lubitsch
oh dear... a wee trip to the dvd store is always dangerous for la frappa. trying to put my selfish needs on a backburner (i was there to find a present for a friend...) alas i inevitably got sidetracked and all my good intentions went down the toilet.
i emerged, giddy, with this little cracker -- if i had a million -- a SCORCHER of a comedy. the ones with the LUBITSCH touch. those sophisticated, fast and witty ones of the 1930s that i do like to bang on about if given the slighest indulgence (a bit like le duc and his trains). incidentally lubitsch was the only man who made garbo FUNNY (an achievement second to none).
A dying millionaire randomly gives a million dollars to eight different people.
the fabulous cast includes GaryCooper(``the greatest cocksman in hollywood,''wink wink nudge nudge), Charles Laughton, W.C. Fields. our great ernst doesn't actually direct. he supervises the whole eight segments. much like the conductor of a great orchestra. joseph mankiewicz has a key writing credit. ok, am in heaven.
5 comments:
Actually, Lubistch directed the Charles Laughton segment (obvious, with all those doors! LOL).
There's a funny anecdote about that
gloria when you are RIGHT, you are right..i realized once i actually got round to watching it.
simply marvellous it was.
That sketch embodies the dream of every salaryman/woman! (which is remarkable from a 1942 film, but then it's Lubistch)
Incidentally, the anecdote (readers who haven't seen the movie, stop reading HERE)....
(Spoiler)
....was that Lubistch and Laughton thought that the final "salute" wouldn't pass censorship in some countries (i.e. England), so they shoot some alternatives, in one of them, just for the fun of it, Laughton raised the two "fingers up yours" gesture with a shrill whistle... it was PRECISELY that one the one that passed British censors (so CL and EL must have been amused to no end, LOL).
I wonder if any copies remain of that "alternative ending.
wow. the copy i have is a fully restored one. from the version that went out in italy (minus hideous subtitles, thanks to wonder of modern technology). the whole thing has brought back love for lubitsch with a major vengeance. mmm want blue beard's eighth wife next. i know it's not rated amongst his best but i think it's a gem.
BlueBeard's Eight Wife I recall as a great pleasure to watch, whatever the highbrow film historians might say... and I'ts got Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert and Edgar Everett Horton (a cast like that can surely survive the presence of David Niven, LOL).
Watch it, you won't regret it!
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