WAMG Interview: Karen Maine – Writer and Director of YES, GOD, YES

Vertical Entertainment is proud to present YES, GOD, YES, the semi-autobiographical debut from filmmaker Karen Maine, co-writer of OBVIOUS CHILD. YES, GOD, YES is a fresh, fun look at what solo explorations of sexuality can look like for a girl in the Midwest. Featuring a talented roster of young actors and comedy veterans, toplined by the enormously appealing Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things), the film premiered at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival, where it was awarded a Special Jury Prize for Best Ensemble. Vertical Entertainment will premiere the film in Virtual Cinemas and select drive-ins on Friday, July 24, and the film will launch on digital and VOD platforms on Tuesday, July 28.

In the Midwest in the early 00s, sixteen-year-old Alice (Natalia Dyer) has always been a good Catholic girl. But when an AOL chat turns racy, she discovers masturbation and becomes guilt-ridden. Seeking redemption, she attends a mysterious religious retreat to try and suppress her urges, but it isn’t easy, especially after a cute boy (Wolfgang Novogratz) starts flirting with her. Alice’s sense of shame is spiraling when she uncovers a shocking truth about the retreat’s most devout. Desperate and confused, she flees and meets an unlikely ally (Susan Blackwell) who offers an alternative view of what it means to be good. For the first time, Alice realizes she can decide for herself what to believe and finally gets the release she needs. Here’s the trailer for YES, GOD, YES:

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman

Tom Stockman: Congratulations on your film YES, GOD, YES. I really enjoyed it. appreciated that it was and short. That’s good for a comedy.

Karen Maine: Thanks! I was pretty nervous at first with how short our final cut turned out to be, but my editor Jennifer Lee and I realized adding anything back in would just slow it down. We had the perfect cut and we didn’t want to make it longer just to make it longer. 

TS: What filmmakers do you do you admire?

KM: I’m a big fan of Nora Ephron. I also really like Deniz Gamze Ergüven. She did a film in 2015 called MUSTANG, a coming-of-age film that was really good. 

TS: YES, GOD, YES is your first feature film, correct?

KM: It is the first feature film that I directed and wrote. I did co-write the film OBVIOUS CHILD in 2014 that was based on a short film that I also co-wrote.

TS: Was OBVIOUS CHILD autobiographical?

KM: It was written by a group of four girls over a long length of time, and it wasn’t autobiographical to any one of us in particular, but it was influenced by women we each knew. We’d watched movies like KNOCKED UP and JUNO, and didn’t see the women we knew depicted in these films. It felt like the pregnancies were being used for plot devices. So we decided to make a film where a woman chooses to have an abortion but the film still has all the makings of an entertaining romantic comedy.

TS: OBVIOUS CHILD played here, but I didn’t see it. Did it get blowback from pro-life groups? 

KM: I’m sure it did, but because it’s an indie film, I don’t think it reached too many pro-life groups. There were a few negative articles, for sure, but overall the response was largely very positive

TS: And then you made the short called YES, GOD, YES.

KM: Correct, I had actually written the screenplay for the feature of YES, GOD, YES before we made the short.  I initially wanted to find someone else to direct it, because I never saw myself as a director. I had a filmmaker friend who I sent the script to, and she told me that I should direct it since it was based on my own life (YES, GOD, YES is much more autobiographical.) So we decided to first make it as a short and see how it turned out and it went really well.

TS: So then the short became a tool for getting funding for the future?

KM: Yes, and also to prove that I was capable of directing. 

TS: Had Natalia Dyer just come off of Stranger Things?

KM: Yes, the show’s first season had premiered just a week or so before we shot the short and was just becoming a hit as we were shooting the film. I have been a fan of hers for a long time, since I had seen her in I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS. One of our producers had her email address, and sent her a cold email, and we cast her two days before we started shooting.

TS: I imagine her fame will help you in marketing your film. Everybody watches that show.  Exactly how autobiographical is YES, GOD, YES?

KM: Well not 100% but I did base it mostly on my life growing up in Iowa and going to Catholic school  for 15 years. We were taught the same curriculum as Alice is taught in the film. We were told not to have sex before marriage. Our sex education consisted mostly of graphic slides of STDs and a graphic partial birth abortion video, but we had no actual useful sex education. When you are a teenager, you’re discovering your body and I wanted to approach that from a young woman’s perspective. The focus is not the classic coming-of-age story. It’s not about losing your virginity, but about discovering yourself long before those partnered experiences. The religious retreat that she goes on is a very real retreat, but I changed the name. Although anyone who’s been on it will recognize it right away.

