'Trouble in Paradise' by a mile. I've seen 'The Smiling Lieutenant', 'Design for Living', 'The Merry Widow', 'Bluebeard's Eighth Wife', 'Ninotchka', 'The Shop Around the Corner', and 'To Be or Not to Be', but nothing matches the pacing and humor of 'TiP'.
― La plus perdue de toutes les journées est celle où l’on n’a pas (Michael White), Tuesday, 30 December 2008 21:19 (fifteen years ago) link
I think I've seen 14 of these! (plus some of the earlier silents at Film Forum retro a couple years back)
Trouble in Paradise.
― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 30 December 2008 21:22 (fifteen years ago) link
to be or not to be is one of my favourite movies ever.
― s1ocki, Tuesday, 30 December 2008 23:10 (fifteen years ago) link
meh i could not really deal with how unlikeable the main character in "Trouble" is and I thought everyone around him behaved v. unrealistically.
― johnny crunch, Tuesday, 30 December 2008 23:11 (fifteen years ago) link
SCHULTZ!!!
xpost
Gaston, unlikeable?!
― La plus perdue de toutes les journées est celle où l’on n’a pas (Michael White), Tuesday, 30 December 2008 23:12 (fifteen years ago) link
wouldn't have voted for it but missing 'the marriage circle' is some bullshit. it's full-length too (as are most of his silents).
― Brohan Hari, Tuesday, 30 December 2008 23:18 (fifteen years ago) link
Btw, there's a little inside joke of sorts in 'TiP'. Notice how Lubitsch has Herbert Marshall's character run up and down the stairs so much? It's a double. Marshall lost a leg in WWI.
Come to think of it, I think I did see 'The Marriage Circle'.
― La plus perdue de toutes les journées est celle où l’on n’a pas (Michael White), Tuesday, 30 December 2008 23:21 (fifteen years ago) link
oops. i admittedly haven't seen/know little about the silent stuff xp
― lyndonna larouge (donna rouge), Tuesday, 30 December 2008 23:32 (fifteen years ago) link
tbh you'd be mad to vote silent over sound but he was a huge deal in the silent era.
― Brohan Hari, Tuesday, 30 December 2008 23:53 (fifteen years ago) link
Trouble in Paradise or Shop around the Corner. The first is funnier, the second is beautiful.
― bamcquern, Wednesday, 31 December 2008 00:40 (fifteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 00:01 (fifteen years ago) link
aw i voted "ninotchka" before i remembered that "trouble in paradise" is lubitsch. love them both
― horseshoe, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 00:05 (fifteen years ago) link
I haven't seen all of those movies, of course, but:
#1 Heaven Can Wait#2 Ninotschka#3 To Be Or Not To Be#4 Trouble in Paradise
― Naked like a bunch (Trackpants Tree), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 00:20 (fifteen years ago) link
I can't recall but I think I threw a pity vote to Broken Lullaby aka The Man I Killed. As a serious (and, ok, a bit maudlin) plea for peace, love, and understanding, it's been lost in all the effervescence surrounding it. But it's more sensitively directed than Heaven Can Wait, Ninotchka, or To Be Or Not To Be. And I'd say the same for several of the silents which, right, should have been included.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 00:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Thursday, 8 January 2009 00:01 (fifteen years ago) link
Not a very big turnout. Billy Wilder is somewhere up above crying into his schmaltz at the way you treated his hero.
― ilx chilton (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 8 January 2009 02:03 (fifteen years ago) link
I missed this one.
The Shop Around the Corner is one of my very, very favorite films, so that would get my vote. But opening sequence of Trouble in Paradise is magic and love Garbo ("The latest trials went well. There are fewer but better Russians.") in Ninotchka
― Hubie Brown, Thursday, 8 January 2009 03:04 (fifteen years ago) link
The last third of Heaven Can Wait is pretty moving – people keep disappearing from Don Ameche's life as he gets older – and there's a dance b/w him and Gene Tierney that's Ophuls-esque in its summoning of nostalgia and sadness. But, wow, I don't like Ameche: too starchy and smug. Charles Coburn and Eugene Pallette and the black butler (who looks like wandered in out of a Sturges picture) steal this.
Eugene Pallette should be in every movie.
― The Screaming Lobster of Challops (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 12 March 2009 15:58 (fifteen years ago) link
if he had lived in the CGI era he'd have played a bullfrog at some point.
like HCW a lot, and the Sarris-Haskell chat on the disc.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 12 March 2009 16:02 (fifteen years ago) link
Pity he was such a right-wing nut.
― It is not enough to love mankind – you must be able to stand (Michael White), Thursday, 12 March 2009 16:10 (fifteen years ago) link
i saw 'that uncertain feeling' recently...its premise is fairly cute but as it went on none of the conflict really felt real & it was odd that the leads went so far as to actually get divorced only to inevitably get back together
― johnny crunch, Thursday, 12 March 2009 16:14 (fifteen years ago) link
'ninotchka' was not quite as good as i remembered it. way too slow and soggy after the first hour.
'shop around the corner' is one of the most perfect movies ever.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 12 March 2009 18:13 (fifteen years ago) link
Saw Die Begkatze ('The Wildcat') at the Goethte Institut last night. It's a 'mountain comedy', i.e. slapstick in the snow starring Pola Negri and it was pretty funny.
― Le présent se dégrade, d'abord en histoire, puis en (Michael White), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 15:25 (fifteen years ago) link
I loved you as a crook! I worshipped you as a crook! Please don't be another good for nothing gigolo!
― defensive of decent LOLs (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 15:33 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, that's the best line in that one.
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 15:48 (fifteen years ago) link
Cluny Brown at Film Forum, New York film nerds. Please check it out: like Holiday, one of the oddest, most beautiful of American films; its tone is unique. Charles Boyer, Jennifer Jones, and Peter Lawford are expert.
― Gus Van Sotosyn (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 19 December 2010 01:25 (thirteen years ago) link
Also: since it's Christmas time, please rent The Shop Around the Corner.
― Gus Van Sotosyn (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 19 December 2010 01:27 (thirteen years ago) link
Really? The calendar says The Conformist. Oh, I see, thanks.
― The Decline of British Cat Power (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 19 December 2010 01:40 (thirteen years ago) link
cluny brown is fucking aces
― I spilled, saucer-eyed, into the Tonetta fanclub underground. (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 19 December 2010 03:38 (thirteen years ago) link
I was watching The Shop Around The Corner last night for maybe the eighty-eighth time. It just gets everything right, it all sticks. Those last ten minutes, especially with that sudden turn toward extreme intimacy at the last moments. are just the most amazing thing. Margaret Sullavan staring at the empty post box - wow.
― R Baez, Sunday, 19 December 2010 03:50 (thirteen years ago) link
which ernst lubitsch movie should i watch tonite
― flopson, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 20:16 (thirteen years ago) link
2 b or not 2 b
― anime hitler, the futanari führer (Princess TamTam), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 20:20 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah?
― flopson, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 20:22 (thirteen years ago) link
You know that great, great Polish actor, Joseph Tura?
― stars on 45 my destination (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 20:35 (thirteen years ago) link
He's world famous in Poland!
― Concatenated without abruption (Michael White), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 20:39 (thirteen years ago) link
Trouble In Paradise is playing tomorrow and Monday at the FF with a similarly themed and casted William Dieterle movie called Jewel Robbery.
― Scharlach Sometimes (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 6 August 2011 23:38 (twelve years ago) link
just saw Design For Living and could not believe it. kept waiting for the morality play, the downer ending, the comeuppance and man Miriam just gets the happiest ending imaginable, this film is from the future
― Milton Parker, Monday, 2 January 2012 23:08 (twelve years ago) link
would have voted for this over One Hour With You if I'd known
― Milton Parker, Monday, 2 January 2012 23:09 (twelve years ago) link
i watched trouble in paradise with a girl over the holiday break and she squealed joyously through most of it.kind of a keeper, that one.
― do you want me to share what i know w/ you or not? (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 3 January 2012 00:15 (twelve years ago) link
If any man I see looks at his watch during Trouble in Paradise I ask him to leave this apartment immediately.
(I've never done this but want to)
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 3 January 2012 00:21 (twelve years ago) link
seattle peeps Trouble in Paradise is showing at the Grand Illusion this week
― JoeStork, Tuesday, 3 January 2012 08:57 (twelve years ago) link
Hoberman on the restored '22 Loves of Pharaoh:
http://blogs.artinfo.com/moviejournal/2012/10/17/live-from-the-kingdom-of-the-dead-lubitsch%E2%80%99s-lavish-1922-%E2%80%9Cloves-of-pharaoh%E2%80%9D/
― cancer, kizz my hairy irish azz (Dr Morbius), Friday, 19 October 2012 18:38 (eleven years ago) link
damn, that looks fascinating
― let's have sex and then throw pottery (forksclovetofu), Friday, 19 October 2012 19:03 (eleven years ago) link
Would love to see it, but don't think I can get there.
― Cosmic Fopp (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 19 October 2012 19:12 (eleven years ago) link
Morbs, are you going?
― The windiest militant trash (Michael White), Saturday, 20 October 2012 14:40 (eleven years ago) link
I am in shitty condition today... But I think I saw it at Film Forum in 2003! Never big on Egypt epics, really.
― cancer, kizz my hairy irish azz (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 20 October 2012 15:03 (eleven years ago) link
ok, i dont think i did see it.
― cancer, kizz my hairy irish azz (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 20 October 2012 16:52 (eleven years ago) link
haha
@pareeneThere is really an unnecessarily large number of people working at Mr. Matuschek's store every day
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 12 January 2013 13:18 (eleven years ago) link
fuckin' Cluny Brown still unavailable on DVD in America.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 12 January 2013 13:29 (eleven years ago) link
(xp)B-b-b-but it was the Christmas rush!
― The Teardrop ILXplodes (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 12 January 2013 13:37 (eleven years ago) link
Two with Jeanette MacDonald, One Hour With You and The Merry Widow, don’t think I’ve seen the others.
― And Then There’s Maudit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 27 December 2020 23:45 (three years ago) link
By which I mean The Love Parade and the non-Lubitsch Love Me Tonight.
― And Then There’s Maudit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 27 December 2020 23:47 (three years ago) link
He is really well-cast as a Lubitsch protagonist. He is also good in Lubitsch, um, disciple Billy Wilder’s Love in the Afternoon, although overall that film kind of bugs me.
― And Then There’s Maudit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 27 December 2020 23:52 (three years ago) link
Chevalier had one mode: chivalrous horndog. It works in his comedies, as long as you don't watch them too closely together. But it jars in Pièges, where he is supposed to be a suspect. (Stalker, yes, but sex murderer?)
― Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Sunday, 27 December 2020 23:56 (three years ago) link
The Lubitsch/Chevalier films I've seen are delightful. The MacDonald minus Chevalier film (Monte Carlo) slightly less so (Jack Buchanan comes off as more of a creep than an impish cad).
Really wish either that Trouble in Paradise and The Merry Widow were available on blu-ray or that I was less uptight about buying them as-is (as I know the b-r announcement will drop immediately after I buy a lower-fi copy, as always).
― Wet Pretzels and Other Soggy Snacks (Old Lunch), Monday, 28 December 2020 00:02 (three years ago) link
i find his musical stuff mostly unwatchable but that's more a personal prejudice than a critical judgment
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Monday, 28 December 2020 00:09 (three years ago) link
This thread revive prompted us to watch Trouble in Paradise tonight, which I'd never seen. Total delight.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 28 December 2020 04:52 (three years ago) link
Unsurprisingly, Cluny Brown was completely brilliant. So many great lines that won't sound that funny written out: "if England must produce more Belinskis, then we shall produce more Belinskis" and everything Betty Cream says to the two young men in the party scene.
We'd watched Emma. (2020) the previous night, which made for an inadvertently well-programmed double bill about class in England (though perhaps inevitably due to their respective sources, the 1946 film is sharper than the 2020), not to mention that Bill Nighy would fit into CB seamlessly.
― rob, Tuesday, 29 December 2020 15:58 (three years ago) link
the HONORABLE Betty Cream, thanks.
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 29 December 2020 16:00 (three years ago) link
Nice to watch Peter Lawford score with a comedic role perfectly in his range.
