Tonight's Movie: By Candlelight (1933) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

The pre-Code Universal Pictures comedy BY CANDLELIGHT (1933) was one of the nicest movie surprises I've had this year. I happily recommend this delightful film, which was just released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

BY CANDLELIGHT was based on the Broadway play CANDLELIGHT by Siegfried Geyer, which opened in the fall of 1930 starring Leslie Howard, Gertrude Lawrence, and Reginald Owen.

Their roles were played onscreen by Paul Lukas, Elissa Landi, and Nils Asther. Lukas plays Josef, butler to playboy Prince Alfred (Asther). The two men have developed a precision system for Alfred's seductions of wealthy ladies which includes a fuse "blowing out" and Josef then setting up a romantic candlelight mood.

When Josef is traveling by train to open up the prince's villa in Monte Carlo, he's mistaken for the prince himself by Marie (Landi), a lady's maid who masquerades as a countess. Josef and Marie fall in love, but their assumed identities lead to all manner of complications, as well as a hilarious encounter with Alfred pretending to be Josef.

This brief 70-minute film was extremely well constructed by both the original playwright and the several people who adapted and wrote it for the screen. It moves along like clockwork and has one delightful little moment after another; I smiled a great deal watching this film. I don't want to say much more so that the movie will be as much of a surprise to a new viewer as it was to me.

Lukas has the same light romantic touch in this that he displayed in STRICTLY DISHONORABLE (1931), and while I'm not a particular fan of Landi, she works fine here as a cog in a very well-oiled machine.

I associate Asther with his villain role in LETTY LYNTON (1932), but he's really delightful here as Josef's tolerant employer. The supporting cast also includes Dorothy Revier, Esther Ralston, Lois January, and Lawrence Grant.

I've seen this film, directed by James Whale, compared to Lubitsch, and that's not wrong; the film has the same light, stylish, and slightly naughty touches. I think it would be quite a hit if it were shown at the TCM Classic Film Festival, along the lines of his year's popular showing of Herbert Marshall in EVENINGS FOR SALE (1932).

The Blu-ray is lovely, especially given the film's age, and does a wonderful job showing off John J. Mescall's photography of the beautiful sets and costumes. The Blu-ray was restored in 4K from 35mm elements.

The disc includes a gallery of five movie trailers and a commentary track by Troy Howarth.

Recommended.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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