Rating: 
Summary: Caviar -- for those who can appreciate it.
Review: "Perfect" is an adjective not applicable to many films, but this is one of them. Lubitsch and Raphaelson pare down sex, wit, greed, and romance to their essences. There are no preachy moral or political messages here, no slapstick or toilet humor aimed at the lowest common denominator. L & R never talk down to their audience. They set the bar of wit, subtlety, and sophistication very high and respect us -- the audience -- enough to assume it isn't *too* high for us to get it. That means some will *not* get it, of course, as the disgruntled one-star reviewers here show. Perhaps a "dumb and dumber" diet of Jim Carrey and American Pie-type movies has blinded them to real wit, humor, and acute observation of the human condition. For the rest of us, this is a smart, humane comedy that presumes its audience is smart and humane -- I can't think of a single movie comedy of the past decade you could say that about. TIP reminds us all how much better and smarter comedy could be if today's filmmakers had even a fraction of L&R's craft, class, wit, and intelligence. TROUBLE gives modern Hollywood something to live up to -- now if they only WOULD try to live up to it ... LOL.
Rating:
Summary: Paramount's Paradise
Review: "Trouble in Paradise"... I had read sooooo much about this classic Lubitsch comedy, that I was afraid I would be disappointed upon watching, at last, this long awaited film, as it has happened to me many times before,..... well, I wasn't , it lived up to my expectations, A-B-S-O-L-U-T-E-L-Y.We, ordinary people from this era, are not used to such delightful, delicate, sophisticated, witty and subtle screenplays & motion pictures. This film's pacing is perfect, the acting deft, the fun and enjoyment non-stop, Travis Banton's costumes are fabulous, the art-déco settings and the décors are top of the tops, and finally, the cast, an A++. Herbert Marshall has never been so "bewildered" on the screen (so different from those dull characters he played, for example, in such films as those two landamark Bette Davis' melodramas of the early forties, "The Letter" and "The Little Foxes") as suave and elegant thief Gaston Monescu. Kay Francis (Mariette Colet) has never been so attractive, elegant, as a woman daringly, shamelessly, passionately and madly in love with debonair Marshall, and last but not least, Miriam Hopkins (Lily) was never so charming and beguilingly captivating, as Marshall's partner in crime and love. I will say no more -no spoilers here-, that's all you need to know before watching it. Edward Everett Horton, Charlie Ruggles (as Francis' two feuding suitors) and C. Aubrey Smith (as the chairman to the board of directors of Francis' company), add expert supporting playing. Beautifully photographed in black & white, one can easily understand why this motion picture is included in the top ten list of the best american films of all time, as the grandest example of the famed Lubitsch touch. By the way, I must say that the ending really caught me by surprise, a treat!
Rating:
Summary: Paramount's Paradise
Review: "Trouble in Paradise"... I had read sooooo much about this classic Lubitsch comedy, that I was afraid I would be disappointed upon watching, at last, this long awaited film, as it has happened to me many times before,..... well, I wasn't , it lived up to my expectations, A-B-S-O-L-U-T-E-L-Y. We, ordinary people from this era, are not used to such delightful, delicate, sophisticated, witty and subtle screenplays & motion pictures. This film's pacing is perfect, the acting deft, the fun and enjoyment non-stop, Travis Banton's costumes are fabulous, the art-déco settings and the décors are top of the tops, and finally, the cast, an A++. Herbert Marshall has never been so "bewildered" on the screen (so different from those dull characters he played, for example, in such films as those two landamark Bette Davis' melodramas of the early forties, "The Letter" and "The Little Foxes") as suave and elegant thief Gaston Monescu. Kay Francis (Mariette Colet) has never been so attractive, elegant, as a woman daringly, shamelessly, passionately and madly in love with debonair Marshall, and last but not least, Miriam Hopkins (Lily) was never so charming and beguilingly captivating, as Marshall's partner in crime and love. I will say no more -no spoilers here-, that's all you need to know before watching it. Edward Everett Horton, Charlie Ruggles (as Francis' two feuding suitors) and C. Aubrey Smith (as the chairman to the board of directors of Francis' company), add expert supporting playing. Beautifully photographed in black & white, one can easily understand why this motion picture is included in the top ten list of the best american films of all time, as the grandest example of the famed Lubitsch touch. By the way, I must say that the ending really caught me by surprise, a treat!
