Tonight's Movie: Letty Lynton (1932) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

It's been a long time coming, but the Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray release of LETTY LYNTON (1932) was certainly worth the wait.

As many classic film fans are already aware, LETTY LYNTON was tangled in rights issues for decades, since shortly after its initial release. Until earlier this year, it hadn't had a public screening since roughly the mid '30s.

I first saw the film in 2008, via a DVD-R copy of unknown provenance which was so poor that at times I was more listening to than viewing the movie. Despite that, I was still completely swept up in the film's magic.

In the years since I first watched it, hope was occasionally expressed by the Warner Archive Collection that LETTY's rights would be freed up, but it never came to pass.

Fast forward to this spring, nearly two decades after my first viewing of the movie, when it was very unexpectedly announced that the rights issues had been cleared at long last and the movie would be screened at the TCM Classic Film Festival.

I was at that screening, when Eddie Muller began his introduction exclaiming "Merry Christmas!" And it certainly did feel like Christmas being in the sold-out crowd to see the movie's first theatrical screening in roughly 90 years, in a pristine print. I've been attending the festival for many years, and that was certainly at the top of my list of favorite fest experiences.

Watching the movie at TCMFF, I loved it even more than I had during my first very rough-looking viewing. I was thrilled to watch the movie all over again today via the beautiful new Warner Archive Blu-ray. I don't exaggerate when I say that this disc is a classic film fan's dream come true, both in terms of the release being a reality and the quality of both the film and the Blu-ray print.

Joan Craword and Robert Montgomery were at the zenith of their pre-Code careers as Letty and Jerry, two gorgeous people from wealthy families who fall in love on a three-week cruise from Montevideo to New York.

Jerry doesn't know that Letty, whose upbringing was troubled, has what might be euphemistically referred to as a "past," including having had an extended romance with Emile (Nils Asther) during her travels.

Over time Emile had shown himself to be an unpleasant man, and it's even more apparent when he won't accept Letty breaking up with him; he flies to New York and is on the dock when the ship arrives with the newly engaged Letty and Jerry.

A horrified Letty manages to keep Jerry from seeing Emile and begs Emile to leave her alone, but he taunts her with letters Letty doesn't want made public and insists she must come see him at his hotel or...

To say more wouldn't be fair to the film's many first-time viewers, who are in for a delightful roller coaster ride over the film's 84 minutes. 

I will say that the climactic scene with the District Attorney (Lewis Stone) is one of the most blissfully perfect scenes of pre-Code cinema I've ever seen. Every time I watch the sequence I smile; Montgomery was a perfect knight in shining armor, and ultimately the scene is rather funny, too. Letty's maid (Louise Closser Hale) adding her two cents was a "cherry on top" moment which brought the house down at the TCM Festival screening.

As for Crawford, she is moving, romantic, and gorgeous, perfectly paired with Montgomery. Having now seen the film twice where I could actually watch every scene, I believe I can safely say this is my favorite Crawford film. I love watching Letty and Jerry, and the film epitomizes MGM '30s glamour.

The movie was perfectly directed by Clarence Brown, who had directed Crawford and Clark Gable in the outstanding POSSESSED (1931) the previous year. And like POSSESSED, the movie was shot by Oliver T. Marsh, with Crawford spectacularly gowned by Adrian. The white "Letty Lynton gown" inspired by this movie was sold by the thousands at Macy's.

The supporting cast also includes May Robson, Emma Dunn and Walter Walker.

It may be that the movie going unscreened for so many decades protected the "best preservation elements" used for the 4K scans for this 1080p HD master. To my eye it's one of the better Blu-ray prints I've seen from the pre-Code era, despite a complete original negative apparently no longer existing.

Disc extras consist of the 75-minute documentary IRVING THALBERG: PRINCE OF HOLLYWOOD (2005) plus five radio shows featuring Crawford. The radio programs are GOOD NEWS OF 1938 (1938); GOOD NEWS OF 1939 (1938); "The Train Ride" episode of THE SILVER THEATER (1939); "None Shall Part Us" with Ronald Colman and Lew Ayres on GULF SCREEN THEATER (1939); and a Lux Radio Theater production of A DOLL'S HOUSE (1938) costarring Basil Rathbone.

This film will also have a Warner Archive DVD release in the next few weeks.

LETTY LYNTON is highly recommended.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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