Overlooked gem has at least one fan

I was struck by Susan King’s statement that “A Man to Remember” has “probably not been seen since its release 69 years ago.” [“Six Films Return to the RKO Fold,” April 1] I know that’s not true, because I saw the film at the 1970 San Francisco Film Festival as part of a tribute to Dalton Trumbo.

I have no idea of the provenance of the print, but I remember the film quite fondly and was impressed by it for the same reason the critics who reviewed it in 1938 were: the quiet understatement with which writer Trumbo and director Garson Kanin told a story that in other hands might have been a shamelessly overwrought tearjerker. It’s also a historically important film that demonstrates an early use of the narrative device invented by Preston Sturges, and most famously used in “Citizen Kane,” in which the life of a deceased character is recounted in flashbacks from people who knew him.

I’m looking forward to seeing it again and also having a chance to see the earlier version, “One Man’s Journey.”

MARK GABRISH CONLAN

San Diego