Random notes on Trouble in Paradise: (With quotes from the film interspersed, as well.)
"Marriage is a beautiful mistake which two people make together."
... I love how we keep seeing a lovely antique bed throughout the entire picture but that in this very sophisticatedly sexy film we never see anyone actually in this bed. And near the end of the picture, we finally see something on the bed, a stack of money, one-hundred thousand francs ... I love the Trotsky-ite (played by Leonid Kinskey, who also appeared as Sasha, the Russian bartender in Casablanca) scolding Kay Francis for buying such an expensive handbag during the Depression ... The shot of Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins vanishing before our eyes on a love seat is heavenly and I am swept off my feet every time I see it ... And then there is the shot of Kay Francis reclining luxuriously, practically swooning on to her chair at The Major's party. You can tell, you just know that she has just made love with Herbert Marshall ...
"Darling, remember, you are Gaston Monescu. You are a crook. I want you as a crook. I love you as a crook. I worship you as a crook. Steal, swindle, rob. Oh, but don't become one of those useless, good for nothing gigolos."
... Many have tried to make a film as naughty, amoral, and sexy as Trouble in Paradise, but all have failed. The most famous film to try is the execrable, backlash mega-hit, Pretty Woman, directed by Garry Marshall. And Marshall is no Lubitsch. No one is. Or ever will be again ... One of the most sacred Cardinal rules of Hollywood is: Never give your best lines of dialogue to anyone but the Star. Lubitsch totally ignored this rule to brilliant effect, giving his bit players in all his films some of the juiciest and richest comic bits. I think it was all part of his generous, family-style atmosphere on the set. Lubitsch made the set seem like a party, Champagne constantly flowing, everyone in great spirits. And I have never read or heard of any Star bitching about working with Lubitsch as a director ...
"Yes, that's the trouble with mothers. First, you get to like them, and then they die."
... At one of the lowest points of my life whilst living in Oakland I happened to notice in the SFChron that Trouble in Paradise was playing at the Balboa in the City. I did not even have time to take a shower. I took BART to the City, a cab to the Balboa and settled in to my chair just as the film began. It was magnificent and magical to see this glorious, glossy Masterpiece on the big screen with an audience. The packed house applauded when the film was over. The run was extended a couple of weeks and I went back to see it three more times, once with a friend ... And the ending of this film is the greatest ending in cinema history, as far as I am concerned. Every time I watch it at home when it gets to the last scene I crank the volume up and attempt to soak up every last sexy, romantic, funny drop ...
Herbert Marshall: I know all your tricks.
Kay Francis: And you're going to fall for them.
Marshall: So you think you can get me?
Francis: Any minute I want.
Marshall: You're conceited.
Francis: But attractive.
Marshall: Now let me tell you ...
Francis: Shut up -- kiss me! Wasting all this precious time with arguments.
... Ms Francis' widiculous lisp might annoy some but I think it just adds to the charm of her character ... Travis Banton's sleek and stunning gowns for Ms Francis and Ms Hopkins are runway worthy and jaw-droppingly beautiful. Banton was Edith Head's mentor at Paramount ... Francis and Hopkins kept trying to upstage each other in the "I'm going to be a bit of a tyrant scene". Finally, Lubitsch nailed Ms Hopkins' chair to the floor so she could not move it ... Herbert Marshall lost a leg, fighting for Britain in WWI. His entire English and Hollywood career he had a prosthetic leg. Despite this, Marshall, married, had affairs with both Hopkins and Francis while working on the film ... And Lubitsch, himself, was always madly in love with Miriam Hopkins. But nothing romantic ever happened between them ...
Miriam Hopkins: Well, did you ever take a good look at her, um, ...
Marshall: Certainly.
Hopkins: They're alright, aren't they?
Marshall: Beautiful. What of it? Let me tell you something, as far as I'm concerned her whole sex appeal is in that safe.
Hopkins: Look, Gaston, let's open it right now. Let's get away from here. I don't like this place.
Marshall: No, no, sweetheart. There's more sex appeal coming on the first of the month. It's only ten days. Eight-hundred and fifty-thousand francs!
... The whole spanking speech and the "Maybe, Monsieur Leval" and the "Like this, Monsieur Leval?" stuff just cracks me up to no end. It is raunchy yet still urbane. Witty yet still naughty. So brilliant. Only Lubitsch, it seems (and maybe Preston Sturges) could pull stuff like that off ... I do not want to spoil the ending. I am sure many of you have not seen the picture, but it is so fucking adult. I do not mean adult in terms of a sexual nature. I mean adult as in, Trouble in Paradise is a sexy, romantic 1932 comedy meant for smart grown-ups. Kids would love the picture now, too, but Hollywood quit making serious, smart comedies for adults decades ago. And that is a terrible shame ... Trouble in Paradise is available on Criterion dvd (no blu-ray yet, but I am sure that will arrive soon) and is an absolute must own for any and all sophisticated aesthetes out there. It is like having Moet with Brillat-Savarin. Trouble in Paradise almost makes this atheist believe in God. Rent it, own it, whatever, just see it. It will change your life, I swear.
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So, here, again is my personal Top Ten:
1. Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch)
2. Citizen Kane (Welles)
3. Sunrise (Murnau)
4. All That Jazz (Fosse)
5. Gold Diggers of 1933 (LeRoy)
6. Annie Hall (Allen)
7. Casablanca (Curtiz)
8. All About Eve (Mankiewicz)
9. The Lady Eve (Sturges)
10. Double Indemnity (Wilder)
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Thanks to all of you that voted. The compiled ballot will be published on Leap Day, February 29, 2012, two days from now.
My goodness, I love you all!
Ciao!
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