Trouble in Paradise

Gosh, this is a great film! Everyone should see it. Review over. Okay, okay, I'll be a bit more explicit. I think I've whined about how screwball comedies don't always work for me. Too boisterous and silly (although Arsenic and Old Lace is an exception to this rule). Trouble in Paradise might be billed as one of those comedies, but there's something about it that makes it much more enjoyable. I won't try and fully characterize it since it seems no one else in Hollywood was able to define "The Lubitsch Touch." If I had to guess, it would boil down to one word: sophistication. His movies, while extremely funny, never cause the actors to make fools of themselves. Case in point, two high-class jewel thieves set out to rob a rich widow, but their plans go astray when one falls in love with the widow. When you rent the DVD, watch the Peter Bogdanovich introduction, particularly for his laugh-out-loud description of Ernst Lubitsch acting out his own scenes. Oh, and the film is pre-code, so enjoy all the double entendres you never saw after 1934.

year: 1932
length: 83 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023622/combined