooey Deschanel) and her children. Joan is forced to make a living largely through grueling touring theater. By the mid-1950s, Joan is essentially blacklisted from Hollywood movies, but her acting career gets a final boost, when Joan is cast in the legendary daytime supernatural soap, Dark Shadows, and acquires a whole new generation of fans.  Listen and subscribe at http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime or wherever you get your podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac Apple Podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime Spotify: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac-spotify Stitcher: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac-google For a transcript of this episode, please follow this link. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm) emerges from prison, and relaunches his career by producing several important films inspired by his experience, including the Oscar-winning I Want to Live!, and the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He sinks his newly re-acquired power into one final, major folly: Cleopatra. Working with Elizabeth Taylor as she and Richard Burton are in the midst of one of the 20th century’s biggest adultery scandals gives Walter a newfound understanding of what he went through with Joan. Also featuring Lili Anolik from the podcast Once Upon a Time in the Valley. Listen and subscribe at http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime or wherever you get your podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac Apple Podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime Spotify: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac-spotify Stitcher: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac-google For a transcript of this episode, please follow this link. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In December 1951, Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm) points his gun at Jennings Lang’s (Griffin Dunne) groin and fires -- and Joan Bennett’s (Zooey Deschanel) life and that of her family will never be the same. Though it’s her husband who commits a shocking act of violence, and it’s he who is actually sent to jail, Joan finds herself painted in the press as the perpetrator. As Hollywood and America rally around the gun-toting man, the adulterous woman is thrown to the wolves to fend for herself and her family. Also featuring Brian Comstock as Police Chief.  Listen and subscribe at http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime or wherever you get your podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac Apple Podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime Spotify: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac-spotify Stitcher: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac-google For a transcript of this episode, please follow this link. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices