Heaven can wait 1943 - A charming nostalgic comedy from Lubitsch

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IMDB rating: 7,6

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Main Cast: Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar, Spring Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Signe Hasso, Louis Calhern

"Based on Birthdays, a play by Laslo Bus-Fekete, Heaven Can Wait was Ernst Lubitsch's last great movie. The enduring classic came at the end of two decades of excellent work, which included such Hollywood masterpieces as Trouble in Paradise, Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner and To Be or Not to Be. In this era, the 'Lubitsch Touch' became a marketable moniker which characterized his impact on the early sound days of Hollywood. Heaven is typical of the 'Touch': it's a perfect blend of sophistication, romance, wit and bittersweet sentiment. The benevolent story reveals Don Ameche's life to be as average as any man's, but Lubitsch's genuine tenderness elevates the tale to the majestic. Ameche and Gene Tierney deliver mature, convincing performances, appropriate to the subject matter. Heaven was nominated for Oscars for Best Picture, Director, and Cinematography, and was a significant influence on director Frank Capra's beloved It's a Wonderful Life." - www.allmovie.com

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To be or not to be 1942 - A controversial classic

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IMDB rating: 8,3

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Main Cast: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill

"Ernst Lubitsch directs the 1942 political satire classic To Be or Not to Be, which marked the final screen appearance of comedienne Carole Lombard. To Be or Not to Be remains one example of a wartime propaganda film that retains its freshness and entertainment value outside its original historical context. Made during World War II by German expatriate Ernst Lubitsch, the film features anti-fascist themes that never overwhelm the characters, and it allows star Jack Benny to fashion a likeable performance that transcends the story's political content. Where many topical comedies veer into either serious drama or excessive sentimentality, To Be or Not to Be maintains its satiric edge without descending into self-parody. The film works as a comedy, as a political thriller, as an anti-fascist satire, and as an allegorical parable. The dialogue contains sharp, ironic observations aimed at the absurdity of totalitarian dogma. While Nazis and Hitler were Lubitsch's specific targets, the film retains a more universal mockery of government oppression and the willingness of bureaucrats to accept their tasks without questioning them. The movie was remade in 1983 starring Mel Brooks and real-life wife Anne Bancroft." - www.allmovie.com

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The shop around the corner 1940 - Charming Hungarian story wrapped up with an American ribbon

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IMDB rating: 8,1

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Main Cast: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut

"The Shop Around the Corner is adapted from the Hungarian play by Nikolaus (Miklos) Laszlo. The movie is one of the screen's best romantic comedies, and an excellent example of the subtle humor and wry character interplay that marked the films of director Ernst Lubitsch. The plot - likeable people (James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan) who are antagonists in real life but also anonymous pen pals are infatuated with each other - is ripe with comic potential, but Lubitsch takes the material further, including several bittersweet subplots that give the film richness and texture. The supporting performances are first-rate, particularly Frank Morgan and Joseph Schildkraut, and the film has the classy look that was a hallmark of MGM films of this era. Directed with comic delicacy by Lubitsch, this was later remade in 1949 as In the Good Old Summertime, and in 1998 as You've Got Mail. It was also musicalized as the 1963 Broadway production She Loves Me." - www.allmovie.com

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Ninotchka 1939 - Garbo laughs!

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IMDB rating: 8,0

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Main Cast: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire, Bela Lugosi

"Ninotchka connects the careers of 1930s directing great Ernst Lubitsch and future directing great Billy Wilder, who was among a quartet of writers who did credited work on this film. The film evidences the strength of both, Lubitsch's lighter style works together with Wilder's more cutting dialogue. The production values and tech credits are first-rate, with the glossy look and classy feel that were the hallmarks of MGM in this era. Greta Garbo, with more than a little self-parody, proves herself adept at comedy, and Melvyn Douglas shows why he was one of the screen's most in-demand romantic leads of the 1930s. This is one of the rare opportunities to see Bela Lugosi in a likable, non-horrific role, though it was, regrettably, Lugosi's last supporting performance in a high-budget film. Douglas, on the other hand, would unexpectedly emerge in later decades as one of the screen's best and most versatile dramatic actors." - www.allmovie.com

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Trouble in Paradise 1932 - The most accomplished example of the 'Lubitsch touch'

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IMDB rating: 8,2

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Main Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, Charles Ruggles, Edward Everett Horton, C. Aubrey Smith

"Ernst Lubitsch used Laszlo Aladar's play The Honest Finder as a springboard for one of his most delightful early-'30s Paramount confections. With a script by Samson Raphaelson and Grover Jones, Lubitsch derives sparkling humor from the lusty (Pre-Code) love triangle among two jewel thieves, Lily and Gaston, and their intended victim, Mme. Colet. From the opening image of a garbage gondola's gliding through the picturesque Venice canals, Lubitsch makes light of the notion that amorality lies beneath the glossy exteriors of the rich. Elegantly sending up idealized movie romance, Gaston and Lily fall in love as they attempt to rob each other blind over an intimate dinner, sealing a bond between two scoundrels. Such Lubitsch details as a hand's hanging a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on a doorknob and the shadow of a couple cast on a bed neatly communicate the nature of Gaston's relationships with Lily and Mme. Colet, complementing the clever dialogue, spiked with nimble come-ons and ripostes, and delivered with aplomb by Herbert Marshall, Miriam Hopkins, and Kay Francis. Praised for its smoothly imaginative technique and comic invention, Trouble in Paradise burnished Lubitsch's reputation as Paramount's premier purveyor of 1930s Continental class, and it is still considered one of the best adult comedies ever made." - www.allmovie.com

