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| Ernst Lubitsch |
There is a lovely review of Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932
masterpiece Trouble in Paradise on
Roger Ebert’s website which you can find if you click here. Among
the quite extensive analysis is the information about Herbert Marshall’s wooden
leg. There is also a very good essay by Armond White on the Criterion website if you click here.
Between 1914-1919 Lubitsch had worked on dozens of films
as director, writer and actor. Many of them are still available and you can buy
an excellent box set titled “Lubitsch in Berlin” from Kino Lorber in
the US.
Between 1920-1923 Lubitsch released another seven films
in Germany. By 1922 however he was in Hollywood having accepted an invitation
from Mary Pickford to come to America and make movies together. Only one film
was made by the pair, Rosita (USA,
1923) and one of the glories of the year thus far has been the presentation of
a restored version of this long hard to see movie. Kristin Thompson reported on
the restoration and the premiere at Venice just last month on the esteemed Observations on Film Art blog.
Lubitsch made 16 films after Rosita before, in 1932, he made Trouble
in Paradise. My own copy is not the state of the art Criterion
edition but a DVD taped off air so long ago it has the FX logo in the
corner. However, at Bologna this year I watched a newly-restored copy that
wiped out a packed house at the large Arlecchino cinema. I wept as did many others.
The film disappeared from view not long after its release. It was shunted aside from public viewing once the
wowser code administrators got into stride. Trouble
In Paradise only re-appeared in the
late 60s. I don't recall when I saw it first but I think it was at one of
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| Francis, Marshall, Hopkins |
So much elegance, so much grace, so much snaky maneuvering
between gentleman thief Herbert Marshall, his paramour Miriam Hopkins and the
woman he robs, falls for and ultimately rejects Kay Francis. Gloriously
delicate comedy played out in expensive Venetian and Parisian hotel rooms by
people in dinner suits and lamé frocks. That’s the paradise! The trouble
derives from Marshall’s conflicted senses, smothered by his supercool exterior.
Few wore a dinner suit as well as Herbert Marshall. Fewer still were as glamourous
and desirable as Miriam Hopkins and nobody had a slight lisp that rendered their
voice so sexy as Kay Francis.
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| Criterion DVD cover |
In the 60s TROUBLE IN PARADISE was part of the BFI's repertory of the all time important movies designed to save them all the trouble in finding prints and documentation. They were telling us that their selection was all we needed to watch. That plan faded rapidly.
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