Letty Lynton

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Letty Lynton
Original film poster
Directed by	Clarence Brown
Produced by	Hunt Stromberg Irving Thalberg
Written by	Novel: Marie Belloc Lowndes Adaptation: John Meehan Wanda Tuchock
Starring	Joan Crawford Robert Montgomery Nils Asther Lewis Stone May Robson
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	May 14, 1932
Running time	84 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

Letty Lynton (1932) is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture starring Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, and Nils Asther, and directed by Clarence Brown. The film is based on a 1931 novel by Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes. In the film, Crawford plays the title character, in a tale of love and blackmail. The film has since become famous due to its unavailability.

This film has been unavailable since a US Federal court ruled on 17 January 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 28 July 1939, the US Second Court of Appeals 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 7 November 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.^[1]

In 1947, United Artists released the film Dishonored Lady, starring Hedy Lamarr and directed by Robert Stevenson, based on the play by Sheldon and Ayer Barnes.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Letty Lynton at the Internet Movie Database
• Margaret Ayer Barnes collection at Bryn Mawr

v • d • e Films directed by Clarence Brown 1920s The Great Redeemer • The Last of the Mohicans • The Foolish Matrons • The Light in the Dark • Don't Marry for Money • The Acquittal • The Signal Tower • Butterfly • The Eagle • The Goose Woman • Smouldering Fires • Flesh and the Devil • Kiki • A Woman of Affairs • The Trail of '98 • Navy Blues • Wonder of Women 1930s Anna Christie • Romance • Inspiration • Possessed • A Free Soul • Emma • Letty Lynton • The Son-Daughter • Looking Forward • Night Flight • Sadie McKee • Chained • Ah, Wilderness! • Anna Karenina • Wife vs. Secretary • The Gorgeous Hussy • Conquest • Of Human Hearts • Idiot's Delight • The Rains Came 1940s Edison, the Man • Come Live with Me • They Met in Bombay • The Human Comedy • The White Cliffs of Dover • National Velvet • The Yearling • Song of Love • Intruder in the Dust 1950s To Please a Lady • Angels in the Outfield • When in Rome • Plymouth Adventure

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