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WHV Press Release: Night Flight

post #1 of 28
2/14/11 at 7:08am
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LOCKED IN THE VAULT FOR MORE THAN 75 YEARS

THE LOST MGM CLASSIC

NIGHT FLIGHT

ARRIVES ON DVD FOR THE FIRST TIME

JUNE 7 FROM WARNER HOME VIDEO

 

MGM All-Star Spectacular Features Hollywood Legends

John Barrymore, Helen Hayes, Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Robert Montgomery

and Myrna Loy

 

Burbank, Calif., February 14, 2011 – Unseen since it was pulled from circulation in 1942, the MGM all-star extravaganza, Night Flight (1933) makes its long-awaited debut on DVD June 7 from Warner Home Video. Orders are due May 3 (SRP $19.98).

Directed by Clarence Brown (Angels in the Outfield, National Velvet), Night Flight stars John Barrymore (Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Dinner at Eight, Twentieth Century), Oscar®-winner Helen Hayes (Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Airport, 1970; Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Sin of Madelon Claudet, 1931; Anastasia, Herbie Rides Again), Academy Award®-winner Clark Gable (Best Actor in a Leading Role for It Happened One Night, 1934; Gone with the Wind, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Misfits), Academy Award®-winner Lionel Barrymore (Best Actor in a Leading Role for A Free Soul, 1931; Key Largo, It’s a Wonderful Life), Robert Montgomery(June Bridge, Once More My Darling), and Myrna Loy (The Best Years of Our Lives, received an honorary Academy Award® in 1991 for her career achievement).

“Only MGM, with their incredible 'more stars than there are in the heavens' slogan, could assemble a cast like this one,” said George Feltenstein, senior vice president, Theatrical Catalog Marketing, Warner Home Video. “This remarkable film boasts the same kind of overwhelming star power the studio deployed for success in creatingGrand Hotel and Dinner at Eight. Movies with more than one big star are commonplace in our industry now, and have been for years, but in the 1930s, having more than two big stars in one movie was very rare, which makes this film a true cinematic treasure.”

 

Building momentum for its inaugural DVD release, Night Flight will be screened at the second annual TCM Classic Film Festival, which takes place April 28 through May 1 in Hollywood.

 

Night Flight will also be available day and date on Video on Demand from cable and satellite providers and for electronic download from online retailers including Amazon Video on Demand.

 

ABOUT THE FILM

“With its excellent acting by an imposing list of players and the meticulous attention to details of flying, both on land and in the air, the film translation of the prize novel, "Night Flight," written by the French air-mail pilot, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, is a vivid and engrossing production.”

–        Mordaunt Hall.b.r.c., The New York Times (October 7, 1933)

 

One of the most authentic flying movies to grace the silver screen and a must own for classic movie fans, the suspense-filled drama is an adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's international best-seller “Vol de Nuit.” Best remembered for his novella “The Little Prince” (“Le Petit Prince”), Night Flight is based on the author’s harrowing experiences as an airmail pilot and director of the Aeroposta Argentina airline.

 

SYNOPSIS

 

Polio breaks out in Rio de Janeiro, the serum is in Santiago and there’s only one way to get the medicine where it’s desperately needed: flown in by daring pilots who risk the treacherous weather and forbidding peaks of the Andes. A Grand Hotel-worthy cast – John and Lionel Barrymore (in their final film together), Clark Gable, Helen Hayes, Robert Montgomery, Myrna Loy – headline this thrilling adventure from the novel by Antoine de Saint-Exupèry. Forceful men clash, lovely women wait and fragile biplanes challenge the sky “with special effects that feel downright revolutionary [including] gorgeous, convincing shots of aircraft during nocturnal voyages and a magnificent storm sequence.” (Nathan Southern, allmovie.com).

SPECIAL FEATURES:
· Vintage Sports Champions Series Short Swing High
· Classic Cartoon When the Cat’s Away
· Subtitles: English & Français (Main Feature. Bonus Material/Trailer May Not Be Subtitled.).

