Join me tonight at 6pm in escaping to the classic Hollywood kind of trouble in paradise with the incredible director Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 romantic comedy that everyone should see at least once in their lives if only for what film historian Theodor Huff called “the last word in Modernistic décor.”
In fact, this screening is hosted by the Art Deco Society of New York, a fabulous institution that holds all sorts of lavish and luxurious events throughout the year. It is part of their series Mondays at the Movies Cinema Chat which promises to transport you “back to the 1930s, when Americans found relief from the stress of everyday life by escaping into Hollywood’s glamorous dream worlds. In these unique events, experts in the golden age of cinema will screen and discuss wonderful 1930s and 40s escapist fantasies with ADSNY’s audience.”
The “chat” will feature Howard Mandelbaum and Eric Myers, co-authors of Screen Deco: A Celebration of High Style in Hollywood. They will discuss, among many things, the over-the-top Art Deco home of wealthy Parisienne Kay Francis, where much of the movie’s action is set, and how this film showcases Director Lubitsch’s mastery of sexual innuendo and subtle interplay that came to be known as “the Lubitsch touch.”
And here’s more I recommend related to cinema:
The Women Who Helped Build Hollywood by Margaret Talbot
Escape With Me Into the Trippy World of 1930s Musicals by Manohla Dargis
Is 1962 secretly the greatest year ever for movies? by Ben Hoyle
Moma has a great new exhibit of some pretty wild home movies including one with Salvador Dali and another with Charlie Chaplin as a sprite.
And finally:
Jenny McPhee 