Fabulous Letty Lynton (1932)
Just about a year ago I reviewed the terrific pre-Code LETTY LYNTON, a romantic crime drama starring Joan Crawford and Robert Montgomery. As detailed in my original review -- click the title of this post to read it -- LETTY LYNTON has a long, tangled legal history which has to date prevented it from being released on DVD or video. Whatever the original issues were, over 75 years on it's just not right that the public is prevented from seeing this American classic.
LETTY periodically comes and goes from YouTube; the Self-Styled Siren and Lou Lumenick call attention to the fact that right now LETTY is currently available. It's not a very good print, especially in the early going -- it looks much the same as the copy I was happily able to watch on a DVD-R -- but it's really worth seeing.
I couldn't resist clicking and watching some of the shipboard scenes and then the final sequence.
This film has perhaps my favorite Crawford performance, and one of my top 5 or so favorite Montgomery performances as Letty's knight in shining armor, Jerry. Jerry's quick thinking, along with unexpected help from another quarter, saves the day in a wonderfully staged finale verbally dueling with prosecutor Lewis Stone.
LETTY LYNTON is one of my very favorite pre-Code movies, along with Loretta Young's MIDNIGHT MARY (1933).
As I wrote at the time, the film is "pure pre-Code heaven." I highly recommend checking it out while it's available. If it disappears, keep checking back...it will likely turn up again in the future.
posted by Laura @ 7:27 PM
3 Comments:
Well now- you didn't have to try to hard to convince me. I found it straight-away and watched it and agree with your assessment, esp. about Montgomery. I am not much of a Crawford fan, but I do enjoy her earlier work. Glad I was able to see it before it will probably disappear. Thanks for the heads up.
A funny little aside- Thsi is in regards to the scene where Letty goes to visit her soon to be inlaws and the detective comes to pick her up in his car to take her to the DA's office. When they are going to the car (and this is in the dead of winter shortly after Xmas according to the movie in upstate NY) you can clearly hear several birds singing! It's just an odd funny think to see all these winter coats, snow, etc and it sounds like the middle of spring!
But that was the difficulty of early sound films in Hollywood!
Hi J.C., I'm so glad you had the chance to watch it and share your thoughts. Like you, Crawford has never been my particular cup of tea but her earlier work has really grown on me over the last year or so. Isn't Montgomery terrific?!
Love the comment about the sound.
Best wishes,
Laura
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