TS: I can remember a couple going to a couple of those religious camps in the mid-70s. There was some “Jesus time“ but I recall playing sports and riding horses and being outdoors. It was a very pleasant experience as I remember.  The dialogue is real and clever in your film. I liked the story about the young woman discovering her sexuality by rewinding the sex scene from TITANIC over and over. Where did that dialogue come from? 

KM: That’s all from my childhood growing up in Des Moines in the late 90s. The Internet was a thing then, but nothing like it is now. I had such a sheltered upbringing that the only things I could piece together about sex were from family-friendly films like TITANIC and AOL chat rooms,  so to me, watching the sex scene in TITANIC seemed very scandalous. When you’re that age you’re intrigued and you want to see more but there wasn’t as much easily accessible information. 

TS: My daughter attends Drake University in Des Moines and on the drive up there from St. Louis you see billboard after billboard promoting the pro-life position. It’s makes for a boring drive. 

KM: Yes and there has been much legislation just over the last few years in Iowa that has shut down most of the abortion clinics, which is awful and such. But I remember seeing those billboards all over the state growing up. There’s even the occasional one in Brooklyn, where I live now.

TS: So describe your journey with faith and religious guilt? 

KM: Growing up, everyone I knew was Christian or Catholic and conservative so it was hard to understand that there were other perspectives out there. Even when I was 18, I had a class with a teacher who told us that if we were gay we were going to hell. Fortunately I had friends who stood up to that teacher. That was the first time I realized that you could challenge someone’s teachings.  From that point on I became less of a rule-follower. After I graduated from high school, I moved to Chicago, and then New York. I’ve been an atheist, probably just as a response to the intensity of my own upbringing. I am more open-minded now. My husband is Jewish  and we celebrate Jewish holidays together. I like aspects of Judaism because they are so open to debate and it seems much more scholarly which is much more appealing to me .

TS: Did you study filmmaking or writing in college?

KM: I went to The New School in New York where I studied creative nonfiction writing. I wrote an essay about the religious retreat that is depicted in the film and that essay is what got me thinking about making the film in the first place. I did take a screenwriting course, but that was about the extent of my filmmaking studies. I’ve learned a lot about filmmaking from listening to interviews with directors like Yorgos Lanthimos and Greta Gerwig on podcasts like ScriptNotes and Fresh Air.

TS: How has YES, GOD, YES been received? 

KM: Good. I think the most interesting thing is that I find other people at these film festivals that have been on religious retreats like this. That’s less common in New York, but when we show it in places like Texas and Georgia, I meet a lot of people who went on similar retreats and have similar memories about feeling guilty about their sexuality during their teen years .

TS: Where was YES, GOD, YES filmed?

KM: We filmed it right outside of Atlanta in a few different small rural areas.

TS: Were there any unexpected challenges in making a feature, after having just made shorts? 

KM: Yes, it’s much more like a marathon, where a short is more like a sprint.  We shot in 16 days with a low budget, which is not much time but we had a terrific cast and crew and we got everything we needed. It went smoothly. No big bumps, just smaller ones that might come up during any project. 

TS: Was the dialogue totally scripted or did you let your actors improvise a bit? 

KM: We mostly stuck to the script. We changed things a couple of times when we needed to. Tim Simons, who plays the priest, haw a comedy background  so he was improvising a bit but most of the actors closely followed the script  

TS: What’s your next project? 

KM: I shot a pilot in London last year that’s being produced by the BBC . It’s called Starstruck and stars a New Zealander comedian. I’m going to go back next year and direct more of that series. I’m working on a few other things but they’re all in the early stages now.

TS: Best of luck with YES, GOD, YES.

KM: Thank you.



WAMG Giveaway – Win AN ACCIDENTAL STUDIO on Blu-ray

RLJE Films, a business unit of AMC Networks, will release AN ACCIDENTAL STUDIO on July 28, 2020 on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital HD. The documentary was directed and produced by Bill Jones(Boom Bust Boom), Kim Leggatt (Joy Division), and Ben Timlett(Anatomy of a Liar). RLJE Films will release AN ACCIDENTAL STUDIO on DVD for an SRP of $27.97 and on Blu-Ray for an SRP of $28.97. Check Out the Trailer:

Now you can win the Win the Blu-ray of AN ACCIDENTAL STUDIO . We Are Movie Geeks has three copies to give away. Just leave a comment below telling us what your favorite movie that George Harrison appeared in. (mine’s A HARD DAYS NIGHT. It’s so easy!)

