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Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Runtime: 82 mins
Synopsis: Gaston (Herbert Marshall) and Lily (Miriam Hopkins) are a cunning pair of jewel thieves who share much more than the riches they acquire. A loving bond that unites them accompanies the lovers on every job. A merry Parisian widow (Kay Francis) seems ripe to be plucked by this enamored couple. An... Gaston (Herbert Marshall) and Lily (Miriam Hopkins) are a cunning pair of jewel thieves who share much more than the riches they acquire. A loving bond that unites them accompanies the lovers on every job. A merry Parisian widow (Kay Francis) seems ripe to be plucked by this enamored couple. An unlikely love triangle blooms instead when Gaston falls for the beautiful widow's charms and is left to decide between these two stunning, but vastly different, women. Ernst Lubitsch created films with visual elegance, a razor-sharp wit, and bold sexuality. The "Lubitsch Touch" is most fully evident in this 1932 romantic comedy. Glossy Victor Milner photography, stunning Travis Banton gowns, and suave performances in no way disguise the conniving nature of all parties involved in the film's central love triangle. Nor do the immoral characters hinder the blissful romance. Hilarious dialogue from regular Lubitsch collaborator Samson Raphaelson and co-writer Grover Jones crackles throughout the picture. Flawless in every aspect, this influential work is one of the cinema's greatest romantic comedies. [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Miriam Hopkins, Herbert Marshall, Kay Francis, Charles Ruggles, Edward Everett Horton
Producer: Ernst Lubitsch
Screenwriter: Grover Jones, Samson Raphaelson
Composer: W. Franke Harling
DVD Info
Release:
Jul 1, 2003
DVD Features:
- Region 1
- Keep Case
- Full Frame - 1.33
- Single Side - Dual Layer
Audio:
- Mono - English
Additional Release Material:
- Audio Commentary - 1. Scott Eyman - Biographer of Ernst Lubitsch
- Introduction - 1. Peter Bogdanovich
- Bonus Short - 1. DAS FIDELE GEFANGNIS (THE MERRY JAIL) directed by Ernst Lubitsch
- Additional Audio Track - 1. SCREEN GUILD THEATER with Ernst Lubitsch, Jack Benny, Claudette Colbert, Basil Rathbone
Text/Galleries:
- Additional Text -1. Director Tributes (by Roger Ebert, Cameron Crowe, Billy Wilder, Leonard Maltin)
Reviews
The lighthearted Depression-era comedy clearly has the famed Lubitsch touch.
What sticks with you long after the movie is over is the terrific, European cosmopolitan humour, and unrelenting sexiness of it all
'The satire is sharp, the comedy is witty and urbane, and the characters are so full of life it feels as if they might just walk off the screen.'
This comedy of jewel thieves is itself the prize sparkler of Lubitsch's enterprising career.
If one considers that motion picture sound had only been in place for three years when Trouble in Paradise was made, the level of sophistication it shows is astonishing.
It is about people who are almost impossibly adult, in that fanciful movie way -- so suave, cynical, sophisticated, smooth and sure that a lifetime is hardly long enough to achieve such polish. They glide.
Trouble in Paradise (1932) is generally considered producer/director Ernst Lubitsch's greatest film...


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