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Rating:  - not too much sugar, but a lot of flavor
i like my comedies as i like my desserts: not too much sugar but with a lot of flavors. trouble in paradise delivers just that plus that unmistakable "lighter than air" quality which characterizes all lubitsch movies. the famous lubitsch touch.
this is a movie made before the enforcement of the "morality" laden production code of 1935, and it shows. the movie is laced with sexual innuendo, with racy dialogues. you do feel the sexual tension between the main characters, it is evoked, impressionistically via the deft touch of the director. if only directors knew how to make movies this way still, rather than showing us skin and explicit content.
the casting is impeccable, all actors producing stellar performances and sometimes hilarious ones from the supporting cast - think of the scene played out half in english and half in italian when one characters tries to explain how he was robbed by a fake doctor... just priceless.
i particularly enjoy the juxtaposition of the elegant style - in the costumes, the cinematography, the lighting, the dialogues -and the profound lack of morality exhibited by each and all through the pursuit of amusement, wealth and greed. amorality was never portrayed as exquisitely.
finally, and my personal favorite, lubitsch's use of doors and windows never ceases to amaze me. how someone could have elevated their use and portrayal of such props to a work of art, constantly opening, closing, going through, transitioning from one to the other without making it trite or obvious is a mystery.
gotta love lubitsch, gotta love trouble in paradise.
Rating: - Enchanting comedy!
One of the most delightful movies I have seen. Sophisticated comedy of the sort that rarely appears nowadays. Vintage Ernst Lubitsch; terrific acting by Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, and Herbert J. Marshall in his salad days. Witty, naughty, and never vulgar -- produced just before the Hayes Code was enacted. Also, the most glorious gold evening dress, worn by Miriam Hopkins. I saw this movie on Netflix and bought it because I wanted to have a copy.
Rating: - Trouble in Paradise by Ernst Lubitsh
This movie is the very best classic movie ever!!! The story the actors and most of all "The Lubitsch Touch". I own many classics this being my all time favorite .I watach this at least once a year. It is a fun and classy film with incredible dialogue if only we had movies like this today !!!!Criterion did a stellar job even quoting some of the most famous directors praising this movie and of course a Peter Bogdonavich intro.Please watch this with a glass of champayne and be transported to the 1930's for fun and a really very brilliantly done film. Thank you Mr. Lubitsch for the time you were here for leaving us with this masterpiece of sheer pleasure.
Rating: - Paradise, indeed
Pre-code Lubitsch in all its sophisticated, spicy, saucy, cynical, morally ambiguous glory. Fans of early Astaire-Rogers will love Trouble in Paradise. Those who know Miriam Hopkins only as a foil for Bette Davis will be delighted with her comic timing. Kay Francis, as the sexually liberated widow, is totally wonderful, Elmer Fudd lisp and all. Herbert Marshall, Bette Davis' betrayed husband in The Letter, is throughly convincing as a charming gentleman thief. Two superb character actors, Charlie Ruggles and Edward Everett Horton, show why the were born to play romantic comedy. Costumes, interiors, script are the best of the period. And, unlike many comedies of the same vintage, one can watch Trouble in Paradise over and over without cringing. Source print for this DVD is crisp, sparkling.
Rating: - Darling, do you remember the man who walked into the Bank of Constantinople
....and walked out with the Bank of Constantinople? Main character, Gaston Monascu (Herbert Marshall) cheekily asks Lily Vautier(Miriam Hopkins) - his seconds-to-be-beloved in crime & love making.
I AM SO HAPPY THIS MAGNIFICENT FILM IS FINALLY AVAILABLE ON DVD!!!! If you don't love this movie - you must be dead already.
Lubitsch films should be shown to those who are feeling suicidal for they imbue such an intense heady love of life they are a cure-all to any malaise. After viewing a selection or if only one Lubitsch movie again & again (my prescription would be hands down for this one) not only will you joyfully choose life but you will see the world with a healthy beating heart refreshed, renewed & invigorated cheerful soul.
