Kino Lorber has released a Blu-ray edition of the 1941 version of Fannie Hurst’s Back Street starring Margaret Sullavan and Charles Boyer, some months after releasing the 1961 version starring Susan Hayward and John Gavin. Still missing in the format is the original 1932 version starring Irene Dunne and John Boles.

Back Street is the seminal women’s weepie by the author of Humoresque, Imitation of Life, and Four Daughters, all of which were filmed twice. Humoresque in 1920 and 1946, Imitation of Life in 1934 and 1959, and Four Daughters in 1938 and in 1954 as Young at Heart. The 1932 version of Back Street is out of print. The others are all available on DVD. Blu-rays Young at Heart and a double disc of both versions of Imitation of Life are also available.

The 1932 version of Back Street, like many of Irene Dunne’s films which were remade, was kept from distribution for many years by Universal which remade the RKO film. Although Kino Lorber had asked Universal for the video rights along with the other two versions, the request was denied. Could it be that there was a prior commitment to another distributer, such as Criterion which restored and released the 1936 version of Show Boat, the 1937 version of The Awful Truth, and the 1939 version of Love Affair, three other Dunne gems that were the subjects of remakes? Hopefully so.

Interestingly, Margaret Sullavan, who was at the peak of her Hollywood career after the dual 1940 success of The Shop Around the Corner and The Mortal Storm, wanted Charles Boyer, Dunne’s Love Affair co-star, as her co-star in the 1941 remake of Back Street. Why Boyer and why would a star of his then high ranking want to play the secondary role of the seemingly selfish man who keeps the love of his life on the back burner? The astute Sullavan probably wanted Boyer because she knew he would bring much more to the role than the dullish John Boles brought to the 1932 version. Boyer, for his part, was flattered by Sullvan’s offer to take second billing behind Boyer whose role was clearly secondary to hers. His ego couldn’t refuse.

The casting of Boyer pays off in the film’s concluding scenes with Sullavan and Tim Holt as the son who hates her without knowing her. You’ll need a box of tissues to get through that.

Not having been around during Boyer’s years as a matinee idol, I found it hard to understand the actor’s appeal until a gesture by Angela Lansbury made me take another look at his rise to fame and enduring popularity. In an interview about her debut role in Gaslight, the aged Lansbury swooned at the mention of Boyer’s name.

I have since seen the actor in just about all his talkies. Born in 1899, he made his debut in French films in 1920. The first film I saw him in was the 1930 French version of The Big House included as an extra in the DVD release of the film in which he played the lead role. Next up was his Hollywood debut as the chauffer seduced by Jean Harlow in 1932’s Red-Headed Woman. Then came the 1934 French version of Liliom, a remake of the 1930 Hollywood film starring Charles Farrell, that would become the basis for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel.

Hollywood called Boyer back for 1935’s Private Worlds opposite Claudette Colbert and Break of Hearts opposite Katharine Hepburn before his brief return to France for 1936’s Mayerling opposite Danielle Darrieux. Back in Hollywood, this time to stay, Boyer was a stay-at-home bookworm, happily married in real life to British-born actress Pat Patterson, despite his sexed-up on-screen persona.

Boyer’s reign as the great Hollywood lover lasted from 1936-1948 through such films as The Garden of Allah opposite Marlene Dietrich, History Is Made at Night opposite Jean Arthur, Conquest for which he was Oscar-nominated opposite Greta Garbo, Algiers for which he was Oscar-nominated opposite Hedy Lamarr, Love Affair, All This, and Heaven Too opposite Bette Davis, Back Street, Hold Back the Dawn opposite Olivia de Havilland, The Constant Nymph opposite Joan Fontaine, Gaslight for which he and Lansbury would receive Oscar nominations and Ingrid Bergman the golden statuette, Cluny Brown opposite Jennifer Jones, and Arch of Triumph again opposite Bergman.

Between his second and third Oscar nominations, Boyer received an honorary Oscar for his founding of the French Research Foundation in Los Angeles in 1942.

Time caught up with Boyer in the early 1950s when he turned to character roles except for the 1953 French film The Earrings of Madame de… in which he was once again the romantic lead opposite Danielle Darrieux.

Much on TV in the 1950s, he took time out for an occasional film such as 1955’s The Cobweb and 1958’s The Buccaneer. His portrayal of Cesar opposite Maurice Chevalier as Panisse and Leslie Caron in the title role in 1961’s Fanny garnered him a fourth Best Actor Oscar nomination. From 1962-1973, he appeared in high profile supporting roles in such films as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Love Is a Ball, A Very Special Favor, How to Steal a Million, Barefoot in the Park, The Madwoman of Chaillot, and the musical version of Lost Horizon in which he played the High Lama. He received a Best Supporting Actor award from the New York Film Critics for the 1974 French film, Stavisky, after which he made just one more, 1976’s A Matter of Time, in support of Liza Minnelli and Ingrid Bergman.

Boyer subsequently took time off to nurse his beloved wife through her terminal illness. Two days after she died in 1978, he took his own life two days before what would have been his 79th birthday, leaving behind a treasure trove of indelible performances. All are available on DVD and/or Blu-ray.

This week’s new releases include the long-sought Blu-ray releases of Ordinary People and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm.