love this movie. when i first saw it i knew it only as the nominal inspiration for You've Got Mail. It is, of course, infinitely better than that suggests.
― Rallsballs@onelist.com (stevie), Friday, 2 January 2015 16:01 (nine years ago) link
The YGM connection is the very reason that I have, if not outright avoided this film, than at least never made seeing it a priority. I should finally get on that. Next TCM airing, I promose.
― MaudAddam (cryptosicko), Friday, 2 January 2015 19:02 (nine years ago) link
rewatched To Be or Not to Be over the weekend... not my fave as it gets too straight-ahead plotty now and then, but man, that "Dropping dynamite" line + Benny's takes.
― the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Monday, 1 June 2015 20:27 (eight years ago) link
We should POLL the silents. Or at least watch and report back.
― Monstrous Moonshine Matinee (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 1 June 2015 20:42 (eight years ago) link
that great GREAT Polish actor
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 June 2015 21:11 (eight years ago) link
What he is doing to Shakespeare, we are doing to this thread.
― Monstrous Moonshine Matinee (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 1 June 2015 21:33 (eight years ago) link
wouldn't have voted for it but missing 'the marriage circle' is some bullshit.
i saw this yesterday at MoMA... It's the original of One Hour with You. Monte Blue, sort of the male lead, gets on my nerves a little, but the other 3 principals are a hoot (incl 'young' Adolphe Menjou and Marie Prevost, whose early demise was later scrutinized by Kenneth Anger and Nick Lowe).
https://www.google.com/search?q=lubitsch+marriage+circle&espv=2&biw=1262&bih=951&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj4u9mh1OjKAhWJ0h4KHY8RAMsQ_AUIBygC#tbm=isch&q=lubitsch+marriage+circle+egg&imgrc=TGpcBhOXXjJcyM%3A
http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/thovena-actors/imgs/6/2/62ade80a.png
― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Monday, 8 February 2016 17:19 (eight 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, January 2, 2012 5:08 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark
just rewatched Design for Living on Criterion... Milton is right, cept as the guy doing the commentary suggests that the ending is a bit dark; after all, they are going back to poverty to live 'outside society.'
March's take when Hopkins (who is just great) says "Something happened to me that usually only happens to a man" is a highlight.
― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Sunday, April 14, 2013 8:34 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark
Wow, this is so good. I disagree with the Criterion commentary person – when they have their muse Gilda by their side, George and Tom do their best and most successful work and can live outside society with money. If they go back to live in their dingy little flat, it'll be by choice.
― WilliamC, Sunday, 6 March 2016 03:36 (eight years ago) link
another retro underway in NYC, but this has some things I don't remember being shown before at FF.
https://www.artforum.com/film/id=68825
http://filmforum.org/series/the-lubitsch-touch
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Monday, 5 June 2017 16:51 (six years 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!"
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 14 June 2017 03:26 (six years ago) link
Saw a couple more Lubitsch silents, incl this cute crossdressing number:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=non55zCjx8Y
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 22 June 2017 21:50 (six years ago) link
and the other a sort of Taming of the Shrew in Bavaria. Emil Jannings in a comedy lead!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Vn1I_Wdi0
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 22 June 2017 21:55 (six years ago) link
For my 23rd E.L. film, a sorta reverse Taming of the Shrew, Bluebeard's Eighth Wife. Solid, funny second-tier Lubitsch, written by Wilder and Brackett.
Gary Cooper is much funnier with Ernst than with Capra, and Claudette Colbert pulls off one of those impossible good-natured wife-as-avenger roles. Very screwball: there's an early confrontation between Edw Ev Horton and Franklin Pangborn! Young David Niven surprisingly well-fit in a supporting schlemiel role.
http://www.rowthree.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Bluebeards-Eighth-Wife.jpg
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 11 August 2017 14:40 (six years ago) link
The Oyster Princess is probably the funniest of his silents that I've seen, with spatial gags and knockout, staircase-laden sets that reminded me of... Jerry Lewis! A must-see (on Kino disc).
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 15 September 2017 17:13 (six years ago) link
http://deeperintomovies.net/journal/image11/oysterprincess2.jpg
http://deeperintomovies.net/journal/archives/6520
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 15 September 2017 17:15 (six years ago) link
wow that looks great, some amazing shots in that link
― rob, Friday, 15 September 2017 17:29 (six years ago) link
The Oyster Princess seconded.
― Star Star City Slang (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 16 September 2017 15:36 (six years ago) link
new bio by Joseph McBride
Everything is explained, every rabbit hole is excavated; virtually every film given what in some other book would be a casual mention is examined here in Talmudic detail. If you think, “I wish I knew more about that” about a movie or star, read on; you will. (His treatment of Mary Pickford’s possible anti-Semitic loathing of Lubitsch, and their collaboration on 1923’s “Rosita,” is a good example of exhaustive exploration.) But he also makes us believe Lubitsch deserves it, as do his evergreen films.
https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2018/08/31/director-who-defined-classic-hollywood
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 15 November 2018 22:01 (five years ago) link
Oh, this is excellent news - I absolutely adored his Capra biog back when I was in college
― Jacob Lohl (stevie), Friday, 16 November 2018 14:37 (five years ago) link
that was a massive one; i never finished it.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 16 November 2018 15:20 (five years ago) link
There have been some other Lubitsch books over the years but don’t recall a really good one so looking forward to this.
