The Special Edition DVD of the 1940 classic movie "Brigham Young" starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Vincent Price and Dean Jagger will have its national premiere during a screening of the film at Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library auditorium Tuesday, July 15, at 3 and 7 p.m.
Doors will open at 2:30 and 6:30 p.m. Admission is free, but seating is limited and premiere organizers strongly advise early arrival for an assured seat.
Molly Madden, vice president of sales for Fox Home Entertainment, will formally announce the national release of the DVD at both showings of the feature film. Madden will be accompanied by Todd Werdebaugh, regional sales manager for Fox Home Entertainment.
The announcement coincides with the "street date" of the DVD's availability in stores across the United States and Canada.
Additional showings of "Brigham Young" will be in the Lee Library auditorium Wednesday, July 23, at 3 and 7 p.m. with the doors opening at 2:30 and 6:30 p.m. This showing is in celebration of Pioneer Day, commemorating the 1847 arrival of the pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley.
The Special Edition DVD is a joint project of Fox Home Entertainment and the Harold B. Lee Library's L. Tom Perry Special Collections. James D'Arc, curator of the Special Collections Motion Picture Archives, provides the feature-length audio commentary to the DVD.
It includes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, examples of cooperation by officials of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a demonstration of where the highly budgeted epic film departs from recorded history and some reasons why.
The DVD's supplementary section contains nearly 100 production- and publicity-related images from BYU's Special Collections and the archives of Twentieth Century Fox.
Currently on display in the Lee Library auditorium gallery is an exhibit, "The Fox and the Lion: Darryl F. Zanuck's Brigham Young." The exhibit includes publicity posters, still photographs and original manuscripts relating to the production and release of "Brigham Young" and about Darryl F. Zanuck, who personally produced the film.
The exhibit features Tyrone Power's personal script of "Brigham Young" that contains his handwritten dialogue changes in pencil. The changes reflect the final dialogue as delivered in the film.
All of the items in the exhibit are from the holdings of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections. The exhibit is on display through the end of August.
"'Brigham Young' was a significant historical milestone as far as the image of the LDS Church was concerned," said D'Arc. "It was the first major motion picture to receive Church cooperation, and the first film to present this sect in a positive manner. The DVD is a wonderful way to allow the archived materials related to this film to be seen by a much wider audience."
This special event is part of the regular Special Collections Motion Picture Archives Film Series and is co-sponsored by the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Friends of the Harold B. Lee Library and Dennis & Linda Gibson.
For further information, contact the L. Tom Perry Special Collections at (801) 422-3514.
