"Letty Lynton" is Finally Coming to Blu-ray
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Ninety years is a long time to wait for this stylish Joan Crawford film.
Hardcore fans of classic film and fashion received some thrilling news recently: Letty Lynton, the 1932 MGM film starring Joan Crawford, not only has overcome a decades-long copyright dispute, it's also due to arrive on Blu-ray on June 30.
MGM acquired the 1931 novel of the same name by Marie Belloc Lowndes and had it adapted into a screenplay. Clarence Brown took on directorial duties, while Joan Crawford, already a star from films that included Our Dancing Daughters and Possessed, was given the title role and Adrian designed the costumes, adding to the star power he already had achieved for crafting spectacular gowns for Crawford, Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer.
In this pre-Code drama, Crawford plays the titular Letty, an unmarried New York socialite who has been living abroad with Emile Renaul, a charismatic lover played by Nils Asther, but she's no longer in love with him and decided to return to the U.S. and start her life anew. But aboard the ship as she returns, Letty meets Jerry Darrow, a handsome man of means played by Robert Montgomery; they are immediately attracted to each other and fall in love over the two-week trip. But when the ship docks in New York, Emile is waiting for Letty, having taken an airplane so he could arrive before her. Further details would spoil the story for anyone eager to experience it.
Unsurprisingly, Letty Lynton was a huge hit among Depression-era audiences, even as the some critical reviews weren't overly positive: "It is a feature with beautiful photography and good direction, but most of its incidents are implausible and the dialogue is often of the synthetic variety," wrote Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times. Hall's opinion didn't matter to the moviegoers who flocked to watch Crawford suffer social calamities while wearing a variety of stunning Adrian designs — more on that latter detail in a moment.
But soon after the film's release, a conflict arose. In 1930 playwrights Edward Sheldon and Margaret Ayer Barnes had written Dishonored Lady, based on the same true-crime story taken from the 1857 Scottish murder case on which Belloc Lowndes had written her novel. The play starred Katherine Cornell and premiered on Broadway in February 1930, playing for 127 performances before it closed three months later. Similarities between the play and the novel/film — a woman trying to escape her past, a death via poisoning, the discovery of scandalous love letters — caused the playwrights to file a plagiarism suit. Following a protracted battle, the courts prevailed on the side of Sheldon and Barnes, and in 1937 Letty Lynton was prohibited from any further circulation, in effect turning the work into a "lost" film. In 1939 another court ruled that the playwrights also should be paid $150,000 from MGM profits as infringement damages, attorneys' fees and court costs.
Fast-forward to 2025, and another law ultimately solved the problem: Copyrights expire after 95 years and become works in public domain, meaning that as of December 31, 2025, Letty Lynton was no longer subject to plagiarism claims by the long-deceased playwrights or their estates. Charles Tabesh, senior vice president of programming and content strategy for Turner Classic Movies, credited Warner Bros. Discovery Library Historian George Feltenstein for his work in getting Letty Lynton back in front of film fans. "He’s been working for years to clear the rights to Letty Lynton and this year, with help from the legal department, he was finally able to make it happen," Tabesh said in a statement.
Letty Lynton enjoyed its "new" world premiere on May 1 at Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre during the 2026 TCM Classic Film Festival; Feltenstein was on hand to introduce the film, which indeed was a 4K restoration. Almost a century after its original premiere, moviegoers finally were able to once again enjoy not only this outstanding example of a pre-Code drama, Adrian's costumes likewise were showcased on the big screen.
Fashion historians roundly agree Adrian's designs for Crawford to wear in this film represent some of his best work, and in the 1930s, retailers agreed. Soon after Letty Lynton's premiere, knockoffs of one gown in particular, crafted of white organdy and featuring oversized ruffled sleeves, quickly found their way into department stores, including Macy's, which in the 1930s offered a Cinema Shop that sold designs "inspired by" popular films. In the book Adrian: A Lifetime of Movie Glamour, Art and High Fashion, authors Leonard Stanley and Mark A. Vieira write that Macy's sold "tens of thousands of units" of the dress, which reportedly retailed for about $10, or $241.03 in 2026 dollars (still a bargain).
In The Miami Herald on July 4, 1934, a story about film fashion noted that, "While Hollywood is not regarded as the world's style capital, the gowns of glamorous women flashed upon the screen have made indelible impressions upon feminine patrons of the picture theaters. For example, hundreds of women bought and wore copies of the Letty Lynton dress first worn by Joan Crawford." The association proved so popular, gowns that didn't obviously resemble one of Adrian's designs also were advertised as "Letty Lynton" dresses.
Beyond the two Letty Lynton screenings at the TCM festival, fans of Crawford, pre-Code films or costume design also have a chance to add the title to their libraries when Warner Archive Collection releases the Blu-ray on Tuesday, June 30. While none of the special features included with this new 1080pHD print, taken from 4K scans of best preservation elements, unfortunately do not seem to focus on Adrian's costumes, the Blu-ray also will feature the feature-length documentary Irving Thalberg: Prince of Hollywood and audio from select Crawford radio appearances.
As of early May, no links to pre-order sales were available; Screen Chic will update the story once links to buy are posted.