The dinner scene with the roast beef.
Belinksi bumping into Cluny and Wilson when out walking.
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 29 December 2020 16:02 (three years ago) link
I mean, the staging and body language sez it all:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/aDVTQlr16EHcHHLytRF9DDq5xuxdV93T7c4Pnur0CxCtU1ZHxfjRuj6uTET9VXyyJBwgaZIVy0cfkAcUXUVWlHyVHEzE7Shc_CtDNrTXqluKF_e8dCJ9JVKCL-N6e89a
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 29 December 2020 16:12 (three years ago) link
I know his rep but I don't think I'd previously seen Lawford in anything other than Advise & Consent, so he was a pleasant surprise.
Wilson was almost too effective as the pinched killjoy, spending entire minutes with his demonically mirthless family was a little rough, though I enjoyed the repeated gag of Boyer ringing the bell. Actually, all the recurring gags were good.
Great use of costuming in that still as well!
― rob, Tuesday, 29 December 2020 16:15 (three years ago) link
TCM premiere of So This Is Paris (1926), with a new score by Ben Model, tonight at 8pm EST. Be there or be dead to me.
― Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Sunday, 9 May 2021 20:45 (three years ago) link
Just saw Design for Living yesterday and it instantly became one of my all-time favorites. Practically perfect in every way. And with each additional Lubitsch film I see, he rises in the ranks of my all-time favorite directors.
― knuckleheaded mornonic bafoon (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 3 November 2021 14:38 (two years ago) link
Yes that one's a delight! Who woulda thought straight laced Gary Cooper was up to polyamorous shenanigans back in the day.
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 3 November 2021 14:43 (two years ago) link
If the rumors are true, Cooper had a pretty lively private life.
More interesting to me right now:https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/attachments/three-women-blueband-jpg.117875/
Three Women (1924) is good news by itself, but could "The Ernst Lubitsch Collection" mean more titles from this period--So This Is Paris? Forbidden Paradise?
― Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Thursday, 4 November 2021 16:44 (two years ago) link
his bel air estate is up for sale for the first time in over sixty yearshttps://www.elliman.com/california/sales/detail/512-l-564-81_22166811/268-bel-air-rd-bel-air-los-angeles-ca-90077would that i had $20 million bcz holy damn
― donna rouge, Thursday, 16 June 2022 03:00 (one year ago) link
omg how beautiful
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 16 June 2022 04:02 (one year ago) link
Marvelling at that 5 bedroom : 8 bathroom ratio
― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 16 June 2022 09:10 (one year ago) link
Her husband is that great, great Polish actor, Joseph Tura. You’ve probably heard of him.
― Jean Arthur Rank (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 8 September 2022 22:17 (one year ago) link
_That Uncertain Feeling_ may be minor Lubitsch, but high marks to Burgess Meredith as an egomaniacal pianist whose idea of kicking off roleplay sex with Merle Oberon is bellowing "I AM WOTAN AND I HAVE COME TO EARTH!"
― The Lubitsch Touchscreen (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 22 April 2023 15:42 (one year ago) link
Keeks!
― The Lubitsch Touchscreen (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 22 April 2023 20:06 (one year ago) link
Dahling, why do you pinch my side and say “keeks”?
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Saturday, 22 April 2023 20:10 (one year ago) link
Keeks just keep getting harder to find.
― The Lubitsch Touchscreen (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 22 April 2023 21:19 (one year ago) link
For those not allergic to podcasts, this is a fun listen:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-would-lubitsch-do-it/id1656845615
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 24 April 2023 14:18 (one year ago) link
Just noticed that That Uncertain Feeling was made between two of his biggest classics, The Shop Around the Corner and To Be or Not to Be.
― The Lubitsch Touchscreen (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 24 April 2023 14:37 (one year ago) link
I've hesitated. Merle Oberon and Melvyn Douglas are not my beau ideal of a magical pairing.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 April 2023 14:41 (one year ago) link
it's a light watch
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Monday, 24 April 2023 15:53 (one year ago) link
It’s worth seeing, ever if not top-tier Lubitsch as everyone acknowledges. And yeah, the fundamental triangle is flawed, there is more chemistry between Melvyn Douglas and Eve Arden than between him and Merle Oberon and her role in the end is unsympathetic, but her performance and presence are fine. Burgess Meredith character ultimately unlikable but still funny. There’s an amusing little bit by Sig Ruman as Mr. Kafka, the film could have used more of him. Despite all these caveats would watch again.
