Release Date: April 14, 2020
Prices and Links:
Criterion- $31.96
Amazon- $27.37
Director: George Marshall
Writers: Felix Jackson (screen play), Gertrude Purcell (screen play)
Stars: Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart, Mischa Auer
Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart ride high in this superb comedic western, both a boisterous spoof and a shining example of the genre it is having fun with. As the brawling, rough-and-tumble saloon singer Frenchy, Dietrich shed her exotic love-goddess image and launched a triumphant career comeback, while Stewart cemented his amiable everyman persona, in his first of many westerns, with a charming turn as a gun-abhorring deputy sheriff who uses his wits to bring law and order to the frontier town of Bottleneck. A sparkling script, a supporting cast of virtuoso character actors, and rollicking musical numbers—delivered with unmatched bravado by the magnetic Dietrich—come together to create an irresistible, oft-imitated marvel of studio-era craftsmanship.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Original Theatrical Trailer:
Prices and Links:
Criterion- $31.96
Amazon- $27.37
Director: George Marshall
Writers: Felix Jackson (screen play), Gertrude Purcell (screen play)
Stars: Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart, Mischa Auer
- United States
- 1939
- 94 minutes
- Black & White
- 1.35:1
- English
Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart ride high in this superb comedic western, both a boisterous spoof and a shining example of the genre it is having fun with. As the brawling, rough-and-tumble saloon singer Frenchy, Dietrich shed her exotic love-goddess image and launched a triumphant career comeback, while Stewart cemented his amiable everyman persona, in his first of many westerns, with a charming turn as a gun-abhorring deputy sheriff who uses his wits to bring law and order to the frontier town of Bottleneck. A sparkling script, a supporting cast of virtuoso character actors, and rollicking musical numbers—delivered with unmatched bravado by the magnetic Dietrich—come together to create an irresistible, oft-imitated marvel of studio-era craftsmanship.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration by Universal Pictures in collaboration with The Film Foundation, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New interview with critic Imogen Sara Smith
- New interview with Donald Dewey, author of James Stewart: A Biography
- New video essay featuring excerpts from a 1973 oral-history interview with director George Marshall, conducted by the American Film Institute
- Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film from 1945, featuring actors James Stewart and Joan Blondell
- PLUS: An essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme
Original Theatrical Trailer:
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