Wrought flesh trailer full#

He’s excellent as a Victorian dreamer obsessed with a love born of regret. But as David Del Valle’s disc commentary reminds me, it did play several times on Los Angeles’ legendary ‘Z’ Cable Channel, and later on early AMC cable.Īt this point in his career star Gary Cooper acted in a much wider range than his ‘yup, nope’ reputation suggests. I don’t remember seeing this through the Paramount collection at the UCLA Film Archive, which likely held a nitrate print. It’s said to be an improvement on the original novel, an anomaly for Hollywood adaptations of books. I remember author James Ursini telling me it was one of his favorite pictures, for the purity of its presentation. It’s a borderline film blanc, the odd category of afterlife fantasies. Adapted from an 1891 novel and turned into a play, an opera and a silent film adaptation, George Du Maurier’s eerie story sits at a crossroads between the gothic novel and spiritualist fantasy. Peter Ibbetson became a touchstone title in the 1970s when film academics were delving deep into genre studies. The strangest things are true, and the truest things are strange.” Screenplay by Vincent Lawrence, Waldemar Young, additional scenes by John Meehan, Edwin Justus Mayer, from the novel by George Du Maurier and the play by John Nathan Raphael, adapted by Constance Collier. Starring: Gary Cooper, Ann Harding, Ida Lupino, John Halliday, Dickie Moore, Virginia Weidler, Douglass Dumbrille, Donald Meek, Leonid Kinskey, Cyril McLaglen. Street Date Aug/ available through Kino Lorber / 24.95 Spiritual Nirvana or pretension? It’s crazy, but it connects with real life as we experience it - with our romantic memories and regrets.ġ935 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 85 min.

It’s beautifully filmed by cameraman Charles Lang, avoiding overdone expressionist effects… reality is a dream, folks, and this star-crossed pair makes dreams real by a simple force of will. The odd art film out in Henry Hathaway’s career, this unabashed spiritualist fantasy was adopted by French surrealists as emblematic of their values.

Wrought flesh trailer full#

Surreal delirium in cinema! Gary Cooper and Ann Harding are a tragic romantic pair, but even when separated by space, time and the law they manage to live a full life together as virtual dream lovers.