The new restoration of an iconic Joan Crawford gem!
Sex, drugs, and poisoned Champagne! Fresh from its world premiere at TCM Festival, Designing the Movies is thrilled the present Letty Lynton. Long awaited and in a much-anticipated new 4K restoration by Warner Bros., the edgy 1932 Joan Crawford film has been unavailable and unseen for decades while hung up in copyright battles. Buried for years, this is one of the first public screenings since 1936!
The plot is wild. Based on Marie Belloc Lowndes historical true crime novel, the melodrama follows a murderous socialite (Joan Crawford, ICONIC) in an edgy pre-Code blackmail and extramarital plot. And its fashion launched a thousand imitations. If you thought Kate Winslet’s Edwardian Titanic gown ruled prom, know that in its day Macy’s Cinema Fashion Shops alone sold half a million replicas of legendary costume designer Adrian’s gown to ardent fans (to say nothing of the countless home sewist versions) — a phenomenon known thereafter as the ‘Letty Lynton effect.’ The ruffled white organdy dress’s popularity marked a tipping point — in fashion authority, away from Paris couture and towards the growing influence of a burgeoning celebrity culture, spurred by early Hollywood, and a pop culture fandom moment now mythic.
Join us, won’t you? Presented with an introduction by series host Nathalie Atkinson