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Posted: **Thu Aug 18, 2022 1:32 pm**

(Mitchell Leisen, 1940)
Release date: 5 December 2022
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK premiere)

With its sparkling screenplay by Preston Sturges (The Great McGinty, The Palm Beach Story), this much-loved romantic comedy paired screen legends Barbara Stanwyck (The Lady Eve, Forty Guns) and Fred MacMurray (Double Indemnity, The Absent-Minded Professor) for the very first time.

Stanwyck plays Lee Leander, a shoplifter who faces a lonely Christmas in prison, while MacMurray is the strait-laced New York District Attorney who takes pity on her and organises her release on bail. After he offers to drive her to visit her family, a trouble-filled road-trip ensues and an unlikely romance blossoms.

Directed by Mitchell Leisen (Easy Living, Hold Back the Dawn), and featuring acting support from Beulah Bondi (It’s a Wonderful Life) and Elizabeth Patterson (The Cat and the Canary), Remember the Night is an all-time classic comedy from Hollywood's golden age. This individually numbered Limited Edition includes a fascinating selection of new and archival extra features, a poster, and an 80-page book.

INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

High Definition remaster
Original mono audio
Audio commentary with film historian Adrian Martin (2022)
Geoff Andrew on ‘Remember the Night’ (2022): the author and programmer revisits the film, exploring the contributions of star Fred MacMurray, writer Preston Sturges and director Mitchell Leisen
Pamela Hutchinson on Barbara Stanwyck (2022): the critic assesses the life and career of the iconic silver-screen star, and her role in Remember the Night
Lux Radio Theatre: ‘Remember the Night’ (1940): radio adaptation which sees MacMurray and Stanwyck reprise their roles from the film
Lux Radio Theatre: ‘Remember the Night’ (1942): second radio adaptation, this time pairing MacMurray with Jean Arthur
Hollywood Victory Canteen (1945): short promotional film starring Barbara Stanwyck and many other Hollywood names, including Humphrey Bogart, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Betty Hutton, and Alan Ladd
Original theatrical trailer
Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Limited edition exclusive 80-page book with a new essay by Rick Burin, archival interviews with cast and crew, articles on the careers of director Mitchell Leisen and screenwriter Preston Sturges, an overview of contemporary critical responses, writing on Hollywood Victory Canteen, and full film credits
Limited edition exclusive poster
UK premiere on Blu-ray
Limited edition of 3,000 copies
All extras subject to change

#PHILTD294
BBFC cert: TBC
REGION B
EAN: 5060697922530

Posted: **Thu Aug 18, 2022 1:45 pm**

Adrian Martin!

Posted: **Thu Aug 18, 2022 1:47 pm**

Looking forward to watching the 2022 contributions and reading the book; time to retire the Universal BD.

Posted: **Thu Aug 18, 2022 2:45 pm**

Wasn't expecting such a lavish edition for just the one title but looks brilliant!

Hope they can get some more Sturges and/or Leisen at some point later on (I see both The Great McGinty and Easy Living are mentioned in the blurb...

). This will definitely scratch that itch in the meantime!

Posted: **Thu Aug 18, 2022 5:14 pm**

In which über-urban sophisticates Sturges/Leisen manage a salt-of-the-earth Christmas love story with a straight face

ryannichols7 wrote: ↑
Thu Aug 18, 2022 1:45 pm
Adrian Martin!

Finally he gets to do Sturges. He was passed by for the Kino run of titles, which apparently made him write that op-ed about the poor state of BD commentary.

Posted: **Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:20 pm**

Maltic wrote: ↑
Thu Aug 18, 2022 5:14 pm
Finally he gets to do Sturges. He was passed by for the Kino run of titles, which apparently made him write that op-ed about the poor state of BD commentary.

With all the commentaries they do, I'm surprised Kino haven't hired Martin for any commentaries. It's not like they have an aversion to Aussie commentators either (Lee Gambin and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas).

Posted: **Thu Aug 18, 2022 10:21 pm**

ChunkyLover wrote: ↑
Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:20 pm

Maltic wrote: ↑
Thu Aug 18, 2022 5:14 pm
Finally he gets to do Sturges. He was passed by for the Kino run of titles, which apparently made him write that op-ed about the poor state of BD commentary.
With all the commentaries they do, I'm surprised Kino haven't hired Martin for any commentaries. It's not like they have an aversion to Aussie commentators either (Lee Gambin and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas).

