“One Hour with You” is 78 minutes of pure bliss. Director Ernst Lubitsch takes the topic of adultery and spins a gossamer web of elegance, wit and sophistication around it. Never has adultery been so appealing.
Paramount Pictures’ evocation of 1930s Paris is always a charming place to visit, and “One Hour with You” is no exception. Pair this with Lubitsch’s “Trouble in Paradise” (1932) and you’ll see what I’m talking about. I’m a sure a slice of Heaven reserved for film buffs has a section resembling 1930s Paris, Paramount-style. I’m looking forward to visiting it (I hope).
The film opens with the police commissioner ordering his men to rid the parks of amorous couples. One couple is adamant in their refusal to stop necking. The couple, Dr. Andre Bertier and Colette (Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald) are happily married and devoted to each other.
All is well until Colette’s school friend Mitzi (Genevieve Tobin) appears, takes one look at Andre, and decides she wants him for herself, friendship be damned. Mitzi’s husband, played by the great Roland Young, thinks his wife is up to something and has her followed by a private detective.
Meanwhile, another family friend, Adolph (Charlie Ruggles) is equally smitten with Colette and is determined to win her away from Andre.
All this takes place amid enjoyable songs by Oscar Straus and Leo Robin. My favorite number takes place at a swank dinner party. The live orchestra plays the title song, which is first sung by the bandleader. Our main characters dance with each other, and with the targets of their affections, and sing new lyrics as they’re dancing. It’s a wonderful scene.
Chevalier frequently addresses the audience. This device can be off-putting, but Chevalier is so engaging we don’t mind. At one point, when he finally succumbs to Mitzi’s advances, he sings to the audience “What Would You Do?”
I also enjoy Charlie Ruggles, but like Hugh Herbert, he’s one of those 1930s personalities that seem to grate on contemporary audiences. I don’t know why, I think he’s funny. A master of the double take, Ruggles offers us a great one in this movie when he complains to his butler why he mistakenly told him he’d be dressing for a costume party. The butler (Charles Coleman, of course) tells him, “Oh sir, I did so want to see you in tights.” Ruggles’ reaction shot to this is priceless.
Chevalier and MacDonald made four films together, and while I don’t think they cared for each other very much, they complemented each other well on screen and that’s what counts. Their first pairing “The Love Parade” (1929), also directed by Lubitsch, continues to delight and their last film “The Merry Widow” (1934), Lubitsch again, has its champions.
My favorite film of theirs is the sublime “Love Me Tonight” (1932), with its awesome Rodgers and Hart score and deft directorial touches of Rouben Mamoulian. Plus Myrna Loy as a nymphomaniac (but a most charming and likeable one).
Lubitsch and Chevalier had a hit the year before with “The Smiling Lieutenant,” which gave us the marvelous sight of Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins singing “Jazz Up Your Lingerie” God, I love Pre-Code movies.
In fact, both “The Smiling Lieutenant” and “One Hour with You” were nominated for Best Picture Oscars in the same year. (The Academy rules have wildly fluctuated throughout the years, and the 1932 Oscars were presented to those movies that opened between August 1, 1931 and July 31, 1932.) The winner that year was “Grand Hotel”, a good enough movie but not nearly as captivating as the amorous adventures of “One Hour with You.”
I first saw this movie at the Gene Siskel Film Center many years ago, at a retrospective of films recently restored by UCLA. In those pre-video, pre-TCM days, it was a big event to see a movie like “One Hour with You” in any format. The theater was packed and a grand time was had by all. There was an amazing cross section of people there and the entire theater burst into applause at the end. We all left the theater wanting to be transported to Lubitsch’s Paris.
I remember the opening scenes in the park as being tinted a dark blue, and had hoped it would be shown that way on the recent box set of early Lubitsch musicals. It wasn’t, and I wish it had. But I’m happy to have the film so readily available in the DVD format.
Rating for “One Hour with You”: Three and a half stars.
Showing posts with label Ernst Lubitsch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ernst Lubitsch. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Friday, September 7, 2007
The Bourne Ultimatum, The Freshman, Trouble in Paradise
I apologize to one and all for not updating this blog, but work commitments have kept me busy. So rather than a long blog, here’s a quick rundown of some recent movie viewing of mine. I hope to get back on track next week and stay that way for a while.
I saw “The Bourne Ultimatum” over the Labor Day weekend and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Personally, I could do with less jerky camera movements but this is a very exciting film. I’ve enjoyed all three Bourne movies, and was especially impressed by its brevity. Director Paul Greengass takes his story through many cities and over several continents and still manages to bring the film in under two hours. Would that other directors take note of this.
I was also amused by Bourne’s invincibility throughout the film. I think when the series started the film’s producers were looking to make an anti-Bond film and show a more vulnerable spy. All well and good, but Mr. Bourne survives the many attempts on his life with a shrug of the shoulders and one especially grueling car chase where his car receives several hard hits, goes over a guard rail, falls several stories into several parked cars, and Bourne emerges from the car and continues the chase on foot. What a superman!
If they make a fourth Bourne movie, they might want to consider making him less Bond-like. Just a thought.
