DESIRE - LE

(Frank Borzage, 1936, 95 mins)
Release date: 18 December 2023
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK premiere)

Marlene Dietrich (The Scarlet Empress) and Gary Cooper (Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife) star in Desire, a romantic crime caper directed by Frank Borzage (A Farewell to Arms).

When jewel thief Madeleine (Dietrich) leaves Paris with a string of pearls, she conspires to smuggle them across the Spanish border with the unwitting assistance of American mechanic Tom (Cooper). But retrieving the jewels turns out to be harder than she thinks, and she finds herself falling for Tom.

Reuniting the leads of Josef von Sternberg’s smash hit Morocco, and co-produced by the great Ernst Lubitsch, Desire was acclaimed by author Graham Greene as the best of Dietrich’s American films.

INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

• 2022 restoration from a 4K scan

• Original mono audio

• Audio commentary with writer and critic Nathaniel Bell and film historian David Del Valle (2021)

• Frank Borzage Oral History (1958, 40 mins): rare archival audio recording of the filmmaker in conversation with George Pratt

• Mr Cooper Goes to Hollywood (2023, 12 mins): film historian and curator Nathalie Morris discusses the stardom and style of iconic Hollywood actor Gary Cooper

• Lux Radio Theatre: ‘Desire’ (1937, 55 mins): radio play adaptation of the film’s screenplay, starring Marlene Dietrich alongside Herbert Marshall in the Gary Cooper role

• Original theatrical trailer

• Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials

• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Limited edition exclusive 36-page booklet with a new essay by Christina Newland, archival interviews with Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, and Frank Borzage, and film credits

• UK premiere on Blu-ray

• Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK

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BBFC cert: U
REGION B
EAN: 5060697923711