The wondrous deep-love-of-life affect after effect (and during in my experience) of viewing a Lubitsch film cannot be adequately expressed nor explained in mere words no matter what the chosen language may be. Although in this marvelous film (imho one of the top 10 - perhaps even 5 - very best films ever made on American soil) the many "languages" spoken - several or perhaps all of which are nonsensical jibberish (except the English & if I consider the hysterically funny dialogue between Charles Ruggles & Edward Everett Horton I may have to reconsider) executed so comedically well it boggles the mind if the foreign language lines were improvised or actually read as written.
The reason for this absolutely hilarious recurring jibberish language devise in Lubitsch's movies are unknown to me & I prefer it that way. Sometimes learning the behind the scenes of a film simply ruins the exquisite art of it all for me.
The dialogue (the true British, jibberish & Continental American affected accents) are so superbly written & delivered it makes one wonder what in the world is wrong with current day scriptwriters who have a much easier access to not only travel but foreign languages & the nuance of accents so much more than back then. But I believe this film is a fierce testament to the true power of pure unbridled imagination & fine craftsmanship.
The dialogue by (I'm not certain which writer or if it was all due to Lubitsch) Aladar Laszlo (playright)Grover Jones (screen adaption) or Samson Raphaelson is nonpareil. Take for instance Gaston & Lily's first date together:
Lily Vautier: I have a confession to make to you: Baron, you are a crook. You robbed the gentleman in 253, 5, 7 and 9. May I have the salt?
Gaston Monescu: Please!
Lily Vautier: Thank you.
Gaston Monescu: The pepper too?
Lily Vautier: Oh, no, thank you.
Gaston Monescu: You're very welcome. Countess, believe me, before you left this room, I would have told you everything. And let me say this, with love in my heart: Countess, you are a thief. The wallet of the gentleman in 253, 5, 7 and 9 is in your possession. I knew it very well when you took it out of my pocket. In fact, you tickled me. But your embrace was so sweet.
Herbert Marshall has never been so suave, so seductive & so perfectly matched to a film role (although I feel he was absolutely wonderful & is very sadly underrated these days in several like Wyler's, The Little Foxes & Hichcock's, Foreign Correspondent). If the academy ever wishes to create a posthumous award for best performance(s) ever overlooked by the Oscars the very first statuettes should be awarded to Marshall & his comrades in this very very special comedy.
Blonde Venus, Miriam Hopkins is beautiful & excellent as Gaston's anima-equal. Brunette Venus, Kay Francis is gorgeous & just as equally perfect as the wealthy widowed, generous-hearted, Madame Colet (another aspect of Gaston's anima I suppose). Sometimes I delight in imagining what if Lubitsch would have had his male protagonist live happily ever after with both his blonde & brunette goddesses? The mind & heart joyously reel watching this movie. (Lubitsch actually explored such a menage-a-trois in another pre-code film a year later in Noel Coward's, Design for Living!)
With all due respect to a former reviewer who complains that the DVD cover belies the "look" of the film - I feel this opinion is completley misguided. After all, how many films were done in color in 1932? The color jacket of the DVD is not a misleading marketing ploy of Criterion. I mean come on?! Movie posters & magazine film stills were frequently done in color back then even though the film was shot in black & white.
I could even watch this very quotable film with the sound off if only for the pleasure of viewing the exquisite art deco sets by Hans Dreier, the sublime gowns & wardrobe by Travis Banton & excellent cinematography by Victor Milner.
There isn't one weakness or fault in this movie except that I cannot enter the screen & join in the story. That I am afraid may be something which the 21st century virtual world can remedy. If this science ever comes to pass - this is THE movie (withut a doubt) I would choose to live in.
My goodness! And this was what they produced in a so called "depression"!? My mind swaggers & sways for our blessed 21st century to find her grounding & return to the glory, beauty & love of life which the artistic masters, like Lubitsch gave so lovingly to us all.
A more beautiful, funny, magical & grand love of life film you can ever wish to see has never since been made.
(Amazon has listed incorrect names. For correct info on stars, director, producer etc....check out IMDB.)
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