#592: LUBITSCH, Ernst: Design For Living (1933)

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LUBITSCH, Ernst (United States)
Design For Living [1933]
Spine #592
Blu-ray


Gary Cooper, Fredric March, and Miriam Hopkins play a trio of Americans in Paris who enter into a very adult "gentleman's agreement" in this continental pre-Code comedy, freely adapted by Ben Hect from a play by Noël Coward and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. A risqué relationship story and a witty take on creative pursuits, the film concerns a commercial artist (Hopkins) unable — or unwilling — to choose between the equally dashing painter (Cooper) and playwright (March) she meets on a train en route to the City of Light. Design for Living is Lubitsch at his sexiest, an entertainment at once debonair and racy, featuring three stars at the height of their allure.

91 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
1:33:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2011
Director/Writers


From the play by Noël Coward.
Screenplay by Ben Hecht.

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twenty-four page booklet featuring an essay by film critic Kim Morgan.

Commentary

Selected-scene commentary by film scholar William Paul.

The Clerk

Starring Charles Laughton, director Lubitsch’s segment of the 1932 omnibus film If I Had a Million.
British television production

Of the play Design for Living from 1964, introduced on camera by playwright Coward.
Interview

With film scholar and screenwriter Joseph McBride on Lubitsch and screenwriter Hecht’s adaptation of the Coward play.
Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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