DVD Review HTF REVIEW: The Letter (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). (1 Viewer)

[Rob_Ray]

One of the retailers who are "erroneously" listing the 1929 version as an extra is the Turner Classic Movies website. Here's a link:

http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited...KGWG45QS8M3J86

Those buying a DVD of "The Letter" from TCM (a division of AOL Time Warner) which is advertised as having the 1929 version on it have every right to complain loudly if it's not there.

 

[GregoryMesh]

The very first press release in October included 1929 version as well.

 

[Herb Kane]

Again, this is the WB press release I received on October 26th, 2004...... whatever was issued and or posted elsewhere (on other sites) other than the infomation I have here, is news to me.


----------------------------------------------------------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE ATTACHED


Film Fans Rewarded for their Votes…

2004 DVD Decision™ Winners Debut January 11

The Letter, King Solomon’s Mines,

Ice Station Zebra, Ivanhoe &

Random Harvest


From Vintage Featurettes and Academy Award® winning Cartoons to Newly Discovered Alternate Ending for The Letter, WHV Includes Bonus Content with Fans in Mind

Burbank, Calif., October 18, 2004 –The five DVD Decision 2004 winners -- The Letter (leading the pack as the #1 most anticipated film to DVD), King Solomon’s Mines, Ice Station Zebra, Ivanhoe and Random Harvest – will debut on DVD January 11, 2005 from Warner Home Video. Each DVD will sell for $19.97 SRP.

Now in its second year, DVD Decision™ is the successful joint promotion from Warner Home Video and Turner Classic Movies® (TCM) which gives movie fans an opportunity to vote online for which five of 20 classic catalog candidates from the Warner Bros. Studios library will be released on DVD. Voting was held on the Turner Classic Movies® Web site during July with all 20 films airing throughout the month on TCM, and the DVD Decision™ winners are being remastered and having bonus features and special content assembled, including the recently discovered alternate ending of The Letter, Ice Station Zebra’s vintage making-of featurette The Man Who Makes the Difference and Random Harvest’s Greer Garson trailer gallery.


The Letter (1940)

A man stumbles down the steps of a veranda, followed by a woman who pumps several shots into him and then drops the gun. In two wordless minutes, director William Wyler grabs the audience and sets the movie’s mood with one of the most stunning opening sequences ever. The mystery continues to unfold when an incriminating letter written the day of the shooting is found. The classic film noir, based on the play by W. Somerset Maugham, was nominated for seven Academy Awards®, including Best Picture and a Best Actress nod for Bette Davis.

The extra features included on the DVD are:

Recently discovered 1940 version alternate ending sequence
1940 version theatrical trailer


King Solomon’s Mines (1950)

Sir Henry Rider Haggard’s famous first novel helped spawn the Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan stories and their various film versions. Stewart Granger plays Allan Quatermain, a British hunter in Africa, persuaded by a British woman (Deborah Kerr) to locate her missing husband. While searching together among the wild animals and cannibals, they find themselves falling in love. Winner of two Academy Awards®, this romantic adventure was filmed on location in Kenya and other exotic African locations.

The extra features included on the DVD are:

Theatrical trailer


Ice Station Zebra (1968)

A nifty cold-war thriller of spies, submarines and saboteurs captivated no less a personage than Howard Hughes, who reportedly watched it hundreds of times. Director John Carpenter also picked it as one of his favorites, stating "Why do I love this movie so much?" The film is based on Alistair MacLean's best-selling novel and stars Rock Hudson, Jim Brown and Ernest Borgnine in the story of a mission to the North Pole to rescue the crew of Drift Ice Station Zebra, a weather station at the top of the world.

The extra features included on the DVD are:

Vintage making-of featurette The Man Who Makes the Difference
Theatrical Trailer


Ivanhoe (1952)

Based on Sir Walter Scott's 1819 novel about knights, chivalry and swordplay, this lavish Technicolor epic was filmed on location in England with Joan Fontaine, Elizabeth Taylor and George Sanders in the starring roles. Robert Taylor also stars as Ivanhoe, the noble knight and champion of justice, trying to restore Richard the Lion Hearted to the throne during the reign of the evil Prince John.

The extra features included on the DVD are:

Oscar winning Tom and Jerry Cartoon "Two Mouseketeers"
Theatrical trailer


Random Harvest (1942)

Ronald Colman stars in the ultimate wartime romance as a shell-shocked World War I veteran who marries while suffering from amnesia, then recovers his memory only to forget the wife he adores. The film was nominated for seven Oscars®, including Best Picture, and featured MGM's then top female star, Greer Garson, in her second film adaptation of a James Hilton novel (the first was Goodbye, Mr. Chips). Random Harvest was directed by Mervyn LeRoy.

