A legal dispute led to Letty Lynton, the golden age superstar’s controversial drama, being sealed away. Only now can audiences see what all the fuss was about

Joan Crawford was one of the biggest stars of Hollywood’s golden age, but one of her most famous, and controversial, films has not been screened legally since January 1936. Ninety years later, thanks to her grandson, that is all about to change. The 1932 MGM film Letty Lynton tells the lethal tale of a Manhattan socialite, her fiance and her vindictive ex-lover. It was a hit at the box office – although something of a conundrum for the critics. They just couldn’t understand how MGM had managed to sneak such a risque story past the censors. That was only the start of the trouble.

MGM had wanted to buy the rights to a play called Dishonored Lady, written by Edward Sheldon and Margaret Ayer Barnes. This was a hit on Broadway in 1930, but its booze, drugs and sex content meant it had already been designated by the Hays office as “unfit for motion picture adaptation”. MGM only backed out when the authors demanded $30,000 – and the Hays office made it clear they wouldn’t give an inch, not on a story about a woman they considered a “nymphomaniac”. Instead, for just $3,500, MGM bought the rights to Marie Belloc Lowndes’ novel Letty Lynton, which, just like Dishonored Lady, was inspired by the real-life case of Madeleine Smith. In 1857, Smith, a Scottish socialite, was tried for murder, accused of poisoning her lover with arsenic after he threatened to use her love letters to expose their affair and jeopardise her engagement.

Prof Yasuyuki Aono’s meticulous work charted shifting bloom dates as a marker of climate change

Even in his final months, he counted the days until the cherry blossoms. Prof Yasuyuki Aono of Osaka Metropolitan University spent his career gathering data on the spring flowering dates of cherry trees in Japan in what is one of the world’s longest climate records tracking a seasonal occurrence.

Using sources dating as far back as the 9th century, he revealed that cherry tree flowerings have occurred progressively earlier in recent decades – a now famous marker of climate change.

Struggle for justice symbolises limitations of Truth and Reconciliation Commission, whose hearings began 30 years ago

Darkness had fallen on 27 June 1985 when Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto set off on the 150-mile drive back from a meeting of anti-apartheid activists in the South African city of Port Elizabeth, now known as Gqeberha. They never made it home.

About an hour into their journey, as the road wound north from the coast towards their home town of Cradock (now called Nxuba), the four men were pulled over by three white security police officers. They were handcuffed and driven back towards Gqeberha.

Savoury, sour, funky and spicy – it’s no wonder there are multiple uses for a lime pickle

I’m obsessed with lime pickle. It’s savoury, sour, funky, spicy and full of bold personality that enlivens anything it’s smeared on. It’s made by salting and fermenting limes with chillies and spices for a fierce, flavour-packed condiment that’s traditionally eaten as a side to poppadoms or with simple dal and rice. Over the years, I have also folded it into grilled cheese toasties, marinades for fat prawns to barbecue in the summer or made compound butters with it to smother over sweet potatoes before roasting. It’s an instant flavour bomb and my pantry is never without a jar.

Second day of ‘faux-royal’ tour sees Duke of Sussex speak candidly about challenges of new fatherhood as amused football fans watch on

It was an unusual sight. As a group of children were rocking out to the Wiggles, Prince Harry kicked a football on Whitten Oval in Melbourne, home of Australian rules team the Western Bulldogs.

“Just a regular Wednesday,” a member of the crowd, dressed mainly in suits and from the advocacy and academic fields, said.

Australian actor says the death of her mother in 2024 inspired the new direction

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Nicole Kidman has revealed her next role: death doula.

The Australian actor revealed she is now training to be a death doula – professionals who provide emotional, physical and psychological support to the dying – while speaking at the University of San Francisco.

Het EMBL in Heidelberg is een bastion van biologisch onderzoek, maar buiten de academische wereld niet zo bekend. Om daar wat aan toe doen rijden de wetenschappers nu met peperdure expeditievoertuigen door Europa.

ultracity has added a photo to the pool:

ultracity has added a photo to the pool:

MARSEILLE (ANP/RTR) - De Amerikaanse rapper Ye, ook bekend als Kanye West, stelt zijn optreden in Marseille tot nader order uit. De 48-jarige artiest schreef op X dat hij dit besluit had genomen "na lang nadenken en zorgvuldige overweging". Ye zou op 11 juni optreden in de Zuid-Franse havenstad.

Volgens mediaberichten probeerde de Franse minister van Binnenlandse Zaken, Laurent Nunez, het optreden van Ye te verhinderen. De burgemeester van Marseille, Benoit Payan, liet in maart al weten dat Ye niet welkom was voor een optreden in de stad. "Ik weiger toe te staan ​​dat Marseille een podium wordt voor mensen die haat en onverbloemd nazisme propageren", schreef hij op X.

Eerder deze maand weigerde Groot-Brittannië Ye de toegang tot het land vanwege zijn antisemitische uitspraken en verheerlijking van het nazisme in het nummer Heil Hitler. Ook bood hij via zijn website T-shirts met een hakenkruis te koop aan.

Ye bood begin dit jaar excuses aan. Hij wijt zijn gedrag aan hersenschade en een bipolaire stoornis en zei zich er diep voor te schamen.