On Saturday, September 19, New York Film Critics Circle member and film historian Farran Smith Nehme will introduce the New York premiere of a new restoration of Letty Lynton starring Joan Crawford, a film previously out of circulation for over 90 years! 

In Letty Lynton, socialite Letty (Crawford) flees her possessive lover (Nils Asther) and falls for a wealthy American (Robert Montgomery). The drama that follows was inspired by a real-life 19th century scandal in Scotland that inspired books, theater and film, including this MGM smash-hit adaptation of a 1931 novel. However, the creators of a contemporary play based on the same story sued claiming copyright infringement, and the film was pulled from circulation in 1936. Now, all legal impediments have been cleared, and the film returns to the screen gloriously restored by Warner Bros.

Although Letty Lynton was withheld from distribution, it was subject to the good fortune of being part of MGM’s nitrate-to-safety preservation conversion program in the 1960s. Safety protection elements were made at that time and were the source for the new presentation. The safety protection elements were scanned at 4K resolution for preservation, and a 2K DCP was created for theatrical distribution. Both the picture and sound elements were put through a careful restoration process to ensure a pristine image that retained the film’s original grain structure, and improvements to the audio source to maintain a wide frequency response, while eliminating extraneous distractions such as pops and clicks. The net result is a presentation that is equal to or better than what the film first looked like upon release in 1932. It should also be noted that the pre-1986 MGM library has been owned by Warner Bros. for the last 30 years, where all of those productions are cared for by the Warner Bros. preservation team.