― Buckaroo Can't Fail (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 16 November 2018 15:24 (five years ago) link
I am only now, at last, watching a Lubitsch film ("Trouble In Paradise") for the first time and I'm thinking, "Uh oh. New favorite."
― An Uphill Battle For Legumes (Capitaine Jay Vee), Sunday, 2 December 2018 23:57 (five years ago) link
have McBride book from library
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 3 December 2018 15:03 (five years ago) link
The full schedule for To Save and Project, MoMA's annual festival of film preservation, is now on line! We open with the premiere of our own restoration of Ernst Lubitsch's FORBIDDEN PARADISE! https://t.co/J066veI356 pic.twitter.com/L3dATE6QzB— MoMA Film (@MoMAFilm) December 13, 2018
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 17 December 2018 20:38 (five years ago) link
Pola Negri is quite the spitfire in Wildcat.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 11 January 2019 20:49 (five years ago) link
Just watched Cluny Brown, and it is great fun - Jennifer Jones is wonderful in it
― SHANTY the golden fish portion (stevie), Thursday, 1 August 2019 09:13 (four years ago) link
Just watched her firstborn do an interpretive dance in Easy Rider
― U or Astro-U? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 1 August 2019 12:16 (four years ago) link
Is that the daughter who committed suicide?
― SHANTY the golden fish portion (stevie), Thursday, 1 August 2019 12:49 (four years ago) link
No, Robert Walker Jr., but that was a good question
― U or Astro-U? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 1 August 2019 13:55 (four years ago) link
The scene where Mr. Matuschek quietly, in an attempt to salvage his dignity, hangs around the shop hoping one of his employees invites him home for Christmas Eve is so perfectly paced that I convulse.
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 24 December 2020 02:43 (three years ago) link
So much stuff in that so well done. Maybe I already commented on it up thread, but I love the scene where the big display pile of boxes gets knocked over, there is stillness for a beat or two, and then they all scramble to restack them.
― Whamagideon Time (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 24 December 2020 02:49 (three years ago) link
Like, yes, all these people actually work in this place. Which I dunno when else I have ever thought that, maybe The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
― Whamagideon Time (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 24 December 2020 02:51 (three years ago) link
I've been watching the shit out of Lubitsch lately (from the beginning of his talkie career, mostly in order). He's delightful and a new favorite. The Eclipse set of his musicals is one of the best Criterion purchases I've made in a while. Gonna watch Shop Around the Corner for the first time at some point over the next couple of days.
― Wet Pretzels and Other Soggy Snacks (Old Lunch), Thursday, 24 December 2020 05:35 (three years ago) link
Yes that Eclipse thing is good
― Whamagideon Time (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 24 December 2020 05:46 (three years ago) link
Watching Shop Around the Corner tonight, love it forever & always
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 24 December 2020 06:03 (three years ago) link
how much is that belt in the window? the one that says $2.95?...it’s 2.95oh no...
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 24 December 2020 06:09 (three years ago) link
Like, yes, all these people actually work in this place.
Exactly this. Matuschek's combination of solicitude and distance -- he knows just enough about Flora living with her mother and no more and doesn't wanna know -- is exactly how bosses are.
The only dud: the actor playing Pepi is straight out of MGM overemoting.
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 24 December 2020 10:28 (three years ago) link
i still like when he gives Mrs Matuschek the business over the phone though
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 24 December 2020 16:44 (three years ago) link
Eh, I like Pepi. I always suspect he's off to pick up a prostitute at the end of the film, but maybe I'm reading it wrong.
― Langdon Alger Stole the Highlights (cryptosicko), Thursday, 24 December 2020 17:16 (three years ago) link
He is!
I like when he mutters to Rudi, "Too much. "
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 24 December 2020 17:30 (three years ago) link
yes! love that
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 24 December 2020 17:35 (three years ago) link
It’s true that Pepi seems to be phoning in from a different movie, as Alfred suggests, but I don’t mind him.
― Whamagideon Time (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 24 December 2020 18:31 (three years ago) link
he's the comic relief to a comedy! died super young
― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 24 December 2020 23:35 (three years ago) link
Will have to look that up. Also, what's the deal with Schildkraut again, I forget.
― And Then There’s Maudit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 24 December 2020 23:37 (three years ago) link
He played Dreyfus!
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 24 December 2020 23:55 (three years ago) link
Shop was great! Positively chaste, though, compared to the endless sexcapades I've grown accustomed to in Lubitsch's pre-Code work. I'm kinda just letting it settle over me at the moment but I can see why it's a perennial holiday favorite.
― Wet Pretzels and Other Soggy Snacks (Old Lunch), Friday, 25 December 2020 04:29 (three years ago) link
The quaver in Sullavan's voice is sex.
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 December 2020 10:35 (three years ago) link
i've only watched 2 lubitches so far, To Be Or Not To Be which i found to be the greatest comedy i've ever seen, and Heaven Can Wait, which i didn't like at all
― flopson, Sunday, 27 December 2020 18:01 (three years ago) link
That’s about right
― And Then There’s Maudit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 27 December 2020 18:02 (three years ago) link
ha, I like HCW okay, but it's definitely at the bottom of the list of the ones I've seen, p surprised it got even one vote in the thread poll.
TBONTB is amazing. Trouble in Paradise would probably be the consensus rec on what to watch next—and it's fantastic—but I might suggest Ninotchka or The Shop around the Corner instead.
― rob, Sunday, 27 December 2020 18:48 (three years ago) link