Criterion have also never hired Martin for a track - they've only licensed his commentaries and commissioned him for essays, bizarrely. him doing essays on the Bunuel set seems like a waste of resource, I'd be surprised if he wasn't game to do tracks. also surprised about Kino too, seems like he'd be a great fit for a lot of what they release

he's never done Sturges but he did Leisen's Hold Back the Dawn for Arrow, a title I'm sure would've gone to Indicator nowadays. I know he does like to do multiple commentaries for various directors and is usually proud of it ("this is my fourth Aldrich", "my 13th Godard", etc)

is this the first time Indicator have done the hardbox/80 page book for a classic Hollywood title? looks to be so

Posted: **Thu Aug 18, 2022 10:41 pm**

My guess is Martin’s rate is higher than KLSC wants to pay (and even that’s probably not that much— I don’t know his current rates, but I know only a few years ago it was less than you might think. Maybe we can crowdfund a commentary for a film we all like that’ll never commission Martin)

Posted: **Fri Aug 19, 2022 3:52 am**

For what it’s worth, my fee for Kino’s The Round-Up was pretty much identical to what I’ve been paid for other commentaries for other labels (give or take exchange rate issues), so there’s clearly an internationally-recognised standard rate.

Posted: **Fri Aug 19, 2022 8:24 am**

ryannichols7 wrote: ↑
Thu Aug 18, 2022 10:21 pm

Criterion have also never hired Martin for a track - they've only licensed his commentaries and commissioned him for essays, bizarrely. him doing essays on the Bunuel set seems like a waste of resource, I'd be surprised if he wasn't game to do tracks.

Criterion rarely commission anyone for new commentaries these days

Not sure why

Posted: **Fri Aug 19, 2022 1:34 pm**

Can't wait for this.

One of my favourites.

Adrian Martin as well - Christmas has come early

Posted: **Sat Aug 20, 2022 10:10 am**

Maltic wrote: ↑
Fri Aug 19, 2022 8:24 am
Criterion rarely commission anyone for new commentaries these days
Not sure why

My memory is a bit foggy, but I believe someone from Criterion had stated on a podcast that Criterion did research, came to the conclusion that most people don't listen to commentaries anymore, and is a main reason why they don't commission new commentaries as much. It's a shame too since, for example, some of their Imogen Sara Smith interviews ("Forty Guns", "Leave Her to Heaven", and "Pickup on South Street") are lengthy enough as they are (with Guns and South Street being almost half the length of the main feature!) that Criterion could of just made her do full commentaries.

Posted: **Sat Aug 20, 2022 6:10 pm**

I've never really understood why people fetishise "full commentaries" when, as you say, just as much useful information can be imparted in a form that doesn't demand slavish synchronisation to the film.

In fact, I've personally turned down two commentary commissions in favour of doing video essays, because I felt that the films in question were better suited to a medium that would allow me to draw direct comparisons between non-sequential scenes. And prolific Indicator commentator Neil Sinyard often does selected-scene commentaries instead of full-length ones because he'd rather offer an hour of quality material than the same hour plus forty minutes of padding - which is frankly something that more commentators should do.

Posted: **Sun Aug 21, 2022 6:43 am**

ChunkyLover wrote: ↑
Sat Aug 20, 2022 10:10 am
My memory is a bit foggy, but I believe someone from Criterion had stated on a podcast that Criterion did research, came to the conclusion that most people don't listen to commentaries anymore, and is a main reason why they don't commission new commentaries as much. It's a shame too since, for example, some of their Imogen Sara Smith interviews ("Forty Guns", "Leave Her to Heaven", and "Pickup on South Street") are lengthy enough as they are (with Guns and South Street being almost half the length of the main feature!) that Criterion could of just made her do full commentaries.

ISS is great - she could read the phone book and it would be interesting

Posted: **Sun Aug 21, 2022 8:22 am**

It’s interesting that commentaries are falling out of favor at the same time that podcasts where hosts prattle on about nothing for countless hours are at the height of their popularity. You’d think audiences would be primed to listen more, not less, to extended talking, but it does seem broadly true that even here most of us don’t listen to commentaries as much as we used to

Posted: **Sun Aug 21, 2022 11:06 am**

There's definitely something to this. I used to listen to a lot of commentaries as mp3 rips on portable players and found I'd get through a lot more of them when I could squeeze them into a commute or a walk. Almost no one sits down to listen to a podcast. I think the commentary still has a lot of value but it's unfortunately trapped in the wrong medium.

If Criterion started producing a 60-90 minute audio commentary/essay series that went into the same kind of depth as a good commentary on a movie from their library every 1-2 weeks, I'd certainly pay a subscription fee for access to that.

