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Directed by James Whale
USA 1933

 

Universal’s finest horror director James Whale (Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Old Dark House) brilliantly shifted genres with the dazzling Pre-Code romantic comedy By Candlelight. Josef (Paul Lukas, The Kiss Before the Mirror) is the ultra-dutiful butler to a Casanova-like prince (Nils Asther, The Bitter Tea of General Yen). Falling in love with Marie (Elissa Landi, The Sign of the Cross), whom he assumes to be a countess, Josef masquerades—quite convincingly—as his rakish master. The catch: Marie is herself a poseur, a mere maidservant of nobility. Based on P.G. Wodehouse’s (Anything Goes) adaptation of a Siegfried Geyer play, By Candlelight is a delightfully sophisticated farce of class privilege and mistaken identity that ranks as one of Whale’s most extraordinary achievements.

***

Romantic mix-up about a carefree lady, an amorous butler and a philandering prince. Marie: Elissa Landi. Alfred: Nils Asther. Josef: Paul Lukas. Countess: Dorothy Revier. Baroness: Esther Ralston. Count: Lawrence Grant. Ann: Lois January. Baron: Warburton Gamble. Directed by James Whale.

Lukas, personal butler to Asther, a scoundrel nobleman, is mistaken to be of nobility himself by ladies' maid Landi. Lukas, in turn, thinks that Landi is a countess. As Lukas helps Asther out of a predicament brought on by his philandering ways, Lukas' and Landi's true lower-class identities are exposed to each other. Still in love, they marry. Pleasant comedy given a sparkling look by talented, classy director Whale.

Posters

Theatrical Release: December 18th, 1933

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Review: Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover

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Bonus Captures:

Distribution Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:09:45.890        
Video

1.33:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 21,557,380,675 bytes

Feature: 20,558,125,056 bytes

Video Bitrate: 35.48 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

DTS-HD Master Audio English 1595 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1595 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps

Subtitles English, None
Features Release Information:
Studio:
Kino

 

1.33:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 21,557,380,675 bytes

Feature: 20,558,125,056 bytes

Video Bitrate: 35.48 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Troy Howarth

• Trailers


Blu-ray Release Date:
October 11th, 2022
Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters 9

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (October 2022): Kino have transferred James Whale's Pre-Code By Candlelight to Blu-ray. It is cited as being "Digitally Restored by Universal Pictures in 4K from 35mm Original Film Elements". The hour-10-minute film is on a single-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate. Considering its age it looks solid; clean with rich film grain that extol the decadent costuming. It's fairly heavy and dark - almost dampened - but clean and this appears to be a worthy representation. It looked consistent on my system.  

NOTE: We have added 42 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. By Candlelight has no aggressive effects. The score was by W. Franke Harling (The Kiss Before the Mirror, Blonde Venus, Trouble In Paradise.) There is also other music in the film including I Kiss Your Hand, Madame, Long Live Love, Domenico Savino's Valse Passioné, Lyric Agitato, The Captive, Agitato Drammatico etc. sounding clean, if dated, with audible dialogue in the lossless transfer. I noted no egregious flaws. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by film historian Troy Howarth. He informs us that the intended casting was for Adolphe Menjou and Joan Bennett. He discusses Whale's fascination with royalty and the upper echelons of society. Troy talks about the mild pre-code-ness in By Candlelight  but still having suggestive circumstance and dialogue. He observes the brisk pacing and identifies many of the cast and other roles they portrayed later in their careers, the evolution of the production and much more with tangential involvement of William and Robert Wyler. I always enjoy Troy and he unearths plenty of interesting information on the film. A very good, well-researched commentary. There are also a handful of trailers but none for By Candlelight.    

James Whale's By Candlelight is a classy Pre-Code romantic-comedy based on the Austrian play Candle Light by Siegfried Geyer and Karl Farkas, adapted to the English-speaking stage by P. G. Wodehouse. By Candlelight revolves around mistaken identity, pretense and a playful desire for wealth and nobility... if only temporarily. Whale adds a keen layer of sophistication and it's nice to marvel at the fashions and decor. There is a lot to like for fans of Pre-Code. The Kino Blu-ray has a strong 4K restored appearance and another excellent commentary. I would, definitely, watch this again. Enjoy!

Gary Tooze

 


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Distribution Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray


 


 

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