1. YOU MUST BE A US RESIDENT. PRIZE WILL ONLY BE SHIPPED TO US ADDRESSES.  NO P.O. BOXES.  NO DUPLICATE ADDRESSES.

2. WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN FROM ALL QUALIFYING ENTRIES.

AN ACCIDENTAL STUDIO charts the early years of HandMade Films seen through the eyes of the filmmakers, key personnel, and the man who started it all: former Beatle George Harrison. With unreleased archive interviews and footage with Harrison, exclusive interviews with Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Richard E. Grant, Neil Jordan, Ray Cooper and unseen interviews with Bob Hoskins, the film explores HandMade’s baptism by fire, the risk it took in producing uniquely crafted intelligent films and the stories that grew up around it.

The DVD and Blu-Ray will include a bonus feature of the Exclusive Premiere Q&A filmed live, featuring Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, and Ray Cooper, presented by Sanjeev Bhaskar.

Esther Williams in MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID Available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive

“Who cares what a lot of females wear on the beach, as long as I can keep you in a one-piece bathing suit? Baby, you’re a swimmer. You belong in the water. Wet, you’re terrific. Dry, you’re just a nice girl who ought to settle down and get married.”

Esther Williams in MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID (1952) is available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive. Ordering information can be found HERE

James Sullivan works the carny circuit, promoting the likes of a boxing kangaroo or grappling bear. Then the wheeler-dealer meets a million-dollar idea: beautiful swimming champ Annette Kellerman. She’ll churn through a River Thames PR stunt. Cause a bathing-suit scandal among Boston bluebloods. Headline New York’s Hippodrome. And become a Hollywood swimsation as cameras roll and Rin Tin Tin looks on. Glamorous, amphibious Esther Williams portrays the real-life aquatic star in a splashy biopic costarring Victor Mature and loaded with stunning spectacle (including a must-see Busby Berkeley masterwork). Is this lovely Esther’s signature film? Well, she called her 1999 autobiography The Million Dollar Mermaid.

Jayro Bustamante’s LA LLORONA Coming To Shudder on August 6 – Watch The Trailer Now

Winner of Venice Days 2019. Official Selection TIFF 2019, Sundance 2020, Shudder has unveiled the trailer for director Jayro Bustamante’s LA LLORONA.

Indignant retired general Enrique finally faces trial for the genocidal massacre of thousands of Mayans decades ago. As a horde of angry protestors threatens to invade their opulent home, the women of the house—his haughty wife, conflicted daughter, and precocious granddaughter—weigh their responsibility to shield the erratic, senile Enrique against the devastating truths being publicly revealed and the increasing sense that a wrathful supernatural force is targeting them for his crimes. Meanwhile, much of the family’s domestic staff flees, leaving only loyal housekeeper Valeriana until a mysterious young Indigenous maid arrives.

Guy Lodge, VARIETY, called LA LLORONA, “Astonishing… A trauma-induced reverberation of patriarchal war and violence.”

A tale of horror and magical realism, the film reimagines the iconic Latin American fable as an urgent metaphor of Guatemala’s recent history and tears open the country’s unhealed political wounds to grieve a seldom discussed crime against humanity. LA LLORONA marks Bustamante’s third feature and demonstrates his continued efforts to highlight social inequality in his native Guatemala following his previous titles TEMBLORES (2019) and IXCANUL (2016).

See it on Shudder August 6.

Get Scared With MONSTROUS Bigfoot Trailer

Something is out there.

Sylvia, a lonely 20-something, goes searching for answers after her friend mysteriously vanishes in Whitehall, NY, an Adirondack town known for its Bigfoot sightings. She sets off with a mysterious, charming young woman, Alex, hellbent on getting to Whitehall for different reasons. Sylvia soon learns that hiding in the woods is an evil more sinister than she could ever imagine.

Ready for a new Bigfoot movie? Catch this first look at MONSTROUS.

From director Bruce Wemple, and starring Anna Shields, Rachel Finninger, Grant Schumacher, Hannah McKechnie, Catharine Daddario, Dylan Grunn, Peter Stray, Rick Montgomery Jr., and Thomas Brazzle , Monstrous premieres On Demand and DVD August 11 from Uncork’d Entertainment.

You can watch many Sasquatch themed movies over on AMAZON PRIME. https://www.amazon.com/bigfoot-movies/s?k=bigfoot+movies

Or looking for a great Bigfoot read. Then look no further than Max Brooks’ book “Devolution”. His bestselling books include Minecraft: The Island, The Zombie Survival Guide, and World War Z, which was adapted into a 2013 movie starring Brad Pitt. 

