TOO LATE FOR TEARS

“The best un-known American film noir of the classic era.”

– Eddie Muller, President of the Film Noir Foundation

Rescued and preserved after a five-year effort by the Film Noir Foundation, this 1949 production is at long last available in a clean digital version, transferred from a 35mm print painstakingly restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive.

“After 17 highly successful years as one of MGM’s most successful producers (the THIN MAN series, the Jeannette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy operettas, etc.), Hunt Stromberg left the studio to produce a series of smaller budget films with his own independent production company…Adapted by author Roy Huggins from his novel that was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post, TOO LATE FOR TEARS was one such production. It was also Stromberg’s last independent film before retiring in 1951.

Between his extensive and award-winning stint in the special effects department at Warner Bros. and directing a series of widely successful science fiction and adventure films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Byron Haskin competently helmed a few noir titles in the late 1940s. When handed the script for TOO LATE FOR TEARS, Haskin immediately thought of the sultry and alluring Lizabeth Scott whom he recently directed in I WALK ALONE (1948). Unlike the pervious film, where Scott took a back seat to the flamboyant performances of Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, TOO LATE FOR TEARS provides Scott with the meaty role of frustrated housewife Jane Palmer, whose married life careens out of control with murderous greed when a suitcase filled with $60,000 is accidentally “tossed” to her and husband Alan (played by Arthur Kennedy). Beyond the fantastically theatrical turn by Scott, the production highlights an exceedingly devious performance by another noir icon, Dan Duryea.

Although coolly received by audiences initially, this seemingly minor noir has gained quite a cult following in recent years. Modern audiences now recognize it as a darkly satisfying and atmospheric meditation on the covetous societal and materialistic ambitions of postwar middle-class America.”

– Todd Weiner, UCLA Film & Television Archive

  Contents

Format: Blu-ray & DVD-NTSC Combo /
Region All & Region 0
(No Regional Code)

     ----------------------------------------------------------

TOO LATE FOR TEARS
(US, 1949)

Director: Byron Haskin
Featuring: Lizabeth Scott, Dan Duryea & Arthur Kennedy

• 102 minutes
• 35mm
• B&W
• Sound

     _________________________________________

 Bonus Material

• Audio Commentary Track - By writer, historian, and film programmer Alan K. Rode.

• “Chance Of A Lifetime: The Making of Too Late For Tears” – Produced by Steven Smith and the Film Noir Foundation and featuring Eddie Muller, Kim Morgan, and Julie Kirgo, this mini-doc offers a behind-the-scenes examination of the film’s original production.

• “Tiger Hunt: Restoring Too Late For Tears” – Produced by Steven Smith and the Film Noir Foundation, this is a chronicle of the multi-year mission to rescue this “lost” noir classic.

• “Noir City” – A short documentary directed by Joe Talbot about the annual Noir City Film Festival presented by the Film Noir Foundation at San Francisco’s historic Castro Theatre.

• 24-Page Souvenir Booklet – Featuring rare photographs, poster art, original lobby cards, and an essay by writer and noir-expert Brian Light.

    _________________________________________
    _________________________________________

Total Running Time: 01:42:00 (Blu-ray/DVD)

Language: English.

Booklet Text: Brian Light (English)

Published By: Flicker Alley

Institutional Price: $300 (plus shipping)

To order call: 212.280.8654 or click here for information on ordering by fax, e-mail or post.