Thursday, July 11, 2013

Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Director: Ernst Lubitsch                                  Writers: Samson Raphaelson
Film Score: Franke Harling                              Cinematography: Victor Milner
Starring: Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall Miriam Hopkins and Edward Everett Horton

An early Ernst Lubitsch film, naturally set in Europe, Trouble in Paradise is considered a minor classic. In the tradition of films like Grand Hotel, where everything is not as it seems, and with the romantic touch he would use later in films like Ninotchka and The Shop Around the Corner, the film is full of elegance, humor, and a kind of luxurious joy that would become known as “the Lubitsch touch.” The story begins in Venice, where Edward Everett Horton has just been robbed in his hotel room. In another room Herbert Marshall waits nervously for his date, Miriam Hopkins, to show up, anxious for everything to be perfect. During a phone call it’s clear that Hopkins is faking being a countess, but when she confronts Marshall about being a thief, it’s clear he’s not a baron either. In fact, she has stolen the money he took from Horton, and when they discover their mutual interest they fall in love.

In Paris Kay Francis is the rich widow of a perfume magnate and has no interest in marriage, turning down numerous requests--including one from Horton. One night at the opera, Marshall steals her diamond-crusted handbag with plans to sell it. But when Hopkins reads in the paper that Francis is offering a huge reward, he sells it back to her and winds up becoming her personal secretary. Hopkins and Marshall are great as a sort of Nick and Nora of crime. The trouble in their paradise comes when she begins working for Francis too, and Francis falls for Marshall. That and the fact that Horton suddenly realizes that he recognizes Marshall and the two must make their move before he figures out it was in Venice.

Though the film was not nominated for an Academy Award, it was voted one of the year’s ten best films by the New York Times. Kay Francis, as always, is stunning and her charm is a crucial part of the film’s success. She brings a real adult sophistication to every film she’s in, very distinct from either the girl-next-door quality of someone like Olivia de Havilland or Jean Arthur, or the overly self-conscious mystery of Garbo and Dietrich. Herbert Marshall is also great casting with his British elegance that fits so well with Francis. Miriam Hopkins brings a touch of the street with her, openly lusting after Marshall’s criminality and begging him not to become something disreputable like, gasp, a gigolo. The comedy is smart and subtle. Even Horton manages to reign in his usual over-the-top antics and fits right in. Though it’s often cited as an example of the pre-code indulgence, it is actually mild in comparison to many films of the era.

In his A List essay on the film, Richard Schickel generously praises the opening of the film: a canal in Venice with “O Sole Mio” in the background, only it’s not a romantic scene but a garbage gondola being filled. From there the robbery, and then the lengthy romance between Marshall and Hopkins. The atmosphere that this scene creates, however, is abruptly altered when the scene shifts to Paris. And though numerous scholars, as well as Lubitsch himself, claim this to be his best picture, Schickel goes on to show how the last two thirds of the film is not quite perfection. One flaw is the utterly unbelievable pair of suitors for Francis’s hand. He also rightly criticizes the fact that Francis’s character is supposed to be a bit ditzy, and Kay Francis certainly does not convey that. Still, he points out some very fine moments from the end and, while he doesn’t think it Lubitsch’s best, he is quite enthusiastic about the director’s work overall. Trouble in Paradise really is a nice film, and a nicely made film, an art deco masterpiece of sophisticated romance that comes highly recommended.

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