Coming to DVD: Night Flight (1933)
This pre-Code film, directed by Clarence Brown, hasn't been shown since 1942 due to legal issues.
Check out the cast: Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Robert Montgomery, Helen Hayes, John Barrymore, and Lionel Barrymore. Wow!
Best of all, the film will have a regular pressed DVD release.
NIGHT FLIGHT will be screened at the TCM Festival in Hollywood this spring.
Lou Lumenick of the New York Post says that THE CONSTANT NYMPH (1943) will also be shown at the festival. THE CONSTANT NYMPH, directed by Edmund Goulding, stars Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine, Alexis Smith, and more great names. It's occasionally been shown in theaters over the years -- I was sorry not to be able to see it when the University of Southern California showed it a couple years ago as part of a festival honoring composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold -- but the film hasn't been seen on TV or video due to rights problems.
Lumenick speculates that perhaps THE CONSTANT NYMPH will soon be on DVD as well. That would be good news indeed. In the meantime, I've got a copy provided by a kind friend which I've been enjoying anticipating for some time now -- I think it's time to see it in the near future! I strongly suspect I'm going to love it.
Perhaps the news about NIGHT FLIGHT signals there will be hope for Clarence Brown's LETTY LYNTON (1932), which has similarly been tied up in legal issues for decades. LETTY LYNTON stars Joan Crawford and might possibly contain my favorite performance by Robert Montgomery.It's truly wrong that the public is prevented from seeing a pre-Code classic which is now nearly 80 years old. My great hope is that LETTY will be restored and released -- and soon!
posted by Laura @ 3:38 PM
7 Comments:
That is Fantastic News! I am so looking forward to The Constant Nymph on DVD. How is it you have a copy of thios film in your possession and haven't watched it yet? I've updated my old humble blog post on The Constant Nymph to link to this news. (Laura, I've been linking to you a lot lately!)
Night Flight sounds so entertaining. This has all made my day.
Wow, you've been blogging up a storm lately! (Just had to vote for Marlene as "most overrated.") Adding you to my blog roll.. :)
Sometimes I have a tendency, once I have something securely in hand, to not want that "first experience" seeing something to be behind me (grin). (Plus I often share movie viewing choices with others...and my girls already watched the movie the very week it arrived!) I actually started CONSTANT NYMPH last night and was loving it -- Joan Fontaine is quite remarkable -- unfortunately had to get to sleep about 1/3 of the way into it, and work may prevent my finishing it today --
Glad I could share all this news! :)
Best wishes,
Laura
Wow! This is the best news I've heard in ages. Thanks so much, Laura, for the heads up.
I can understand your feeling about the first time film experience. I've never watched "The Gunfighter" to the end because I didn't want Gregory Peck to die. Thanks for your support re the blogroll
Glad I could share the news, Kevin! I've heard from another source that settlements have been made with certain estates regarding THE CONSTANT NYMPH, so if my third-hand info is correct, that is good news indeed in terms of the prospects for it being shown on TCM or coming to DVD.
I think only another film buff could understand not immediately jumping to watch a movie one has long wanted to see, Panavia. :) Once you've seen it, you can watch it again, but there will never, ever again be the discovery of the first time. :) I was rather awed by what I've seen so far of Fontaine's performance as a free-spirited teenager.
I've got THE GUNFIGHTER -- wanted to get RAWHIDE which is in the same set -- but I haven't started watching it for the same reasons as you. I've heard it's a wonderful movie so I'm going to check it out at some future date!
Very happy to blogroll you! I didn't realize you'd been posted more than very occasionally or would have done it sooner! I'll be checking for future posts. :)
Best wishes,
Laura
Fantastic news about 'Night Flight' - it's one I've been wanting to see!
On TCM Friday, August 10 @ 10:15 PM (ET)
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