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Katharine Hepburn made her stunning screen debut as John Barrymore’s daughter in 1932’s A Bill of Divorcement. In Christopher Strong, Hepburn’s second film and first star vehicle, the intelligent, liberated and unconventionally beautiful actress chose to play an intelligent, liberated and unconventionally beautiful aviatrix who soars into a torrid affair (with Colin Clive as a fellow aristocrat)…and crashes into unendurable heartbreak. The melodramatic story is as much keen-edged steel as tears, thanks to Hepburn’s gutsy performance and to the taut direction of Dorothy Arzner, classic Hollywood’s only major female director. Among the film’s highlights: Hepburn simply astonishing in silvery lamé heading to a costume ball as the world’s most glamorous moth.

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Dorothy Arzner, the sole woman to work as a director in the Hollywood studio system of the 1930s and early ’40s, brings a subversive feminist sensibility to this juicily entertaining backstage melodrama. A behind-the-footlights look at friendship, jealousy, and ambition in the ruthless world of show business, Dance, Girl, Dance follows the intertwining fates of two chorus girls: a starry-eyed dancer (Maureen O’Hara) who dreams of making it as a ballerina and the brassy gold digger (a scene-stealing Lucille Ball) who becomes her rival both on the stage and in love.

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Screen legends Claudette Colbert and Fredric March star in Honor Among Lovers, an intense romantic drama from trailblazing female director Dorothy Arzner. An office flirtation turns deadly when secretary Julia Traynor's (Colbert) jealous husband Philip Craig (Monroe Owsley) questions the nature of her relationship with her former boss Jerry Stafford (March). This Pre-Code Hollywood classic features a star-studded supporting cast including Ginger Rogers, Charles Ruggles and Pat O'Brien. Top Similar From the Brand Questions Reviews Honor Among Lovers [Blu-ray] Honor Among Lovers

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Addiction, nonmonogamy, and female sexual liberation: decades before such ideas were widely discussed, Dorothy Arzner, the only woman to work as a director in 1930s Hollywood, brought them to the screen with striking frankness, sophistication, and wit—a mature treatment that stands out even in the pre-Code era. Fredric March (in one of four collaborations with Arzner) and Sylvia Sidney turn in extraordinary performances as the urbane couple whose relationship is pushed to the breaking point by his alcoholism and wandering eye—leading them into an emotionally explosive experiment with an open marriage. Exposing the hypocrisies and petty cruelties simmering beneath the surface of high-society elegance, Merrily We Go to Hell is a scathing early-feminist commentary on modern marriage. BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack • Dorothy Arzner: Longing for Women, a 1983 documentary by Katja Raganelli and Konrad Wickler • New video essay by film historian Cari Beauchamp • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing • PLUS: An essay by film scholar Judith Mayne Top About this item Similar From the Brand Reviews Merrily We Go to Hell (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]