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By PAUL BRENNER
The grace, elegance, and style that mark the films of Ernst Lubitsch are at a high water mark in
his 1932 pre-code comedy "Trouble in Paradise." Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins star as two thieves playing the high
society con game, who decide to mark perfume heiress Kay Francis as their next victim.
Although an extremely influential film in the annals of American film comedy (a precursor to screwball comedy and
romantic comedy), it was a very difficult film to actually be able see since Paramount cast it into limbo after the
Production Code came in with full force in 1934. But The Criterion Collection has taken care of that with its new
release.
"Trouble in Paradise" is the perfect Lubitsch film -- not a shot, a bit of dialogue, an edit, a gesture, or even a piece
of bric-a-brac is wasted. Lubitsch and his screenwriter Sam Raphaelson color the palette even more with a bit of social
criticism: "You have to be in the social register to keep out of jail...but when you're a self-made crook you say call
the police." The film is also the height of sexy sophistication and champagne wit and repartee, with the three leads
setting a standard that even Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn couldn't match. It doesn't get much better than this and,
sadly, it probably never will. As Sammy Cahn presciently wrote, "You either got or you haven't got style." Lubitsch had
it in spades.
Since the film is brought to you through the courtesy of Criterion, the DVD is graced with a multitude of extras.
Lubitsch biographer Scott Eyman provides audio commentary; there is a 1940 radio broadcast of the Screen Guild Theater
featuring Lubitsch, Jack Benny, Claudette Colbert, Basil Rathbone, and Edward Arnold; Lubitsch testimonials by assorted
directors and film critics; essays by Armond White and Enno Patalas; and a fascinating rare comedy feature from 1917,
"The Merry Jailer," directed by and starring Lubitsch. Old faithful Peter Bogdanovich is also on hand to introduce the
film, during the course of which he manages a collection of impressions as if he were putting a reel together to get a
job in Vegas -- his impersonation of Jack Benny is a gasser. |
