Margaret Sullavan (The Good Fairy) stars opposite James Stewart (Made for Each Other) in his first leading role in Next Time We Love, a captivating romantic drama co-starring Ray Milland (The Lost Weekend). When newlywed reporter Christopher Tyler (Stewart) is posted to Rome, his actress wife, Cicely (Sullavan), refuses to go with him, preferring to stay in New York. Devoting themselves to their thriving careers, they become increasingly estranged, seeing each other only in passing. When a longtime admirer (Milland) proposes she get a divorce and marry him instead, Cicely must decide what she loves most…her husband, friend or career. The heart-tugging story by Ursula Parrott (There’s Always Tomorrow) springs to life courtesy of director Edward H. Griffith (The Animal Kingdom) and writer Melville Baker (The Gilded Lily).

For thoughts on Next Time We Love, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/vs6cPCYEE7M?t=4912]

Video Quality

Next Time We Love makes its Blu-Ray debut thanks to Kino Classics with a brand new 1080p transfer from a 2K master. For a film that is sneaking up on 90 years old, this is a pretty impressive presentation. The new transfer shows off a lovely amount of depth and enhanced detail within the film’s composition. You are treated to deep black levels with no overwhelming occurrence of crush or compression artifacts. The contrast is well defined, and the track only experiences a small amount of flicker and density fluctuation in the print. The sparkling black-and-white photography shot by Joseph A. Valentine sparkles in high definition with natural grain intact. There is a striking amount of detail present with nice textures on the clothing and within the varied production design. Even with the new master, a pretty fine layer of minor nicks and scratches remain, but you can tell that it has been cleaned up immensely. Kino Classics has done their typically strong work here.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray comes with a fairly strong DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that serves this movie well considering its vintage. Dialogue and background noises are represented in harmony with all competing elements. This track does show some signs of minor age related wear and tear along with some hissing and crackles. The track admittedly sounds a bit thin when it comes to the music, which likely dates back to the source elements. Thankfully, the music rarely overpowers the dialogue or other important information. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles included for the feature film. Kino Classics has offered up a mostly stable track for this one which should serve fans well.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Author/Film Historian Lee Gambin and Costume Historian Elissa Rose deliver a really informative commentary track in which they talk about how this film fit into the era in which it was released, where the performers were at this point in their careers, the growing popularity of gangsters in media around this time, how this narrative handles class disparity, symbols within the production design and, of course, the costumes featured in the film and how they provide characterization for certain figures, among other topics. This is a well-researched track that is worth checking out.

Trailers: There are trailers provided for The Good Fairy, Back Street, Made For Each Other, Arise My Love, I’m No Angel, Now and Forever, and Desire.

Final Thoughts

Next Time We Love is a swirling melodrama which soars thanks to the strong performances from its ensemble. James Stewart is the marquee name in one of his first starring roles, but it is Margaret Sullavan who will leave you transfixed with her brilliant mixture of strength and sensitivity. Ray Milland is another key player in this narrative, and he nails his role so effortlessly that you will question who exactly you are rooting for by the end. The emotions are heightened, but they remain as effective as ever when paired with the assured direction of Edward H. Griffith. The ending is somewhat underwhelming compared to the rest of the story, but not so much as to ruin the experience. Kino Classics has delivered a Blu-Ray release that sports both a great A/V presentation and an informative commentary track. Fans of the performers involved will especially like this one, but anyone with a soft spot for old Hollywood melodrama should check this one out. Recommended

Next Time We Love is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.