The Silver Screen Oasis

Be still my heart -- Criterion is releasing THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE..., LA RONDE and LE PLAISIR in September. Christmas comes early this year.

Wow! Great news!

It's about freakin' TIME!! Now, for a dvd re-release of Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) in Region 1.

I'm with you there, Moira (and THE RECKLESS MOMENT).

Not to whine, but along those lines, Criterion is also releasing A SMALL BACK ROOM. So...where's *&%^*&$ A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH?

Never satisfied, are we?

I've been asking for EARRINGS and SMALL BACK ROOM for the past couple years, over at the TCM request-a-movie. And when the Janus 50 Years set came out, I couldn't believe they left EARRINGS out. And SBR is about the only P&P film I havn't seen. So, I'm really looking forward to finally seeing these, yet hope my years of anticipation are worth the wait.With Ophuls and Powell, I would expect so.

Oh, I wanted to add, that the new Tyrone Power set includes I"LL NEVER FORGET YOU, a film I only had the chance to see once, but it was on the big screen - I'm looking forward to seeing that one again.

ChiO wrote:I'm with you there, Moira (and THE RECKLESS MOMENT).

Not to whine, but along those lines, Criterion is also releasing A SMALL BACK ROOM. So...where's *&%^*&$ A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH?

On R2. There's been an awesome Max Ophuls collection available in Britain for years - and that set included Reckless Moment and Letter along with Ophuls' French films. I thought for sure that Criterion's set of Ophuls titles would simply be an American release of the British set.

Also available in Britain but not in the States is the terrific An Actor's Revenge, but I've given up hope of ever seeing it released here. Criterion doesn't even have it on their radar.

-Stephen

I am a great fan of Ophüls too! I have seen many of his pictures:

Liebelei
Die Verkaufte Braut
Yoshiwara
Le Roman de Werther
Letter from an Unknown Woman
Caught
The Reckless Moment
La Ronde
Le Plaisir
Madame De...

And Lola Montès which has just been restored to its former length and Technicolor glory: http://lolamontes.cinematheque.fr/
There was an open-air screening of the film a few days ago in Paris. The restoration is stunning: a wonderful artistic use of colors like a painter. The film will be released on DVD (R2 France) next December.

Hi Ann & ChiO,
The Reckless Moment (1949) would definitely appeal to Joan Bennett fans nurtured on her Fritz Lang work. Though James Mason dismissed it, I've never forgotten seeing him in this small noir, so early in his Hollywood career. Having seen Lola Montes in a poorly transferred print, it would also be great to see the restored version on dvd.

I'd love to see all of Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger's work on Region 1 dvd (why not a boxed set?), especially The Small Back Room and Gone to Earth, along with the best known movies.

Thanks for these updates.

The Reckless Moment is indeed a fascinating picture. It's part film noir for its atmosphere and story (Mason is originally a black mailer) and part melodrama in the Sirk mold. We discover Joan Bennett's life as the perfect American housewife who leads a very lonely life surrounded by her family who is never aware of the trauma she is going through. A great Ophüls!

I've seen many of his works. We are lucky enough to have had quite a few released here. My favorite is Letter From an Unknown Woman there isn't much in it though all that I've seen are great.

I was lucky enough to see a print of Madame de... at a showing here in Calgary.

I highly recommend the UK DVD releases. Very good quality and all great films. If you're not region free at this point you are missing out. There is so much good stuff outside of region 1.

I'm hoping the restored Lola Montes gets released, as well as Liebelei.

But I think Letter from an Unknown Woman is probably my favorite too.

Yesterday, I got the opportunity to see Sans Lendemain (There is no tomorrow, 1939) on a big screen, a rare Ophüls from his first French period.


The story was unremittingly dark and moody. In Paris, Evelyn (Edwige Feuillère) a widow with a young child, works in a seedy nightclub where she parades around half-naked and has also to entertain the clients to make them drink as much as possible. She loathes her life, but has no choice as she needs the money for her child. One day, by chance, she meets Georges, a man she was desperately in love with 10 years ago in Canada. Deeply distressed he might discover her new profession, she decides to make him believe she lives a life of luxury. During three days, she organises a deceit: she rents a flat, puts on expensive clothes. But in order to achieve this deceit, she has to sell herself to a notorious pimp/gangster knowing she won't be able to escape his claws...

Like in Letter from an Unknown Woman, we follow the destiny of a woman who is doomed because of her love for a man. But this time, it's not that this love is unrequited, but that she cannot tell this man the truth about her own decline. She loathes herself and cannot see any future for herself. She will even do the ultimate sacrifice by giving her son to Georges knowing she will never see him again. Some of the scenes of the film were really heart rending: she begs goodbye to her son on the train platform but she cannot let him know he won't see her again... Edwige Feuillère, who was a great preformer in French classical theatre as well as in movies, gave a magnificent performance, probably one of the best I have ever seen! Ophüls really pulled out of her a sense of disgust mixed with black despair which is unforgettable. She was a very beautiful woman with elegance and bearing. I was lucky enough to see her on stage when she was older, but still had a wonderful presence.

Unfortunately, the earliest Ophuls film that I've seen is LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN and I would love to see his work from the '30s. I will admit that, with the exception of CAUGHT and THE RECKLESS MOMENT, which is probably due to the hand of Hollywood, I am almost oblivious to the story because I am so mesmerized by his camera -- the slow tracking, craning, glass and glitter is so gorgeous that I catch myself just watching and not listening. In terms of beauty, Murnau is the only director that comes to mind that may be his match. Is this style evident in his earlier films?

Dear Chio,

The answer is yes! As early as 1932, in Die Verkaufte Braut (an adaptation of Smetana's opera), the wonderful tracking shots are there! The film is just pure delight. In Sans Lendemain, yesterday, I also noticed how he followed Edwige Feuillère through a room full of revellers. The movement is so smooth you hardly notice it as you are caught in the story of this doomed heroine....