Drama | 84min
Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Nils Asther, Lewis Stone, May Robson
Wealthy socialite Letty Lynton (Joan Crawford) is returning to New York, abandoning one-tine lover Emile Renaul in South America, when she strikes up a shipboard romance with Jerry Darrow.
Renault is waiting for her in New York and will not leave her alone, so she poisons him. When detectives take her to the D.A.s office, Jerry cooks up an alibi.
The film has since become famous due to its unavailability.
It is also remembered for the "Letty Lynton dress", designed by Adrian: a white cotton organdy gown with large ruffled sleeves, puffed at the shoulder.
Macy's department store copied the dress in 1932, and it sold over 500,000 replicas nationwide.
Why the film is so rare:
Letty Lynton has been unavailable since a federal District Court ruled on January 17, 1936 that the script used by MGM followed too closely the play Dishonored Lady (1930) by Edward Sheldon and Margaret Ayer Barnes without acquiring the rights to the play or giving credit.
On July 28, 1939, the Second Circuit awarded one-fifth of the net of Letty Lynton to plaintiffs Sheldon and Ayer Barnes in their plagiarism action against MGM.
This case was said to be the first copyright decision ever to direct the apportionment of profits on the relative basis as in patent suits where a patent has been appropriated.
On November 7, 1939, MGM petitioned the United States Supreme Court to overturn the Court of Appeals ruling, stating that the questions arising in the suit were predicated solely upon the copyright laws of the U.S., and not the patent laws.
However, MGM did not prevail in this latter action, and the film is unavailable even to this day save for some bootlegged copies.
About The Quality:
* This is the only rip of Letty Lynton that I know of. It seems to be from a multi-gen VHS recording.
As for the original source, I have no idea. Maybe film to VHS... who knows. But I would grade it as multi-gen VHS quality.
It is in pretty rough shape, but it is watchable. And it is the complete film.
Normally I wouldn't upload a video of this quality, but this is an exception.
As usual, I've supplied a sample clip. So check it out so you can judge the quality for yourself.