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The #1 New York Times bestselling author of World War Z is back with “the Bigfoot thriller you didn’t know you needed in your life, and one of the greatest horror novels I’ve ever read” (Blake Crouch, author of Dark Matter and Recursion).

As the ash and chaos from Mount Rainier’s eruption swirled and finally settled, the story of the Greenloop massacre has passed unnoticed, unexamined . . . until now. The journals of resident Kate Holland, recovered from the town’s bloody wreckage, capture a tale too harrowing—and too earth-shattering in its implications—to be forgotten. In these pages, Max Brooks brings Kate’s extraordinary account to light for the first time, faithfully reproducing her words alongside his own extensive investigations into the massacre and the legendary beasts behind it. Kate’s is a tale of unexpected strength and resilience, of humanity’s defiance in the face of a terrible predator’s gaze, and, inevitably, of savagery and death.

Yet it is also far more than that.

Because if what Kate Holland saw in those days is real, then we must accept the impossible. We must accept that the creature known as Bigfoot walks among us—and that it is a beast of terrible strength and ferocity.

Part survival narrative, part bloody horror tale, part scientific journey into the boundaries between truth and fiction, this is a Bigfoot story as only Max Brooks could chronicle it—and like none you’ve ever read before.

Terrifying Thriller LET IT SNOW Coming to Digital and DVD September 22nd

An original spin on the horror genre – and from a producer of Papillon – Let It Snow arrives on DVD, Digital and On Demand September 22 from Lionsgate. Separated from her fiancé after sneaking onto a restricted slope, a free-riding snowboarder must survive not only against nature, but also the masked snowmobile rider in black who is out for her blood.

The Let It Snow DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $19.98.Check out the trailer:

A terrifying blend of action and horror, Let It Snow may just be the ride of your life. As Mia and Max visit a remote European resort for a free-ride snowboarding vacation, they ignore the receptionist’s disturbing tales of unexplained deaths on the nearby trails. But when they sneak onto a forbidden slope, Max goes missing, and Mia finds herself attacked by a masked snowmobile rider. Now she must brave the rider’s vicious attacks – as well as a massive avalanche – if she hopes to survive.

Cosmo Jarvis, Barry Keoghan Star In Trailer For THE SHADOW OF VIOLENCE – In Theaters July 31st

“An immersive tale of tortured masculinity and divided loyalties that pulls the viewer right into the raging bull mindset of its haunted protagonist.” – The Guardian

“visceral and compelling” – The Sun

Saban Films has released the trailer for THE SHADOW OF VIOLENCE.

In the dark underbelly of rural Ireland, ex-boxer Douglas “Arm” Armstrong (Cosmo Jarvis, Hunter Killer) has become a feared enforcer for the drug-dealing Devers family. When his ruthless employers order him to kill for the first time, his loyalties are tested in this powerful thriller costarring Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk) and Ned Dennehy (“Peaky Blinders”).

A little background on the film and story.

While attending National Film and Television School (NFTS) in London, director Nick Rowland discovered Young Skins (2013), a short story collection by the writer Colin Barrett. “I read the whole collection in one sitting, which is rare for me because I’m very dyslexic so it was a good sign that I enjoyed it,” recalls Rowland. One story, THE SHADOW OF VIOLENCE, stood out. It was cinematic; the world was interesting; the characters were funny. It felt unique. It had all the ingredients to make a good film.”

While in his early 20’s, Rowland’s career began to snowball. He won Royal Television Society Student awards for Dancing in the Ashes (2012) and Group B (2015). His short Slap (2014) was nominated for a BAFTA; Out of Sight (2014) received a Sundance Grand Jury Prize nomination.

Nevertheless, he was compelled back to Barrett’s dark drama. He sent the story to Daniel Emmerson who was equally enthused. “The writing, especially in THE SHADOW OF VIOLENCE, was amazing,” recalls Emmerson. “There were elements of the Coen Brothers and Martin McDonagh: it was grounded but also darkly comedic and seriously cinematic. I wanted to option it with whatever beads I could scrape together.”

The film will be released on July 31st.

