Sammy Davis Jr. in A Man Called Adam on DVD
Wim Wender's Paris, Texas on DVD
14th Annual Kansas Silent Film Festival - Feb. 26 & 27
Bad Girls of Film Noir, Vol. 2 on DVD
Bad Girls of Film Noir, Vol. 1 on DVD
Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy on DVD

Kay Francis: I Can't Wait to Be Forgotten

BearManor Media's release, Kay Francis - I Can't Wait to Be Forgotten is the first full-length biography on the glamorous film legend. Ms Francis' silky screen image opposite such leading men as William Powell, Errol Flynn, Herbert Marshall and Ronald Colman garnered her royal status at Warner Brothers. She was Hollywood's highest paid performer in 1937, when suddenly her career took a nose-dive. Biographer Scott O'Brien delves into the mystery surrounding Ms. Francis' career turnabout and opens the door to her private world which she closely guarded. The Kay Francis Diaries 1922-1953 (held at the Wesleyan University Film Archives) detail a liberated woman who emerged from the 1920's New York "Jazz Age". After four marriages, her affairs with film legends Maurice Chevalier, directors Delmar Daves, Fritz Lang and Otto Preminger portray a fascinating and passionate personality.

The book details Kay Francis' stage and film career (1925-53) and pays homage to her diversity as an actress in such roles as the bewitching entrepreneur in Trouble in Paradise (1932), the tragic heroine of One Way Passage (1932), Cary Grant's conniving wife in In Name Only (1939) and her strong delineation of a determined Florence Nightingale in The White Angel (1936). Ms. Francis' intelligence and compassion not only generated from her screen roles; full consideration is given to Kay Francis' work on behalf of the men and women in the armed services during World War II.

In the 1970's, after being mesmerized by Francis' refreshingly "natural" screen persona in a revival of Confession (1937), author O'Brien made a continued study of Kay Francis' career. More recently, upon contacting Ms. Francis' godsons and her closest friend (who worked with her on stage) O'Brien was prompted to pay a long over-due tribute to Kay Francis' career. TCM host Robert Osborne encouraged O'Brien to "keep the flame of Kay alive" and readily prepared a foreword for the biography. (To order, contact www.bearmanormedia.com - - visit the author's book site at: www.kayfrancisbiography.com)