345 Ivy

[MichaelB]

IVY
(Sam Wood, 1947, 99 mins)
Release date: 26 January 2026
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK premiere)

Pre-order here

Joan Fontaine (Kiss the Blood Off My Hands), Patric Knowles (The Wolf Man), and Herbert Marshall (Blonde Venus) star in Ivy, a classic thriller from director Sam Wood (A Night at the Opera).

When she meets the handsome and wealthy Miles Rushworth (Marshall), gold-digging Ivy (Fontaine) will stop at nothing to get her hands on him, including murdering her husband (Richard Ney, Mrs. Miniver) and framing her lover (Knowles) for the crime. But Inspector Orpington (Cedric Hardwicke, A Woman’s Vengeance) has his suspicions...

Scripted by Alfred Hitchcock collaborator and Night of the Demon co-writer Charles Bennett, photographed by the great Russell Metty (All My Sons), and produced by legendary production designer William Cameron Menzies (Gone with the Wind), Ivy is a stylish crime melodrama.

INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

• High Definition remaster
• Original mono audio
• Audio commentary with academic and film curator Eloise Ross (2026)
• Neil Sinyard on ‘Ivy’ (2026): in-depth appreciation of the film and director Sam Wood by the writer and film historian
• Suspense: ‘The Story of Ivy’ (1945): radio adaptation of Marie Belloc Lowndes’ novel, starring Ann Richards, Raymond Lawrence, and Wally Maher
• Original theatrical trailer
• Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
• New English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Pamela Hutchinson, a career overview of production designer William Cameron Menzies, a look at Marie Belloc Lowndes’ novel, and film credits
• UK premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK
• All features subject to change

#PHILE345B
BBFC cert: TBC
REGION B
EAN: 5060697925098

[domino harvey]

Ivy (Sam Wood 1947) Joan Fontaine never looked lovelier than she does in this period noir, and so it's only fitting that the central plot here concerns several men resigning themselves to their own doom in exchange for even a glimmer of her affection. Fontaine's bald social climbing and furtive looks in the first act are the highlight of the film, and the histrionics of her treachery in the second are well-overplayed by Wood (here in the twilight of his career), but the movie sadly falls apart in the third act as guilt and paranoia eat Fontaine alive, slowly, and with dirge-y musical accompaniment. It's in good company, as a lot of noirs fall apart in their third acts. I still recommend the film if you can find it, but be aware that it turns into a procedural after hinting at being something more, and the film mistakenly wants to punish Fontaine via the laborious investigation subplot far more than the audience does.

And of course I just bought the Imprint disc, so you’re welcome

[therewillbeblus]

Looks like this keeps getting pushed back, first by a few weeks and now by two months from original release date. Are new features being added?

[ChunkyLover]

Looks like this keeps getting pushed back, first by a few weeks and now by two months from original release date. Are new features being added?

It could potentially be a replicator issue/backlog. The other two January releases ("All My Sons" and "Undertow") were delayed to March as well.

[Maltic]

in-depth appreciation of the film and director Sam Wood

You don't see that every day.

[domino harvey]

I actually think Wood is an excellent director, albeit one slightly to the right of Leo McCarey (even if he inexplicably made the most socialist Hollywood comedy imaginable, the Devil and Miss Jones), we should see it more often

[Maltic]

Yeah, I was only referring to his reputation, the guy made of wood who tamed the Marx Bros etc.

[Jonathan S]

Yes, I remember circa 1980 showing a list of films I owned (some of them actual prints) to a tutor - who wasn't even an auteurist. He said, "But do you actually like these films, Jonathan?" Our Town? Sam Wood!?

[MichaelB]

Be-Ivy-r.

[tenia]

It's getting hard to guess if this is Gary's usual very heavy way of writing, or just AI-powered. But considering this release is obviously sourced from a pre-existing HD master, something that would usually trigger several specific wordings from Gary, and that we instead have sentences like "Indicator’s UK Blu-ray of Ivy delivers a handsome, film-accurate presentation of this under-appreciated period noir gem, supported by intelligent, context-rich supplements and a handsome booklet that deepen appreciation of its visual craftsmanship and cultural roots." and "Ivy drifts through the film in cloud-like white lace gowns, wide-brimmed veiled hats, and floating fabrics that project virginal fragility, even as she commits the most venal acts - creating a deliberate visual irony that underscores her duplicity. The overall aesthetic is polished, high-budget Hollywood fantasy rather than gritty realism: everything feels slightly heightened, with Menzies’ trademark monumental sense of composition turning domestic spaces into stages for moral corruption.", either someone else is writing behind the Gary Tooze credit, or Gary's getting a little (big) help from the machine. Oh well.

[The Curious Sofa]

That does read like ChatGPT at its most florid. Thankfully, he isn't using AI to undress Joan Fontaine for NSFW pictures yet.

[ChunkyLover]

But considering this release is obviously sourced from a pre-existing HD master, something that would usually trigger several specific wordings from Gary

I don't know if I'd say "obviously". I own the Imprint release and it looks like a more recently done (mid-late 2010s?) Uni-done restoration instead of their older trash.

[MichaelB]

Universal's master is timestamped 10 May 2023.

(Or possibly 5 October 2023, but I suspect 5/10/2023 means May in this context, however counterintuitive it looks to European eyes.)

[MichaelB]

Final specs:

[MichaelB]

CineOutsider.