Lubitsch's adaptation of the Noel Coward play about a ménage à trois starring Gary Cooper, Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins. The two men play a painter and a poet, and Hopkins the girl who moves in with them as their muse and critic. Edward Everett Horton plays the more down-to-Earth man who also vies for Hopkin's attention. Apparently, only the plot of Coward's play is kept here, with all of the dialogue excised because it was too dirty for 1930s Hollywood. Even with that, the film was censored on release and, after 1934, when the Hayes Code was in stronger effect, it wasn't allowed to be shown at all. As it is, it's quite a fantastic movie, as you might expect from Lubitsch. It's funny and charming, but it's also quite a bit darker and more serious than the American films he had made before it in the sound era. I'd really like to read and/or see the original Coward play, but Lubitsch's version is undoubtedly a very good film.
Review of Design for Living
Design for Living
(1933)
Don't know about Coward, but I know my Lubitsch and this is a fine one
21 April 2008