PIRANHAS – Review

This week’s new release (well, new to most of us, since it played several film festivals, including St. Louis, last year) should satisfy a couple of interests to those still in “self-isolation”. First, it’s set in another country, so it’s a trip overseas, at least vicariously. The backdrop is Italy, specifically Naples which is one of the big tourist destinations (perhaps Steve and Rob had a nice bowl of pasta there during one of their movie “trips”). And second, for those not big on the scenery, it’s a crime profile. But it’s not a big sprawling epic like THE IRISHMAN and last February’s THE TRAITOR. The story’s spread out over a few months in the last couple of years. Oh, and the other big, big difference: the mobsters at the center of the tale are younger, by several decades. Teenagers really, several of them couldn’t drive here legally. Oh but their crimes are much bigger than any traffic violations. These “kids’ are quite deadly despite their age and size, hence the movie’s title: PIRANHAS.

The big ‘fish’ of this fable is fifteen-year-old Nicola (Francesco Di Napoli) who’s in the midst of a crime in the opening minutes. Along with best pal Tyson (Ar Tem), he’s taking the big mall Christmas tree (and defying another gang by invading their “turf”). The two, along with several pals from the Rione Sanita neighborhood (call it a “club” or a “gang”), torch the tree as part of a big bonfire set in a vacant lot. From there it’s off to the local disco, but first Nicola needs a couple of bucks from his young single mother. While in the back of her dry cleaning shop, two older men come in to collect the “protection fee”. As they leave, Nicola hops on his scooter and joins the “convoy” to the club. Along the way, the fellas’ help out two young women who’ve run out of gas. One of them, Leitzla (Viviana Aprea) catches Nicola’s eye. When the young men are turned away from the disco (the ladies are let in, of course), they converge at an all-night eatery. The meal is interrupted when the two “enforcers” Nicola saw at his mama’s force two other young men to leave. Tyson recognizes one of them as Agostino (Pasquale Marotta). part of the disgraced Striano family. They “ran” the neighborhood until their father worked with the feds. The gang is invited back to the plush, fancy Striano home, which inspires Nicola to plan the robbery of a local jewelry shop. But they’re “sloppy” and are caught and reprimanded (basically getting their “ears boxed”) by the local mob (those two “goons’ again). But Nicola sees this as an opportunity and asks for work. Surprisingly the “boss’ takes them on as “weed runner’ at a park near the college. Later, when the police raid a “family” wedding, Nicola jumps on another scheme. With so many of his former bosses in jail, he has Agostino introduce him to another “don” under house arrest. In exchange for the drug money, he’ll provide lots of “firepower”. With the armory, Nicola and his guys take over their home “turf”. And he pursues a romance with Leitzla. But when will greed and ambition spoil the big plans of the young mob “up and comers”?

This powerful tale is anchored by the enigmatic performance of Di Napoli as the young man swayed by big dreams of being a “big man’ in his little neighborhood. He deftly balances the naivety of someone barely out of his teens, especially as his eyes widen at the opulence of the Striano “palace”, giddy at that the things he could never afford. And he has much that same look (with a bit more of the “Christmas morning” joyful gaze) as he and his pals open up the big bag of lethal goodies from the house-bound Don, passing around handguns and assault rifles as though they were baseball cards. Then he’ll show us Nicola’s tender side as he confides in his little brother Cristan (Luca Nacarlo), who idolizes him. This is cemented later as Nicola gifts his “back alley” soccer squad with custom shirts. And then there’s the halting, sweet romance with his adored Leitzla. While he must be tough and decisive with his boys and any who cross him, Nicola lets his guard down when near her, even escorting her to the fancy opera house (and sneaking kisses between arias). Aprea captures her as a teen on the cusp of spreading her wings into full womanhood. Yet somehow amid all the drama, we get to see a bit of Di Napoli’s comic skills as he clumsily dons a disguise in order to facilitate a “hit”. And luckily he’s got a great rapport with all of his boys, especially the brutish Tyson played with a commanding glower by Tem.

Director Claudio Giovannesi brings a raw modern energy to a story nearly as old as cinema (recalling James Cagney scaling the heights of the mob kingdom nearly 90 years ago in THE PUBLIC ENEMY). He operates almost like a “fly on the wall” filming like a documentarian just stumbling upon the story of these lethal lads. There’s a poignant intimacy to the quiet scenes of Nicola’s family. Rather than a matronly “mama” mixing tears into her ‘gravy” Nicola’s mother seems barely in her mid-thirties as she watches her son suddenly change his demeanor (as their lifestyle radically changes). This brings even more power to the random bursts of sudden violence (the wrong word is said and guns appear everywhere). The teens of Rione Sanita believe that they’re invincible, which is something the established gangster bosses use to their gain. But as they engage in numbing all-night parties filled with drug-fueled orgies, their youth slowly drains away. Eventually, it’s a rags-to-riches-to Hell cautionary tale, given an “old world” gloss by the gorgeous Naples locales. All these diverse elements help to give PIRANHAS real “bite”.