Rating for “The Bourne Ultimatum”: Three stars
I’m a big fan of Harold Lloyd, the silent film comedian and one of his most enjoyable films is “The Freshman” (1925), where he plays the title character, a likeable chap who’s so anxious to make himself liked by everyone in college that he becomes the campus laughingstock. There’s a football climax where he takes part in winning the game and it’s a lot of fun.
Between this, the Marx Brothers’ “Horse Feathers” (1932) and the classic Three Stooges short “Three Little Pigskins” (1936) I use to think that football and physical comedy were a match made in heaven. That is, until I saw Adam Sandler’s “The Waterboy” (1998), one of the worst “comedies” I’ve ever sat through.
Lloyd is probably best known today for the famous image of dangling from the hands of a clock in “Safety Last” (1923). It’s probably his most famous movie, but its not his best. Instead, I would opt for the aforementioned “The Freshman”; “The Kid Brother” (1927), a marvelous blending of comedy and sentiment; “Hot Water” (1924), which includes the famous segment where poor Harold wins a live turkey in a raffle and attempts to transport it home in a street car; and my personal favorite, “Girl Shy” (1924) with a chase sequence that is as exhilarating as it is exhausting.
Rating for “The Freshman”: Three and a half stars.
For a comedy masterpiece of another kind, I sat happily transfixed by the glorious “Trouble in Paradise” (1932) directed by the great Ernst Lubitsch. Two con artists played by Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins take rich innocent dupes throughout Europe and are having a fine time until they decide to part wealthy Kay Francis from her jewels and Marshall begins falling for her.
83 minutes of pure joy. Any movie that has Edward Everett Horton and Charlie Ruggles as romantic rivals is just dandy with me. Robert Grieg has a memorable role as Ms. Francis’ butler who becomes more and more exasperated as the movie goes on. There are several scenes where he descends the stairs and makes all kinds of harrumphing noises. It’s hilarious the first time, even funnier the second time and screechingly funny the third time. I don’t think the noises change at all, but by the third time it happens I was on the floor.
I taped it off TCM, but its available on DVD on the Criterion label, and it’s definitely on my “To Get” list.
Rating for “Trouble in Paradise”: Nothing less than four stars.
I saw “The Bourne Ultimatum” over the Labor Day weekend and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Personally, I could do with less jerky camera movements but this is a very exciting film. I’ve enjoyed all three Bourne movies, and was especially impressed by its brevity. Director Paul Greengass takes his story through many cities and over several continents and still manages to bring the film in under two hours. Would that other directors take note of this.
I was also amused by Bourne’s invincibility throughout the film. I think when the series started the film’s producers were looking to make an anti-Bond film and show a more vulnerable spy. All well and good, but Mr. Bourne survives the many attempts on his life with a shrug of the shoulders and one especially grueling car chase where his car receives several hard hits, goes over a guard rail, falls several stories into several parked cars, and Bourne emerges from the car and continues the chase on foot. What a superman!
If they make a fourth Bourne movie, they might want to consider making him less Bond-like. Just a thought.
Rating for “The Bourne Ultimatum”: Three stars
I’m a big fan of Harold Lloyd, the silent film comedian and one of his most enjoyable films is “The Freshman” (1925), where he plays the title character, a likeable chap who’s so anxious to make himself liked by everyone in college that he becomes the campus laughingstock. There’s a football climax where he takes part in winning the game and it’s a lot of fun.
Between this, the Marx Brothers’ “Horse Feathers” (1932) and the classic Three Stooges short “Three Little Pigskins” (1936) I use to think that football and physical comedy were a match made in heaven. That is, until I saw Adam Sandler’s “The Waterboy” (1998), one of the worst “comedies” I’ve ever sat through.
Lloyd is probably best known today for the famous image of dangling from the hands of a clock in “Safety Last” (1923). It’s probably his most famous movie, but its not his best. Instead, I would opt for the aforementioned “The Freshman”; “The Kid Brother” (1927), a marvelous blending of comedy and sentiment; “Hot Water” (1924), which includes the famous segment where poor Harold wins a live turkey in a raffle and attempts to transport it home in a street car; and my personal favorite, “Girl Shy” (1924) with a chase sequence that is as exhilarating as it is exhausting.
Rating for “The Freshman”: Three and a half stars.
For a comedy masterpiece of another kind, I sat happily transfixed by the glorious “Trouble in Paradise” (1932) directed by the great Ernst Lubitsch. Two con artists played by Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins take rich innocent dupes throughout Europe and are having a fine time until they decide to part wealthy Kay Francis from her jewels and Marshall begins falling for her.
83 minutes of pure joy. Any movie that has Edward Everett Horton and Charlie Ruggles as romantic rivals is just dandy with me. Robert Grieg has a memorable role as Ms. Francis’ butler who becomes more and more exasperated as the movie goes on. There are several scenes where he descends the stairs and makes all kinds of harrumphing noises. It’s hilarious the first time, even funnier the second time and screechingly funny the third time. I don’t think the noises change at all, but by the third time it happens I was on the floor.
I taped it off TCM, but its available on DVD on the Criterion label, and it’s definitely on my “To Get” list.
Rating for “Trouble in Paradise”: Nothing less than four stars.
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