Rating: 
Summary: charming and sublime
Review: An absolutely delicious, saucy romantic comedy by famed director Ernst Lubitsch -- a pre-Code gem that fell by the wayside after the dullardly Hayes Code swept through Hollywood. Miriam Hopkins, Herbert Marshall and Kay Francis are caught in an unusual triangle, as Hopkins and Marshall, a pair of high-stakes con artists, latch onto the wealthy, sexy -- and resolutely single -- Parisian socialite, Mariette Colet (Francis) and plan to rob her blind. Of course, trouble ensues as the suavely amoral Herbert teeters at the brink of honesty, after he starts to fall for the considerable charms of their intended victim. Kay Francis steals the show with her smoulderingly sensual performance -- and things *really* start to heat up towards the end, when she finally has her way with the dashing young thief -- if you're looking for a "strong" female character in the old, Depression-era cinema, Francis's Colet is a real doozy. Fine supporting roles by Everett Edward Norton, C. Aubrey Smith and Charles Ruggles as well. It may take you a little while to settle into this film's cheerfully salacious wavelength, but once you get into it, it pays off handsomely. A nice, fun movie.
Rating:
Summary: A little-known movie with a real big wallop
Review: An absolutely delicious, saucy romantic comedy by famed director Ernst Lubitsch -- a pre-Code gem that fell by the wayside after the dullardly Hayes Code swept through Hollywood. Miriam Hopkins, Herbert Marshall and Kay Francis are caught in an unusual triangle, as Hopkins and Marshall, a pair of high-stakes con artists, latch onto the wealthy, sexy -- and resolutely single -- Parisian socialite, Mariette Colet (Francis) and plan to rob her blind. Of course, trouble ensues as the suavely amoral Herbert teeters at the brink of honesty, after he starts to fall for the considerable charms of their intended victim. Kay Francis steals the show with her smoulderingly sensual performance -- and things *really* start to heat up towards the end, when she finally has her way with the dashing young thief -- if you're looking for a "strong" female character in the old, Depression-era cinema, Francis's Colet is a real doozy. Fine supporting roles by Everett Edward Norton, C. Aubrey Smith and Charles Ruggles as well. It may take you a little while to settle into this film's cheerfully salacious wavelength, but once you get into it, it pays off handsomely. A nice, fun movie.
Rating:
Summary: charming and sublime
Review: As many others have stated, this is a perfect movie. Storytelling, movement of the plot, dialogue, cinematography feel seamless; the way in which ideas are left to the imagination through implication and innuendo is simply delightful. I was amazed by the ensemble performances. I would differ somewhat from other reviewers in that I enjoyed the silent short (though the music felt odd, ie, why wasn't I hearing Die Fleidermaus?). I also found Mr Eyman's commentary enjoyable. Mr Bogdanavich's comments are interesting, but I would not watch this feature (if this movie is new to you) until after you have watched the movie (too much is given away, and this is one movie in which the delight comes in not knowing what is coming next). The radio program with Jack Benny, Lubitsch, Basil Rathbone, and Claudette Colbert is fun. The written comments are probably useful to a film student, but I found the Eyman commentary over the film more informative. If I had the dough (times being what they are, as Gaston/La Valle asserts), I would pick this up "like that."