3 out of 4

PIRANHAS is streaming on Digital Download via several platforms including iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play

Christmas in July! IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE Plays July 17-18th at The Sky View Drive-in in Litchfield, IL

“Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) screens Friday and Saturday Nights July 17th and 18th at the Sky View Drive-in in Litchfield, Il. (1500 Historic Old Route 66)Admission is only $7 (free for kids under 5). The movie starts at dusk (9:00-ish). The Sky View’s site can be found HERE

It wasn’t until the 1980s when IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE became the perennial holiday favorite it’s known as today. The ultimate feel-good classic from director Frank Capra was a box-office disappointment when it was initially released in 1946. Due to a clerical error in 1974, the film went into public domain and was then shown on every low-rent local access channel in varying degrees of quality for years and was released on VHS by a variety of fly-by-night  home video companies – including the infamous colorized version. In 1993 Republic Pictures enforced its claim to the film’s copyright. It stopped being televised as often but by then everyone had fallen in love with its charms and taken to heart its message: It’s not so much about what you leave behind when you die, but it’s more about how you use your life while you live.

Pre-Code Film THE SIN OF NORA MORAN (1933) Restored for Blu-ray/DVD Release July 29th

” Oh, come on now, Edith. Please, please, let’s be honest with ourselves. You weren’t thinking any more of Dick than i was. “

Film Detective (TFD), a leading classic media streaming network and film archive that restores and distributes classic films for today’s cord-cutters, is proud to announce THE SIN OF NORA MORAN (1933) will be available to audiences this summer on DVD and in a special, limited-edition Blu-ray collectible (only 1,500 available).

THE SIN OF NORA MORAN will be available for purchase July 29 on DVD ($19.99) and in a collectible limited-edition Blu-ray ($24.99). With only 1,500 Blu-ray editions available, fans can reserve a copy by pre-ordering now at: https://www.thefilmdetective.com/the-sin-of-nora-moran

The Poverty Row, Pre-Code marvel that stunned audiences when released in 1933 stars Zita Johann as Nora Moran, a young woman sentenced to death for a murder she did not commit. Awaiting her sentence, Nora explores the patterns of her life in a dream-like haze, including the dark secret that could change not only her own fate, but the fate of those she holds most dear.

Directed by Phil Goldstone, THE SIN OF NORA MORAN masterfully utilizes flashbacks, dreams and hallucinations to tell the tale of fateful doom, true to the thematic style of the Pre-Code era. A star of stage and screen, Johann was fresh from performances in Boris Karloff’s The Mummy (1932) and Edward G. Robinson’s Tiger Shark (1932) before delivering a haunting performance as Nora Moran. Also starring John Miljan, Alan Dinehart and Paul Cavanagh, as the many surrounding Nora Moran who play a part in sealing her fate.

To promote the release, TFD is holding a Willy Wonka-esque promotion, with one gold certificate sealed in one of the limited-edition Blu-rays. The winning ticket holder will receive a framed, 27” x 41”, hand-pulled lithograph of the film’s original poster by painter Alberto Vargas, deemed one of the most iconic posters in film history. Printed on Coventry 100% cotton archival paper with the finest quality archival ink using a rare, antique German Dufa printing press, by Society Ltd. (1999), the poster comes with a certificate of authenticity.

Packaged in in a sleek, black case—with elements from the film’s original poster—this spellbinding crime drama will be released with a stunning, new, 4K restoration of the film from the original 35mm camera negative. The DVD is presented in Dolby Stereo and the Blu-ray in DTS, a restored, duel mono original. Aspect ratio is 1.37 pillar boxed. Commented Sam Sherman, film producer and an heir to Johann’s estate, “A superior restoration of The Sin of Nora Moran in an elaborate, deluxe presentation.”

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Narrated by film historian and producer Samuel M. Sherman, an original documentary where Johann’s illustrious career takes center stage from Daniel Griffith at Ballyhoo Motion Pictures; the Blu-ray includes English subtitles and the DVD closed captioning for the hearing impaired; and (Blu-ray edition only) an exclusive collector’s booklet with commentary on the production of and response to the film.

THE SIN OF NORA MORAN release is in collaboration with Sam Sherman and the Independent-International Pictures team and the UCLA Film and Television Archive