Tuesday, June 30, 2009
NAUGHTY PARISIANS
Today's NYTimes 1176 Best Film was Ernst Lubitch's
with Maurice Chevalier, Charles Ruggles and Jeannette MacDonald in a freshly restored Criterion Eclipse (bargain) DVD.
I have seen this before and ordered it by mistake but was quite happy to see it again. As I recall, the print I saw before was disastrous by comparison and now I can see how important the quality of the disc can be.
This is a fast paced, funny pre-code bedroom farce and is quite sexy and the jokes hold up even today including the few good gay jokes.
Chevalier is incredible to watch. McDonald not so much but, somehow, women's fashions are more radically different today than at that time.
This is 1931. Almost as old as me.
Interesting that the next film will be a Frank Sinatra / Debby Reynolds musical The Tender Trap. I am sure there will be contrasts and the story will be essentially the same.
In any case, this was fun again and since I have now seen it twice through and liked the second time more it rates a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