Rating:
Summary: A comic masterpiece of the highest rank
Review: At the time I am reviewing this, TROUBLE IN PARADISE has merely been announced on DVD. No date has been announced. Nevertheless, I am extremely excited about this, because this film is one of my favorite films of all time. Without any question, this is one of the most dreadfully neglected masterpieces in the history of cinema. Hopefully the DVD version will do this film complete justice. TROUBLE IN PARADISE is one of Lubitsch's very greatest films. Of all the great directors in the history of film, Hitchcock and Lubitsch worked more successfully within the Hollywood system than any others. As a director, Lubitsch was flawless. His mastery of all film techniques was simply unmatched, and could string together a series of shots that can take a viewers breath away. The film is filled with such moments. I think of a scene in which the highly sophisticated Kay Francis character and Miriam Hopkins subservient character are sitting beside each other in Francis's bedroom, where Francis is eating her breakfast. Both have intensely furtive expressions on their faces, Hopkins because she is a thief and is tempted to steal the jewelry that is near the bed, and Francis because she wants crudely to dunk her doughnut into her coffee without Hopkins noticing. It is a stunning juxtaposition. And even better moment occurs a bit later in the movie. Herbert Marshall has embraced and kissed Kay Francis. The camera instantly jumps from a straight on shot of the two, to a mirror which reflects both of them. As they begin talking, the camera then jumps to yet another mirror. Then, as Francis provocatively explains that they will have the rest of their lives to express their passion to one another, the camera jumps yet again, to a shot of their embracing shadows . . . falling across a bed. The whole sequence is breathtaking in its virtuosity, and no finer example exists of what would become known as "the Lubitsch touch." Unfortunately, two years later the Hays office would have forced the censoring of such a suggestive shot, which is tragic. Indeed, in 1935 when the movie came up for re-issue, the Hays office would not approve its release, claiming that the movie was too suggestive. Nearly everything is perfect about this film. The script is sparkling. The art direction is amazing. And the cast is beyond reproach. Herbert Marshall is perfect as the thief Monescu. Despite having only one leg (which he lost in WW I--he managed to keep his loss secret for many years through use of a prosthesis), he graced a bevy of great films in the thirties and forties. Miriam Hopkins is superb as the female thief of the film. And Kay Francis is tremendous as the intended victim of the two thieves. The three leads alone could have carried the film, but the supporting cast is just stunning. The only two films that I enjoyed Charlie Ruggles in as much as this one are the Lubitsch musical ONE HOUR WITH YOU and Howard Hawks's masterpiece BRINGING UP BABY. He has so many marvelous moments, my favorite being, perhaps, when he is arranging the place cards for a dinner party he is throwing, trying to move his romantic rival as far as possible from the object of his affection. Edward Everett Horton manages his usual superb turn. (Ironically, both Ruggles and Horton would do voiceovers on THE ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE SHOW, Horton doing, of course, the narration "Fractured Fairy Tales" and Ruggles doing the voice for Aesop.) C. Aubrey Smith for once does not portray a British general or colonel, but still manages some marvelous scenes with Marshall. And Robert Grieg, who plays Francis's butler, was a great character actor who graced a vast number of great films in the thirties and forties, but who rarely attracted much direct attention. He is hysterical in this film as he mumblingly disapproves of the nonsense going on around him. This is a "must-see" film. Movies simply do not come any better than this one, and there are very few comedies that can match it in wit, sophistication, and elegance.
Rating:
Summary: Movie paradise.
Review: Ernst Lubitsch's *Trouble in Paradise* may very well be the most perfect comedy of manners ever made for the screen. It's certainly hard to imagine how it could possibly be improved. It was completed in 1932, before the Hays Office went ballistic with the censoring of movies. Even if you can't get beyond the performers' old-timey acting style, the candidness about sexual matters makes the film startlingly up-to-date. Of course, the sheer intelligence evident in the dialogue, the dead-on-target comic throwaways, the fairy-tale setting of a Europe that's only slightly troubled with a Great Depression, and the overall sauciness, will make *Trouble in Paradise* impervious to changes in conventions and taste. It's about two social-climbing thieves who latch onto a perfume-heiress (a ravishing, mature Kay Francis -- just wait till you see her in the little black dress in the last scenes) as easy prey. Marshall, in the proto-Cary Grant role, finagles his way into the heiress' confidence by returning a purse that he'd stolen from her at the opera the night before (of course, Francis doesn't realize HE stole it). Winding up as the heiress' new secretary, he enlists his lusty girlfriend (Hopkins) to assist with the Big Con on Francis. However, one gets the feeling that Francis wouldn't really mind if Marshall (AND Hopkins) stole her money, as long as they could all live together in a splendid paradise of innuendo, gratification, shopping sprees, and elegant conversation. (Marshall's coarser girlfriend, Hopkins, turns out to be not quite as "sophisticated".) The thing is, WE'D like to hang around this trio too, while they steal, joke, drink, shop, make love, and -- especially -- TALK. This is perhaps Lubitsch's greatest film, and that's saying a hell of a lot. It's essential. Highest rating. [Criterion's DVD, to make up for the brevity of the movie's running time (80-odd minutes), is loaded with all kinds of goodies, including a useful commentary track that actually dares to ANALYZE the film, instead of resorting to the Ebert-style nattering that typically sounds like this: "And here Welles once again frames the character from the lower-right of the screen; and there's a magnificent shot of a building" -- and so on. All in all? Pricey, yes; but worth the investment, especially if you care about the greatest movies ever made.]
