Warner Bros. has confirmed that it plans to bring to Blu-ray Ernst Lubitsch's
Ninotchka (1939)m starring Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, and Ina Claire, and William Dieterle's
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), starring Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara, and Cedric Hardwicke. The two releases are scheduled to arrive on the market on May 19.
Ninotchka
Synopsis: Garbo Talks! proclaimed ads when silent star Greta Garbo debuted in talkies. Nine years and 12 classic screen dramas later, the gifted movie legend was ready for another change. Garbo Laughs! cheered the publicity for her first comedy, a frothy tale of a dour Russian envoy sublimating her womanhood for Soviet brotherhood until she falls for a suave Parisian man-about-town (Melvyn Douglas).
Working from a cleverly barbed script written in part by Billy Wilder, director Ernst Lubitsch knew better than anyone how to marry refinement with sublime wit. "At least twice a day the most dignified human being is ridiculous," he explained about his acclaimed Lubitsch Touch. That's how we see Garbo's lovestruck Ninotchka: serenely dignified yet endearing ridiculous. Garbo laughs. So will you.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
With huge sets, rousing action scenes and a versatile throng portraying a medieval Paris of cutthroats, clergy, beggers and nobles, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) remains on of Hollywood's all-time grandest spectacles. Charles Laughton endured a daily five-and-a-half-hour makeup session to become Quasimodo, the mocked and vilified bellringer of Notre Dame. The result was on of his best performances: outsized yet nuanced, heart-rendering yet inspiring.