Posted: **Sun Aug 21, 2022 11:28 am**

domino harvey wrote:It’s interesting that commentaries are falling out of favor at the same time that podcasts where hosts prattle on about nothing for countless hours are at the height of their popularity. You’d think audiences would be primed to listen more, not less, to extended talking, but it does seem broadly true that even here most of us don’t listen to commentaries as much as we used to

I only speak for myself of course, but listening to an audio commentary on movies I discover for the first time 95% of the time means having to sit twice through the movie while I already have more stuff to watch than free time to do so.
However, I can listen to a podcast on my bus ride back and forth to work, and even sometimes (depending on the task) while at work.
So these are things that definitely don't have the same constraints to me, and would explain why in my case, it's so much easier to find time to listen to a podcast but not an audio commentary (which is pretty much what dekadetia wrote).

Posted: **Sun Aug 21, 2022 12:00 pm**

dekadetia wrote: ↑
Sun Aug 21, 2022 11:06 am
Almost no one sits down to listen to a podcast.

I will sometimes remain in the car with the engine off for 15 or 20 minutes until the podcast is done, though. Or sit down on the couch with the earbuds in if I'm walking home...

Posted: **Sun Aug 21, 2022 3:42 pm**

Maltic wrote: ↑
Sun Aug 21, 2022 12:00 pm

dekadetia wrote: ↑
Sun Aug 21, 2022 11:06 am
Almost no one sits down to listen to a podcast.

I will sometimes remain in the car with the engine off for 15 or 20 minutes until the podcast is done, though. Or sit down on the couch with the earbuds in if I'm walking home...

That's fair. I guess I'm saying that when I have the uninterrupted time to spend on the couch, I'm far more likely to watch an actual movie.

Back to the topic at hand though, I would love to see this serve as a gateway to more Sturges "Christmas movies" from Indicator -- both Christmas in July and Miracle at Morgan's Creek get the better of this one, in my opinion, probably because Sturges as director got the leeway to be much more goofy and madcap with these two.

Posted: **Fri Dec 30, 2022 9:36 am**

Remember the Beaver

Posted: **Wed Jan 04, 2023 11:46 am**

ryannichols7 wrote: ↑
Thu Aug 18, 2022 10:21 pm

Criterion have also never hired Martin for a track - they've only licensed his commentaries and commissioned him for essays, bizarrely.

I made a list for no reason.

Titles for which there was a Madman DVD-commentary by Martin, which CC did not licence for their BD release:

Le Plaisir
Madame de
Masculin Feminin
Good Morning
Le corbeau
F for fake
The exterminating angel
La promesse
Alice in the cities
Ministry of fear
Journey to Italy

In some cases... Lola Montes, Madame de, F for Fake, Journey to Italy... the CC release had an alternative commentary.

Commentaries CC did licence for the BD:

The immortal story
Les cousins
2 or 3 things I know about her
Vivre sa vie

Posted: **Sat Feb 18, 2023 1:29 pm**

Rewatching the film reminded me of how good Leisen could be at switching tones. The brief scene at Lee's mother's house is memorably eerie and haunting, and her final scene with Sargent's mother is brilliantly shot: I love the image of Stanwyck staring at her mirror while Bondi's reflection hovers above her. Bondi is marvelous in this scene, tender and yet cruel at the same time. From what I gather in Indicator's typically excellent book, most of what Leisen elided from Sturges' script was slapstick-y stuff which, as much as I love Sturges, I don't think I'd ever miss in this particular film. I also really appreciated the writing on Leisen (although, with him being the director, I'd perhaps have moved that essay to the front of the book) and I was pretty disappointed to read about Billy Wilder's attacks on Leisen, which I sort of knew about, but the personal nature of them makes me think a little less of Wilder as a human being.

Please, Michael and co, if there's an acceptable HD master, give Midnight the release it deserves.

Posted: **Tue Dec 26, 2023 6:14 am**

Always love to revisit this film at this time of year.

A perennial festive favourite

Posted: **Tue Dec 26, 2023 6:49 am**

filmyfan wrote: ↑
Tue Dec 26, 2023 6:14 am
Always love to revisit this film at this time of year.

A perennial festive favourite

Just literally finished watching it myself but for the first time! (And the fun little war bonds short included with the Indicator disc). What a beautiful movie, with a fairly unexpected ending (for me anyway).

Definitely a preposterous scenario but the film tugs the heart strings enough to justify it all. And Sterling Holloway is (almost) palatable for a change! Not quite up there with the perfection of It’s a Wonderful Life or The Shop Around The Corner, but an amazing film nonetheless.

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