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Monte Carlo 1930 - "Beyond the blue horizon"

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021153/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3
IMDB rating: 7,0

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Main Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Jack Buchanan, Claud Allister, Zasu Pitts

"Monte Carlo was intended to build upon the success of the earlier Jeanette MacDonald-Ernst Lubitsch collaboration, the delightful Love Parade. Unfortunately, although it has one moment that is perhaps better than any isolated moment in the earlier film, Monte Carlo doesn't live up to its promise. Much of the problem is with co-star Jack Buchanan, who simply does not partner MacDonald as well as Maurice Chevalier did in Parade. He doesn't have the power needed to keep pace with MacDonald, especially at this point in her career, and there's a smugness to his personality that is annoying. Lubitsch has done his usual, dependable job of supplying the film with a great number of subtle, sly winks and of keeping the storytelling interesting, but the story itself is too old hat to succeed without a more consistently witty and involving script. Richard Whiting and W. Franke Harling's score is quite good, however, with 'Whatever It Is, It's Grand' and the marvelous 'Beyond the Blue Horizon' exceptional. The latter provides the film's highpoint, as part of the magnificent wedding sequence that opens the film. Lubitsch builds the number, matching the sound and movement of the train to the song to create a genuinely thrilling number. Had the rest of the film lived up to this terrific opening section, Monte Carlo might have been a classic rather than a moderately entertaining trifle." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/monte-carlo-v102788/

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The merry widow 1934 - The musical that set all the standards

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025493/?ref_=nv_sr_1
IMDB rating: 7,6

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Main Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Edward Everett Horton, Una Merkel

"Ernst Lubitsch directs the 1934 musical comedy The Merry Widow, based on the 1905 operetta by Franz Lehar. The apparent goal of MGM in adapting The Merry Widow as a vehicle for Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier was to emulate movies such as Love Me Tonight, which they'd made at Paramount - they even got Lorenz Hart, who'd co-authored the music from that film, to adapt the score for this production. And in the main it works as one of the best of the early MGM musicals, with memorably charming numbers amid a glittering setting, spiced with engaging moments of romantic comedy and misunderstanding (this is, after all, an adaptation of an operetta). The only reservation may be that there's nothing here as clever in design or execution as what Rouben Mamoulian achieved in Love Me Tonight. Not that it's the fault of director Ernst Lubitsch - it's more a matter of MGM weighing the proceedings down a bit in sheer opulence and sheer scope of the production, as though the studio never quite wants you to forget that this is an MGM picture. As a result, it's just a little clunkier and less light on its feet, in the execution (including the editing) than Mamoulian's earlier effort. Which doesn't mean that The Merry Widow isn't filled with brilliant moments, musical, comedic and otherwise, and have lots of inspiration - even the supporting cast, forget the two stats, have great moments, and the Franz Lehar music speaks for itself.
The Merry Widow was filmed several other times, including the 1925 silent version directed by Erich Von Stroheim and the1952 version starring Fernando Lamas as Danilo. - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-merry-widow-v32288

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Design for living 1933 - The classic Lubitsch touch in a not so faithful adaptation of Coward's play

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023940/
IMDB rating: 7,6

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Main Cast: Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Miriam Hopkins, Edward Everett Horton, Isabel Jewell, Jane Darwell

"Design for Living was based on the stage comedy by Noel Coward, though little of his dialogue actually made it to the screen. Playwright Fredric March and artist Gary Cooper both fall in love with Miriam Hopkins, an American living in Paris. Both men love the girl, and the girl can't make up her mind between the two men, so the threesome decide to move in together - strictly platonically, of course.
When first released, Design for Living was assailed for the incredible liberties it took in transferring the material from stage to the screen. Indeed, director Ernst Lubitsch and screenwriter Ben Hecht kept only a single line of dialogue from the witty, sparkling Noel Coward comedy - and that one line was hardly itself distinguished. In other hands, this would have been a recipe for disaster; fortunately, Lubitsch and Hecht were enormous talents themselves, and the film they concocted from the barebones of Coward's play is sharply observed, slightly daffy and a total delight. It's true that Gary Cooper is a little out of place in high-style comedy of this sort; he's a little too 'downhome' to pull off some of what is asked of him. Nevertheless, his natural charisma is sufficient to overcome this deficiency, and his innate masculinity is used to interesting effect. On the other hand, Fredric March is right at home, turning in a deliciously comic performance that never takes a false turn. He's matched by Miriam Hopkins, creating some subtly wonderful variations on a madcap theme and proving irresistible in whatever she does.
The subtle homosexual implications of the Noel Coward stage original were dissipated by the presence of the aggressively masculine Gary Cooper and Fredric March in the film version of Design for Living. Replacing these implications were the equally subtle but more 'mainstream' boudoir innuendos of director Ernst Lubitsch." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/design-for-living-v89216

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