Merrily We Go to Hell
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 an 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.
Special Features
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- 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
New cover by Sonia Kretschmar
Special Features
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- 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
New cover by Sonia Kretschmar
Cast
- Sylvia Sidney
- Joan
- Fredric March
- Jerry
- Adrianne Allen
- Claire
- Skeets Gallagher
- Buck
- George Irving
- Prentice
- Esther Howard
- Vi
- Florence Britton
- Charlcie
- Charles Coleman
- Damery
- Cary Grant
- Charlie Baxter
- Kent Taylor
- Greg
Credits
- Director
- Dorothy Arzner
- Screenplay by
- Edwin Justus Mayer
- Based on the novel I, Jerry, Take Thee, Joan by
- Cleo Lucas
- Cinematography
- David Abel
- Editor
- Jane Loring
A scene from Merrily We Go to Hell
