7 December 2022

Review: Remember the Night

Blu-ray: Remember the Night (1940)

It’s the week before Christmas and Lee Leander (Barbara Stanwyck) gets arrested for blatantly stealing a bracelet from a New York store, she’s assigned to be prosecuted by Jack Sargeant (Fred MacMurray), just as he was about to drive home to his mother for Christmas. He interferes with the trial so it has to be heard after the holiday, leaving Lee inadvertently in his care.

Remember the Night is one of those pre-world war 2 comedy/dramas, with buckets of pathos. Thank God for Powerhouse Films and their indictor series of releases, without them 60MW would have missed literally hundreds of films we would have otherwise never have seen, and this is yet another one of them. It’s a gem, a charming, funny, feel good film with a touch of morality, a bit of sex (oh yes!) and an unusual ending.

Stanwyck plays against type, here she’s a sort of all-american thief, beautiful (but not glamorous), talkative (but not sassy), her normally brassy blonde sexy hair, dyed back to a ‘normal’ colour. She’s not quite wicked. MacMurray however, plays himself (as he always does) and as he falls in love with Lee he begins to become skewed in his own beliefs, and tries to persuade her to go on the run rather than end up in jail.

Remember the Night is a perfect Sunday afternoon Christmas film, which has the added bonus on this release of some great special features too.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

High Definition remaster
Original mono audio
Audio commentary with film historian Adrian Martin (2022)
You May Laugh, You May Weep (2022, 26 mins): author and programmer Geoff Andrew revisits Remember the Night, exploring the contributions of writer Preston Sturges and director Mitchell Leisen
Outsider Status (2022, 26 mins): critic Pamela Hutchinson assesses the life and career of the iconic silver-screen star Barbara Stanwyck
Lux Radio Theatre: ‘Remember the Night’(1940, 55 mins): radio adaptation which finds Fred MacMurray and Stanwyck reprising their roles from the film
Lux Radio Theatre: ‘Remember the Night’(1942, 54 mins): second radio adaptation, pairing MacMurray with Jean Arthur
Hollywood Victory Caravan (1945, 20 mins): short promotional film starring 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 Caravan, and full film credits
Limited edition exclusive poster
UK premiere on Blu-ray
Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK