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Birthday of the Week: Ernst Lubitsch

1/29/2014

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Ernst Lubitsch, January 28, 1892

Biography

Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise
By Scott Eyman,
Simon & Schuster, 1993

Master of Innuendo

I'm not going to write a particularly detailed tribute to Ernst Lubitsch on this, the day after his birthday, because so many people have done it already and certainly better than I could. Like here on this excellent site:

The Cinema of Ernst Lubitsch

Born in Berlin to an Ashkenazic tailor, Lubitsch started out in German silent films as an actor and director. He moved to Hollywood in 1922 and began making the kind of urbane romantic comedies that would later come to define his signature style -- witty, sophisticated, subtle, sexy, and beautifully crafted -- "The Lubitsch Touch." Again, I point you elsewhere for biographical details and suggest you start watching any and all of the films listed below, which are all available streaming or on DVD.

Let's just say the man knew how to use Edward Everett Horton.

Favorite Five

Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Design for Living (1933)
You can watch the whole film in sections on YouTube
Ninotchka (1939)
Remade as Silk Stockings (1957) with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Meh remake in You've Got Mail (1998) with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Sweet remake with Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft (1988)

Billy Wilder Defines "The Lubitsch Touch"

And Kay Francis and Miriam Hopkins Show You

A scene from Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Here's another quickie from the same film:

("She hates him!" Hee hee.)

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Immorality May Be Fun

12/29/2013

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Sin, schmin.

Design for Living (1933)

"... but it isn't fun enough to take the place of one hundred percent virtue and three square meals a day."

Design for Living is what happens when you add Ben Hecht to Noel Coward, deliver through Edward Everett Horton, and let Ernst Lubitsch surround you with eye candy like young Gary Cooper and Frederic March. It's the story of Gilda Farrell (Miriam Hopkins), a commercial artist, who meets a struggling playwright (March) and painter (Cooper) on the train to Paris, falls in love with both, but can't decide between them.

It's a smart, funny, modern (by that I mean they use the word "sex"), and sophisticated (by that I mean they don't use the word "f**k") story that may surprise you. Frederic March is very funny, for instance, Gary Cooper speaks French, for another, and Miriam Hopkins holds her own (I'm not her biggest fan) in this believable, never-resolved love triangle.

The best news is that you can watch it in pieces on YouTube or see the whole thing on DVD all at once without remembering which part you're on.

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