"i have a confession to make to you, baron: you are a CROOK!": the ERNST LUBITSCH poll

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.

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.

Yes that one's a delight! Who woulda thought straight laced Gary Cooper was up to polyamorous shenanigans back in the day.

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?

his bel air estate is up for sale for the first time in over sixty years

https://www.elliman.com/california/sales/detail/512-l-564-81_22166811/268-bel-air-rd-bel-air-los-angeles-ca-90077

would that i had $20 million bcz holy damn

omg how beautiful

Marvelling at that 5 bedroom : 8 bathroom ratio

Her husband is that great, great Polish actor, Joseph Tura. You’ve probably heard of him.

_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!"

Keeks!

Dahling, why do you pinch my side and say “keeks”?

Keeks just keep getting harder to find.

For those not allergic to podcasts, this is a fun listen:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-would-lubitsch-do-it/id1656845615

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.

I've hesitated. Merle Oberon and Melvyn Douglas are not my beau ideal of a magical pairing.

it's a light watch

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.

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.

$28.76. In England. Maybe it is actually copyrighted in the US.

I'd have voted for Cluny Brown today without hesitation. Its script, rhythm, Boyer, supporting cast -- perfect.

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.

I just watched both of those for the first time on Criterion. I am now completely smitten with Miriam Hopkins.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/47/73/72/477372e8d0a225cd436a903e65c060ad.gif

Expiring soon, no?

Design for living with young hot fun cooper (instead of stoic, old, Captain America cooper) is pretty amazing

Yep, tomorrow is last day for those two. xp

I watched Design for Living last week for that reason. A delight!

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?

Probably. Pre-Criterion it was stuck in Universal's budget Gary Cooper Franchise Collection.

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.

Followed up my Lubitsch double feature with something completely different: Easy Rider, which I had somehow never seen. I still have a contact high.

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

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.

Design for Living is on Criterion blu ray

Sorry, I meant Trouble in Paradise.