Not All About The Dress – – Letty Lynton (1932, USA, B/W, 84 min)

Strongly recommended. Letty Lynton is probably the most famous movie . . . seen by hardly anyone. You should be one of them. The movie was buried in legal disputes for 90 years and first shown again this month – – appropriately – – at the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, during the TCM Classic Film Festival. Part of the picture’s fame stems from Gilbert Adrian’s (The Wizard Of Oz) costume design, creating a fashion craze for big-shouldered gowns. But these two bits of trivia should not overshadow the excellence of the film. Joan Crawford (Rain) wears the Letty Lynton dress well, as a typical pre-Code heroine who scandalously contemplates murdering her lover in favor of Robert Montgomery (Here Comes Mr. Jordan). The film is fast-paced, a great story told with excellent production values. Crawford and Montgomery are wonderful, as directed by Clarence Brown (National Velvet). Warner Archive will issue a 4K, restored, Blu-ray DVD, June 30^th.