History is Made at Night (Criterion) 08/24 Blu-ray (Rental)

Suffused with intoxicating romanticism, History Is Made at Night is a sublime paean to love from Frank Borzage, classic Hollywood’s supreme poet of carnal and spiritual desire. On the run through Europe from her wealthy, cruelly possessive husband, an American (Jean Arthur) is thrown together by fate with a suave stranger (Charles Boyer)—and soon the two are bound in a consuming, seemingly impossible affair that stretches across continents and brings them to the very edge of catastrophe. Lent a palpable erotic charge by the chemistry between its leads, this delirious vision of lovers beset by the world passes through a dizzying array of tonal shifts—from melodrama to romantic comedy to noir to disaster thriller—smoothly guided by Borzage’s unwavering allegiance to the power of love. Blu-ray Special Edition Features • New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack • New conversation between author Hervé Dumont (Frank Borzage: The Life and Films of a Hollywood Romantic) and film historian Peter Cowie • Interview from 2019 with critic Farran Smith Nehme about director Frank Borzage’s obsession with romantic love • Audio excerpts of a 1958 interview with Borzage from the collection of the George Eastman Museum • Radio adaptation of the film from 1940, broadcast by The Screen Guild Theater and starring Charles Boyer • New program about the restoration • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing • PLUS: An essay by critic Dan Callahan