― The Lubitsch Touchscreen (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 24 April 2023 16:31 (one year ago) link
I think it’s easy to watch too since, if I read correctly, the copyright paperwork was damaged or lost at sea and, because the film was such a flop Lubitsch’s production partner didn’t want to bother to pay the $19.99 to refile so it is in the public domain.
― The Lubitsch Touchscreen (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 24 April 2023 16:39 (one year ago) link
$28.76. In England. Maybe it is actually copyrighted in the US.
― The Lubitsch Touchscreen (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 24 April 2023 16:42 (one year ago) link
I'd have voted for Cluny Brown today without hesitation. Its script, rhythm, Boyer, supporting cast -- perfect.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 2 November 2023 00:27 (six months ago) link
Watched TROUBLE IN PARADISE the other night. Amazing. I feel like so many facets of this film were light years ahead, the timing and the acting and the writing and quite frequently the camerawork. The theft, the meeting of Gaston and Lily, the bewildered recollection is the theft, Gaston and Lily realizing just who the other really is...that whole opening stretch is A++ (the rest of the film vacillates between A and A+ for me.)
Design For Living is next up.
― omar little, Sunday, 5 November 2023 23:59 (six months ago) link
I just watched both of those for the first time on Criterion. I am now completely smitten with Miriam Hopkins.
― Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable POST (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 30 January 2024 19:12 (three months ago) link
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/47/73/72/477372e8d0a225cd436a903e65c060ad.gif
― omar little, Tuesday, 30 January 2024 19:18 (three months ago) link
Expiring soon, no?
― Al Green Explores Your Mind Gardens (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 30 January 2024 19:19 (three months ago) link
Design for living with young hot fun cooper (instead of stoic, old, Captain America cooper) is pretty amazing
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Tuesday, 30 January 2024 19:20 (three months ago) link
Yep, tomorrow is last day for those two. xp
― Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable POST (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 30 January 2024 19:39 (three months ago) link
I watched Design for Living last week for that reason. A delight!
― jaymc, Tuesday, 30 January 2024 19:56 (three months ago) link
both excellent movies but i preferred design for living, partially because it has significantly more miriam hopkins. surprised it got no votes in this poll though maybe it was less easily accessible at the time?
― na (NA), Tuesday, 30 January 2024 20:00 (three months ago) link
Probably. Pre-Criterion it was stuck in Universal's budget Gary Cooper Franchise Collection.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 30 January 2024 20:11 (three months ago) link
If you wanna watch another Miriam Hopkins highlight, stream The Heiress, where she plays Olivia de Havilland's duplicitous aunt, herself in love with Montgomery Clift.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 30 January 2024 21:37 (three months ago) link
Followed up my Lubitsch double feature with something completely different: Easy Rider, which I had somehow never seen. I still have a contact high.
― Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable POST (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 14:08 (three months ago) link
Uggggh, why won't they just put Design for Living out on Blu-ray already? These gaps in my Lubitsch collection are driving me nuts!
Just recently rewatched one of my favorite Outer Limits episodes and realized for the first time that it featured an unrecognizable Miriam Hopkins in full psychobiddy mode.
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/__P1bz4ZkkRA/TUYinnlBZWI/AAAAAAAACp8/z_FJdjSUvUE/s1600/screen-capture-1.png
― Great-Tasting Burger Perceptions (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 15:05 (three months ago) link
I'm still not as fond of Design for Living as I should be. I watched it last night and thought it needed to pick up the tempo. But! Daaaaamn, Coop is hot -- no wonder Fredric March can't stop ogling him.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 15:11 (three months ago) link
Design for Living is on Criterion blu ray
― rob, Wednesday, 31 January 2024 15:13 (three months ago) link
Sorry, I meant Trouble in Paradise.
― Great-Tasting Burger Perceptions (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 31 January 2024 15:28 (three months ago) link