Letty Lynton & Phantom Lady Double Feature!

The State Theatre is pairing two old-school classics on Friday, August 28, as part of the Paramount Summer Classic Film Series. It's a double feature: Letty Lynton (1932) and Phantom Lady (1944), both restored and both in color. Doors open at 6 PM, Letty Lynton starts at 7 PM, and Phantom Lady follows at 8:35 PM.

Letty Lynton is an 84-minute drama directed by Clarence Brown and starring Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Nils Asther, and May Robson. It was a critical and financial hit when it first came out, and the white organdy gown with ruffled sleeves that Adrian designed for Crawford became such a sensation it flew off the shelves at Macy's. But the film has a strange history: the writers of a play based on the same real-life case claimed copyright infringement, and the movie was pulled from circulation in 1936. With the rights finally sorted out and the film meticulously restored, it's back on the screen.

Phantom Lady arrives twelve years later, an 89-minute noir directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Franchot Tone, Ella Raines, Alan Curtis, Aurora Miranda, Thomas Gomez, Fay Helm, and Elisha Cook, Jr. Its path to the screen was just as unusual as Letty Lynton's. Joan Harrison, who had worked as a secretary, assistant, and screenwriter for Alfred Hitchcock, became one of Hollywood's first female producers of the sound era. She convinced Universal to adapt Cornell Woolrich's novel and to bring in Siodmak to direct it.

Between the two, you're getting over three hours of classic cinema in one night. Letty Lynton kicks things off at 7 PM, and Phantom Lady follows at 8:35 PM, with doors opening at 6 PM at The State Theatre.