The extra features included on the DVD are:

Classic MGM shorts
Greer Garson trailer gallery

 

[Derek Estes]

I have to agree, even if only for the fact that this was pretty widely advertised, and there was never an announced correction. And again, TCM is an AOL Time Warner, and Warners should have been aware of their announcement, it was a TCM contest that resulted in the film being released to begin with, and understandably their announcement would be considered the definitive announcement by many viewers and on-line readers! I am pleased that this film is finally being released, and I am sure it will otherwise live up to the high standards that Warners sets. But, I am disappointed that my hopes for seeing the Jeanne Eagles version have been squashed,(I have wanted to see one of her performances since I read Samuel Fuller's autobiography) and, I would be surprised if this film is released on its own, considering how few people have even heard of it. This would have been a perfect release.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

This is rather dissapointing, as I was looking forward to the 1929 version being included, similar to Gaslight. Oh well, I still have pre-ordered The Letter and Ivanhoe.

 

[Jeff_HR]

This will be MINE!!

I sure hope WB does not waste any time in putting out a big Bette Boxset. I'll buy at any cost.

 

[Steve...O]

Interestingly, the TCM site still lists the 1929 version as being included on this DVD. On their message boards, some posters have indicated that the 1929 version was prepped for home video in 2003. Perhaps a last minute rights issue popped up?

It's too bad that this release is being overshadowed by a controversy about what is or is not being included as a bonus feature. I'm sure the feature itself and the real bonsus features will be well worth it.

Steve

 

[Rob_Ray]

I've been told that a last-minute rights issue did come up which is being cleared up, but not in time for this release. A Jeanne Eagles researcher indirectly involved in the project says he is confident that the Jeanne Eagles version will be released as a stand-alone disc at some point, hopefully, soon.

 

[Douglas R]

Thanks Rob, that's good news and clarifies things. The lack of the 1929 version certainly doesn't stop me getting the Bette Davis version, which really is a great film.

 

[Marc^H]

Not to nitpick the Warner Home Video folks, but it's Marketing 101 that you have to send out updates about your product if something major is changed. Some sites still list the inclusion of the 1929 version. That's not just an "extra"...it's a whole movie missing! That was the main reason I ordered the disc. Ah well--the radio broadcasts are a great addition.

Wonder what rights problems are holding it up? The usual culprits are music and source material. It's rare to find a 1929 drama with any background music, does this film even have any? Wonder if there is a problem with Maugham's estate over the story?

I know it's probably a legal impossibility, but I would love someone, someday to breakdown specifically what problems hold up so many older films from being released to video (Letty Lynton, Night Flight, Old Acquaintance, The Gang's All Here, etc). I find it pretty fascinating.

 

[Rob_Ray]

I've no idea of what the problem was and won't speculate. However, I'll point out that the 1929 version was a Paramount production. Most early Paramount talkies are now owned by Universal. Although Warner Bros. acquired certain remake rights in the late 1930s and may have even purchased the negative to the 1929 version, one can only imagine the hoops Warner had to jump through to clear all the remaining rights for both theatrical exhibition and home video of the Paramount original.

There was no music at all in the print that was screened at Cinecon last year.

 

[Marc^H]

Thanks Rob. I wasn't aware it was a Paramount movie.

I DID find out that is being shown at the Film Forum here in NYC on April 7, in a "new 35mm print":

THE LETTER

(1929) Unseen apart from incomplete 16mm prints, this first screen adaptation of the Somerset Maugham play about adultery and murder on an Indonesian rubber plantation stars legendary Broadway actress Jeanne Eagels (in the role played by Bette Davis in 1940), with Herbert Marshall — husband in the later version — as her lover. Of three surviving Eagels films, it's the only one with sound; she died of a drug overdose the same year.
2:45, 6:00, 9:15


Now that I'll get to see it, I am absolving Warner Home Video of their sin.

 

[Joe Caps]

This still does not explain why we are not getting th emusic only track from the 1940 version. I feel gyped.

 

[Will Krupp]

The movie plays just fine using either ending, and I can see now why two versions were prepared...but what does everybody think of it?

 

[Douglas R]

I've listened to the two Lux Radio Theater versions of The Letter on the disc. In the 1941 version of the play Betted Davis gives a similar performance to that which she gave in the film. But in the 1944 version Bette Davis gives a complete non-performance with no characterisation or expression in her voice, as if she was simply reading the lines with no interest whatsoever. Very strange!

Incidentally wasn't James Stephenson great as the lawyer. What a shame that he died so young a few years after making this film.

 

[Jefferson]

Again, I only pop in to HTF now to post my support of these classic titles.
I also want to thank Herb for his usual good job in reviewing this title.
I would have preferred ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO, but
this is a must have as well.

Where was that WB poll, where one could vote on classic titles?
Is there a similar poll up now?

 

[Jeff_HR]

Perhaps this will show up in a Bette Box in the near future.

 

[Steve...O]

A prolific poster over on Turner Classic Movies message board had this to say....



Steve

 

[Herb Kane]

Thanks Jefferson. The poll is long over but here is the thread discussing the details:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...r+decision+tcm