Rating:
Summary: FABULOUS SCREWBALL COMEDY
Review: Ernst Lubitsch's TROUBLE IN PARADISE is probably not the first film you think of when you hear the director's name. To Be Or Not To Be and Little Shop Around the Corner may have greater fame, but no film better displays the fabled "Lubitsch touch" than Trouble in Paradise. Here's the inspired premise: Charming scoundrels Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins become personal assistants to Kay Francis, a rich and beautiful Parisian widow. Their plan is to loot her fortune, but she's so dazzlingly urbane, elegant and sophisticated that he becomes smitten, and visa versa. Set first in romantic Venice and then in an art deco dream of Paris, the complications in this tantalizing triangle offer timeless insights into the machinations of the heart. Trouble in Paradise is one of the best comedies ever made, screwball or otherwise. Every word, glance and gesture is perfect. Highest recommendation. Lots of extras.
Rating: 
Summary: Dire.
Review: Extremely creaky. Somehow when I opted to buy this DVD I didn't quite realise how removed people are these days (in every sense of the word) from what could have been considered entertainment in 1932. The film is more interesting as a historical footnote or curiosity than anything else (helping with the ushering in of European style and sensibilities into American cinema' etc. etc.). I won't lie; I didn't enjoy it in the least. It is stagy; Lubitsch may have been many things, but an innovator as far as the actual medium is concerned is not one of them. Here he restricts himself to a set-bound, at times stultifying commentary on a 'comedy of manners'. It is also quaint to the point of irrelevance, filmed with a embryonic and pedestrian sense of the possibilities of cinema (although I do understand and respect that this is an early 'talkie' and many problems were experienced in terms of freeing up the camera). I prefer anything by Von Sternberg; check out the woefully scant special features and awful quality of 'The Scarlet Empress' (another Criterion DVD) and it will be made clear to you the reverence with which Lubitsch's work is regarded over that of Von Sternberg. Where Lubitsch went for safe entertainments, Von Sternberg put a great amount of effort into creating films that still seem strikingly contemporary (and genuinely daring) in sexual and emotional terms (the outrageous art department locales and costumes help erase any claims to pat reality). I think that it is an awful shame that Von Sternberg is neglected so- *his* 'European sensibilities' have been far more influential than Lubitsch's mechanical sense of pace and comic timing. The DVD should be given a rent for the commentary and special features. As always Criterion's commentary on this one will provide you with all the information you might want to know about the film's place in the history of film (early talkie post depression era rhetoric etc. etc.). The people at Criterion perform an invaluable service when they do bother. The film itself is a waste of time. Come to think of it, maybe the special features are as well. Who needs to hear a host of people ramble on, sink into states of false reminiscence (like Peter Bogdonivich who goes on and on about Lubtisch as though they were good pals) and fawn over this grossly overrated film? By the way, the cover art on this DVD is misleading; do not expect the film to look like the still image on the front cover minus the colour, the print is (understandably) washed out and extremely grainy. Still, more care and effort has gone into the re-mastering of this than went into the Scarlet Empress DVD-which is my main point of contention here, granted.
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