Review: You and Me
Blu-ray: You and Me (1938)
Directed by the great Fritz Lang, and starring Sylvia Sidney (Juno from Beetlejuice) as Helen, and George Raft, who was always known for his gangster roles, but actually started out as a Broadway dancer, as Joe Dennis.
Helen and Joe meet and fall in love while working for Mr. Morris at his department store, but little does anyone know that Morris hires ex-criminals newly released from prison, to rehabilitate them. That means most of the staff are ex-crims.
They marry in secret, but Joe feels unworthy because of his violent past, while Helen has a secret of her own.
This really is an ensemble (you’ll recognise several of the actors as very young men) piece and is really funny in places, Sidney is just delightful as is Helen, making it more enjoyable than a soppy ‘will they find love?’ sort of film, while Raft, despite playing a criminal, isn’t as ‘gangstery’ as he normally is.
A really enjoyable tale of love and redemption.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- 2K restoration
- Original mono audio
- Audio commentary with writer and film programmer Tony Rayns (2024)
- Crafting a Career (2024, 23 mins): academic Lucy Bolton discusses the life and lengthy film career of the acclaimed stage and screen actor Sylvia Sidney
- The Department Store Opera (2024, 27 mins): author and musicologist David Huckvale discusses Kurt Weill and the film’s unique musical score
- Original theatrical trailer
- Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Limited edition exclusive 36-page booklet with a new essay by Farran Smith Nehme, an archival interview with Fritz Lang conducted by Peter Bogdanovich, an archival interview with screenwriter Norman Krasna, a contemporary profile of Lang, and film credits
- UK premiere on Blu-ray
- Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK
Review by Tina from a disc kindly supplied by Powerhouse Films.