Note: All enhanced content listed above is subject to change.

 

NIGHT FLIGHT (1933)

Format: DVD

Language: English

Run Time: 84 minutes

Street Date: June 7, 2011

Order Date: May 3, 2011

Cat / UPC: 1000195601 / 883929184767

SRP: $19.98

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Night Flight
post #2 of 28
2/14/11 at 7:19am

Excellent news.  I would have given my left and right arm thinking that this would have been a Warner Archive title, I'm glad I did not sign anything or shake on it. 

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post #3 of 28
2/14/11 at 7:49am

Wow, truly unbelievable! Not only that this film is finally available, but that it's getting a regular retail pressed released! I would have thought for sure they would have gone the Archive route with this one.

Will other unseen for decades films that WB controls get the same treatment once their rights are cleared up? Will we see the same for the Constant Nymph? How about Letty Lynton, if they ever resolve that one?

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post #4 of 28
2/14/11 at 8:01am

I just finished seeing Clarence Brown's remarkable INTRUDER IN THE DUST (1949).  Is there any documentary out about this guy, his life, and his films?

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post #5 of 28
2/14/11 at 5:15pm

Never saw this one coming, but very glad to see Warners hasn't entirely abandoned proper DVD releases of classic films.

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post #6 of 28
2/15/11 at 2:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles H View Post

I just finished seeing Clarence Brown's remarkable INTRUDER IN THE DUST (1949).  Is there any documentary out about this guy, his life, and his films?



I always thought Brown was a very underrated director.  Just look at his resume and the fine list of films directed by him.

 

The Human Comedy

National Velvet

The Yearling

Intruder in the Dust

Numerous Garbo films

Numberous Gable films

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post #7 of 28
2/15/11 at 8:21am

By the way was there a specific reason that the movie was pulled from circulation in 1942?

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post #8 of 28
2/15/11 at 4:07pm

Most press releases are one major bore after another and it's been years since something really knocked me on my ass but this certainly did it.

 

I normally just rent titles through Netflix but I'll buy this one just to support everything getting cleared up and actually released.  I was talking with someone with certain connections to studios (he does commentaries, produces featurettes) and he thought this would be one title that would never get any type of official release.  I'm glad he was wrong.

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post #9 of 28
2/15/11 at 7:18pm

Love the cast, the director, the treatment it's getting...but, you know, is the movie any good? 

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post #10 of 28
2/15/11 at 7:21pm

Most reviews of the day gave the film high marks and several other books have rated it pretty highly.  Not a masterpiece but a good, solid film. 

 

Of course, a lot of times these "rare" or "unseen" movies are talked up so much that they can't possibly live up to the hype.

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post #11 of 28
2/16/11 at 7:39am

Were there "literary rights" issues with the estate that held it up?

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post #12 of 28
2/16/11 at 1:12pm

From what I've heard it was due to the author gaining control of the rights and then the estate holding onto them. 

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post #13 of 28
2/16/11 at 2:39pm

I managed to snag NIGHT FLIGHT, LETTY LYNTON and CONSTANT NYMPH off of ebay several years ago.  Great to see that two of them are coming out legit.  NYMPH is a great movie and LETTY is certainly a key Crawford film.  But my first view of NIGHT FLIGHT was disappointing mainly because the cast and director had my expectations pretty high.  Its not on the level of GRAND HOTEL or DINNER AT EIGHT and the stars have even less contact with each other than in HOTEL.  But, in subsequent viewings, Ive enjoyed it a lot more and Im sure seeing a better looking print will help.  In any case, it's a film definitely worth seeing although no undiscovered masterpiece.  A "new" 30s film with Barrymore, Barrymore, Gable, Loy, Hayes and Montgomery doesnt show up every day!

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post #14 of 28
2/16/11 at 4:08pm

Awesome news!!

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post #15 of 28
2/17/11 at 8:06am

I really wish Warner had bothered to included a featurette or audio commentary.

 

This is a film which screamed for it.

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post #16 of 28
2/17/11 at 10:50am

Maybe something will materialize. But, you know, they gave us an inch. On the other hand, based on an IMDb comment I read ("No expense or effort has been spared to make this film, yet it never really `sings'...one of the strangest phenomena of Night Flight is the fact that the legion of stars in the cast rarely, if ever, play a scene with one another") maybe it wasn't good enough for the Warner Archive. smiley_wink.gif

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post #17 of 28
2/21/11 at 12:02am

Could this be a trial balloon to see if the market's changed? The rare nature of this title and the collection of stars is impressive, however there are a dozen of films tossed into the archive folder that were of equal or greater attention than this one. Don't get me wrong, i'm ordering it just to tell Warners what i want, and i want more of authentic pressed dvds.

I also note all the other elements of media that they included in the release, which are the future. Nostrodamus predicted as such.

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post #18 of 28
2/21/11 at 6:57am

For me a return to a handful of titles per year on pressed disk vs. the many issued via the Archive per week on DVD-Rs would be backsliding, and I'm prepared to take my lumps for saying so. 

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post #19 of 28
2/21/11 at 8:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Cashill View Post

For me a return to a handful of titles per year on pressed disk vs. the many issued via the Archive per week on DVD-Rs would be backsliding, and I'm prepared to take my lumps for saying so. 


How about a peaceful coexistence? smile.gif

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post #20 of 28
2/21/11 at 8:18am

Fair enough, so long as my weekly fill continues. What would be a good idea is Warner reissuing its best-selling Archive titles on DVD or Blu-ray so we could really see how popular THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN is...

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post #21 of 28
2/23/11 at 1:04am

Yes, once you're addicted to overpriced product of a lesser quality, it's difficult to go back... Certainly that's what the producers want you to think, pavlov...

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post #22 of 28
2/23/11 at 7:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by shoeshineboy View Post

Yes, once you're addicted to overpriced product of a lesser quality, it's difficult to go back... Certainly that's what the producers want you to think, pavlov...



How sweet of you to refer to those of us supporters or Warners Archives as trained dogs unable to think for ourselves which is exactly what you mean with your "Pavlov" (that's a capital P, btw) remark. We don't share your views regarding the Archives therefore we're dogs who automatically go to our master (which is Warners) whenever they have new titles to sell. I suppose that when one doesn't have anything valid to say, resorting to insults and putdowns are supposed to compensate.

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post #23 of 28
2/24/11 at 9:37am

D27143.jpg

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post #24 of 28
2/24/11 at 10:32am

Now that is a good looking cover. 

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post #25 of 28
2/24/11 at 12:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Elliott View Post

From what I've heard it was due to the author gaining control of the rights and then the estate holding onto them. 


Not exactly. The author, St.-Exupery, was in a plane that presumably crashed into the sea in 1944. French copyright laws state that a work does not become public domain until 50 years after the author's death. Since he was not declared legally dead until many years later, Warners had to wait until it was safe to reissue the film. To be sure, the estate was not very helpful in authorizing occasional screenings, though I am one of the fortunate few who has seen it in 35mm. It's a good picture, but yes, considering the cast, it should've been much better; CEILING ZERO and ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS, with similar plots, are far superior.

 

Mike S.


 

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post #26 of 28
2/25/11 at 7:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ahollis View Post

Now that is a good looking cover. 



Couldn't agree more. Beautifully done!

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post #27 of 28
2/27/11 at 1:15am

My slightly over-the-top reply was in relation to this comment by Bob: "per year on pressed disk vs. the many issued via the Archive per week on DVD-Rs would be backsliding "... which on its surface would suggest that pressed disc releases only hurt the replicant production of dvd-r at the same price. Of course there were likely other considerations behind his comment however i let my reply stand -- except the pavlov retort, which of course was the name of the master, not the dog -- and think one should grow a thicker skin. With all the wonderful dupes of once-pristine film now available, how you have time to post here is beyond me.

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post #28 of 28
6/2/11 at 6:44am

Forum review is posted:

 

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/thread/311872/night-flight-dvd-review

 

 

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