THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE (1945)

WORLD PREMIERE RESTORATION

Leading man Robert Young considered this romance “the best love story ever written” and, years later, named his personal dream home “The Enchanted Cottage.” He stars as a scarred World War II veteran who retreats to a remote New England cottage. His only human contacts are a blind pianist (Herbert Marshall), his landlady (Mildred Natwick), and the homely young woman (Dorothy McGuire) who helps clean. Out of loneliness, Young and McGuire marry, and, as if by magic, they suddenly see each other as beautiful until the intrusion of outsiders threatens their romantic dreams. Arthur Wing Pinero had written the play in 1921 as a comfort to wounded World War I veterans. Screenwriters Herman J. Mankiewicz and DeWitt Bodeen updated the action to World War II, with sensitive directing by John Cromwell and cinematographer Ted Tetzlaff giving the picture a romantic sheen that glows anew in this world premiere restoration.

d. John Cromwell, 92m, DCP

DCP courtesy of Warner Brothers Classics.

2K restoration was sourced from 4K scans of the original nitrate negative, and supplemented with preservation film elements, due to the negative being cut down for redistribution in the 1950’s. The audio was restored from a surviving 35mm print track and mixed for theatrical exhibition by WB Post Production Sound.