ERNST LUBITSCH

'Ernst Lubitsch' (January 28, 1892 – November 30, 1947), was a German-born Jewish film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."

Contents

Life and work

Selected Filmography

Silent Films

Sound Films

Further reading

External links

Life and work

Born in Berlin, Lubitsch had turned his back on his father's tailoring business to enter the theater, and by 1911 he was a member of Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater. He made his film debut the following year as an actor, but he gradually abandoned acting to concentrate on directing. In 1918 he made his mark as a serious director with ''Die Augen der Mumie Ma'' (The Eyes of the Mummy), starring Pola Negri. Lubitsch subsequently alternated between escapist comedies and grand-scale historical dramas; he enjoyed great international success with both. His reputation as a grand master of world cinema reached a new peak after the release of his spectacles ''Madame Du Barry'' (Passion, 1919) and ''Anna Boleyn'' (Deception, 1920).
Lubitsch left Germany for Hollywood in 1922, invited by Mary Pickford. Lubitsch directed Pickford in the film ''Rosita'', but this was the only film that they made together. Lubitsch established his reputation for sophisticated comedy with such stylish films as ''The Marriage Circle'' (1924), ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' (1925), and ''So This Is Paris'' (1926). In 1928, when sound arrived in Hollywood, Lubitsch joined Paramount Pictures.
With the advent of talkies, Lubitsch started to direct musicals. With his first sound film, ''The Love Parade'' (1929), starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald, Lubitsch hit his stride as a maker of worldly musical comedies (and got himself another Oscar nomination). ''The Love Parade'' (1929), ''Monte Carlo'' (1930), and ''The Smiling Lieutenant'' (1931) were hailed by critics as masterpieces of the newly emerging musical genre.
His next film was a romantic comedy, written with Samson Raphaelson, ''Trouble in Paradise'' (1932). Later described (approvingly) as "truly amoral" by critic David Thomson, the cynical comedy was popular both with critics and with audiences. But it was a project that could only have been made before the enforcement of the production code, and after 1935, ''Trouble in Paradise'' was withdrawn from circulation. It was not seen again until 1968. The film was never available on videocassette and only became available on DVD in 2003.
Whether with music, as in MGM's opulent ''The Merry Widow'' (1934), or without, as in Paramount's ''One Hour with You'' (1932) and ''Design for Living'' (1933), Lubitsch continued to specialize in comedy. He made only one other dramatic film, the antiwar ''Broken Lullaby'' (aka ''The Man I Killed'', 1932).
In 1935, he was appointed that studio's production manager and subsequently produced his own films and supervised the production of films of other directors.
In 1936, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
In 1939, Lubitsch moved to MGM, and directed Greta Garbo in ''Ninotchka''. The film, written by Billy Wilder, is a satirical comedy in which the famously sullen actress' laughing scene was heavily promoted by studio publicists with the tagline "Garbo Laughs!"
In 1940, he directed ''The Shop Around the Corner'', an artful comedy of cross purposes. The film reunited Lubitsch with his ''Merry Widow'' screenwriter Raphaelson, and starred James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan as a pair of bickering coworkers in Budapest, each unaware that the other is their secret romantic correspondent. David Thomson wrote of it:
:''The Shop Around the Corner''... is among the greatest of films... This is a love story about a couple too much in love with love to fall tidily into each other's arms. Though it all works out finally, a mystery is left, plus the fear of how easily good people can miss their chances. Beautifully written (by Lubitsch's favorite writer, Samson Raphaelson), ''Shop Around the Corner'' is a treasury of hopes and anxieties based in the desperate faces of Stewart and Sullavan. It is a comedy so good it firghtens us for them. The cafe conversation may be the best meeting in American film. The shot of Sullavan's gloved hand, and then her ruined face, searching an empty mail box for a letter is one of the most fragile moments in film. For an instant, the ravishing Sullavan looks old and ill, touched by loss.
Lubitsch went independent to direct ''That Uncertain Feeling'' (1941, a remake of his 1925 film ''Kiss Me Again''), and the dark anti-Nazi farce ''To Be or Not to Be'' (1942), which was Jack Benny's only big screen success and Carole Lombard's last picture.
Lubitsch spent the balance of his career at 20th Century Fox, but a heart condition curtailed his activity. The last picture made by the director with his distinctive "touch" was ''Heaven Can Wait'' (1943), another Raphaelson collaboration. The film is about Henry Van Cleve (played by Don Ameche) who presents himself at the gates of Hell to recount his life and the women he has known from his mother onwards, concentrating on his happy but sometimes difficult 25 years of marriage to Martha (played by Gene Tierney).
In March 1947, Lubitsch was awarded a special Academy Award for his "25-year contribution to motion pictures". He died later that year in Hollywood of a heart attack, his sixth. His last film, ''That Lady in Ermine'' with Betty Grable, was completed by Otto Preminger and released posthumously in 1948.
At Lubitsch's funeral, Billy Wilder ruefully said, "No more Lubitsch." William Wyler responded, "Worse than that. No more Lubitsch pictures."

Selected Filmography

Silent Films

★ ''Rosita'' (1923)

★ ''The Marriage Circle'' (1924)

★ ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' (1925)

★ ''The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg'' (1927) - starring Ramón Novarro and Norma Shearer

★ ''The Patriot'' (1928)

★ ''Eternal Love'' (1929)

Sound Films

★ ''The Love Parade'' (1930) - musical

★ ''Monte Carlo'' (1930) - musical

★ ''The Smiling Lieutenant'' (1932) - musical

★ ''One Hour with You'' (1932) - musical

★ ''Trouble in Paradise'' (1932)

★ ''Design for Living'' (1933)

★ ''The Merry Widow'' (1934) - musical

★ ''Desire'' (1936) - Producer only

★ ''Angel'' (1937)

★ ''Bluebeard's Eighth Wife'' (1938)

★ ''Ninotchka'' (1939) - starring Greta Garbo

★ ''The Shop Around the Corner'' (1940)

★ ''That Uncertain Feeling'' (1941)

★ ''To Be or Not to Be'' (1942)

★ ''Heaven Can Wait'' (1943)- starring Gene Tierney

★ ''A Royal Scandal'' (1945)

★ ''Cluny Brown'' (1946)

★ ''That Lady in Ermine'' (1948)

Further reading

★ Eyman, Scott. ''Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. Biography.

★ Weinberg, Herman G. ''The Lubitsch Touch'' : a Critical Study. New York : Dutton, [c1968]. -Out of Print-

External links

★ The Cinema of Ernst Lubitsch

★

★ Ernst Lubitsch's Gravesite