A Q&A with guest Gideon Fountain, grandson of silent film stars John Gilbert and Leatrice Joy, interviewed by Janet Maslin follows the film.

In September 1929 an early sound film was released by M-G-M that would change the course of careers and film history.

For almost a century rumors have been the only access to His Glorious Night, a film directed by Lionel Barrymore, said to have destroyed the future of one of the great matinee idols of the silent era – John Gilbert.

Was his acting problematic? Was his voice unadaptable to the sound era? Was he purposefully assigned to a poor film by Louis B. Mayer for revenge?

The only M-G-M production to be sold to another studio for a 1960 re-make (A Breath of Scandal) can now be seen in a restored version, almost a hundred years after being placed deep into Paramount’s vaults.

His Glorious Night, the basis for Singin’ in the Rain, can finally be viewed for re-appraisal.

A benefit presentation of the restored film for The Bedford Playhouse.