LUBITSCH IN BERLIN: ANNA BOLEYN. (1920) REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.

Eureka! Entertainment Re-releasing Lubitsch In Berlin Masters Of Cinema Release This February

Eureka! Entertainment have announced that they will be re-releasing their LUBITSCH IN BERLIN (Fairy-Tales, Melodramas, and Sex Comedies) Box Set in new slim line packaging on 10 February 2014.

Before he arrived in Hollywood to leave his indelible (and inimitable) mark on timeless comedies like Trouble in Paradise and The Shop Around the Corner, Ernst Lubitsch created an expansive body of work in Germany that proved to be as varied in its tone as it was sophisticated in its measure of man and woman. This set collects six recently restored works from the silent phase of Lubitsch's career, and casts new light on the director both as a fully-formed comic master, and as a virtuoso of cinematographic technique.

Featuring some of the biggest stars of the silent cinema including Emil Jannings, Pola Negri, Ossi Oswalda, Paul Wegener, and Harry Liedtke

ICH MÖCHTE KEIN MANN SEIN (1918)
One of the first collaborations between Lubitsch and the exuberant Ossi Oswalda, Ich möchte kein Mann sein [I Wouldn't Like to Be a Man] is a concise sketch of society life in three acts. When Ossi's uncle goes away on a business trip, a new guardian steps in to tame the distractable niece. But Ossi finds a way out of the house and into a grand ball... by way of a brazen cross-dressing scheme -- and triggers what is perhaps Lubitsch's most twisted finale.

DIE PUPPE (1919)
"Four amusing acts from a toy-chest" — so reads the opening title of the comic masterpiece Die Puppe. [The Doll.] adapted by Lubitsch and co-scenarist Hanns Kräly from a libretto by A. M. Wilner (based in turn on a tale from E. T. A. Hoffmann). Ossi Oswalda stars in a double-role as both the mischievous daughter, and automatonic creation, of a wildly coiffed "dollmaker". When a wealthy baron decides the time has come for his prudish nephew to take a wife, an uproariously ribald plot unwinds into what is perhaps the world's first-ever sex-doll comedy.

DIE AUSTERNPRINZESSIN (1919)
As Die Austernprinzessin. [The Oyster Princess.], Ossi Oswalda makes another turn as a plutocrat's rambunctious daughter — now the heiress of a global oyster empire, devoting her wiles once again to the service of man-ipulation. A comic high-point in the master's oeuvre, Die Austernprinzessin. showcases the trademarks of the "Lubitsch Touch" and its ten-fingered dexterity, resulting in a film that is simultaneously clever, concise, and risqué.

SUMURUN (1920)
By turns melodramatic and grotesquely comic, Sumurun brings together performances by star-players Paul Wegener (Der Golem.), Pola Negri, Harry Liedtke, and Ernst Lubitsch himself (in the role of an ultra-pathetic hunchbacked minstrel) for this ensemble tale pulled from the milieu of The Arabian Nights. Featuring hundreds of extras milling through open-air set-pieces and dusky harem-chambers alike, Sumurun demonstrates Lubitsch's ability to transfigure rote romance into vibrant pageant.

ANNA BOLEYN (1920)
Emil Jannings plays King Henry VIII in the story of Anne Boleyn's movement from the outskirts of the court, to the royal boudoir, and off to the chopping-block. Suffused with an atmosphere of entrapment that would not be out of place in later films by Fritz Lang, and prefiguring the stately contretemps in John Ford's Mary of Scotland, Anna Boleyn proceeds with a deathward momentum unique in Lubitsch's oeuvre.

DIE BERGKATZE (1921)
Set in one of Lubitsch's hallmark mythical kingdoms, Die Bergkatze [The Mountain-Lion / The Wildcat] finds Lubitsch in exuberantly expressionistic mode, employing a host of optical masks to create perhaps the most visually audacious comic spectacle of his career. Pola Negri plays the daughter of a band of thieves; seduction of army commander (and audience) ensues. Lubitsch's personal favourite work of all his German films, Die Bergkatze represents a peak in both Lubitsch's silent oeuvre and the silent cinema as a whole.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Six features across five discs
• A sixth disc containing Robert Fischer's 2006 feature-length documentary Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin: From Schönhauser Allee to Hollywood
• Exclusive concertina score for Die Puppe.
• Liner notes for all six features by film-writers David Cairns, Anna Thorngate, and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

We will be review this extraordinary release and you can pre-orderLUBITSCH IN BERLIN Six films by Ernst Lubitsch, 1918-1921 [Masters Of Cinema] (DVD) [Amazon], Available from 10th February.

Trouble In Paradise DVD Review (Masters Of Cinema)

Trouble in Paradise is an early screwball comedy by Ernst Lubitsch, which has some crime elements. It’s his most well known and respected him and one of the few in his lifetime that got classic status. Lubitsch influenced such noted directors such as Woody Allen and Billy Wilder among many others. This edition of Trouble with Paradise come from Eurkea’s Masters of Cinema who are so hung up on Lubitsch they previous released a boxset dedicated sorely to his German films of the 1920s which has a impressive 6 discs of films.

Trouble in Paradise is set in Venice and 2 team of pickpockets, one a gentleman thief Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall) and his lover Lily (Miriam Hopkins) who decided to rob a perfume window Madame Mariette Colet (Kay Francis). They start with planning to rob her purse at the theatre, which they do. The Madame is asking for a reward for the purse because it’s value and naturally Gaston returns the purse but at the same time, he worms his way into working for the Madame. The Madame starts to flirt with Monescu and he starts having some feelings towards her much to the displeasure of his partner in life and crime.

The film is a brilliantly written witty script with some memorable dialogue. It was written by noted screenwriter Samson Raphaelson also worked with Hitchcock on Suspicion wrote it. He worked with Lubitsch who over and over for the 2 decades, He also wrote The Jazz Singer and was also the cousin of the great Bob Rafelson who started the great innovative BBS studios and directed such classics such Head, Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens. The film pre-dates the screwball boom of the 30/40s especially the Cary Grant and Howard Hawks collaborations such as Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday.

The film was also pre-production code which means the sexual innuendo of later films of the 30s is much more explicit. Masters of cinema has of late been doing a lot of this such as masterful Island of Lost Souls and Cecil B. DeMille’s Cleopatra. This ended up being a big issue a few years later when Paramount wanted to reissue the film and also when they wanted to make a MUSICAL version in 40s.

Overall the film is wonderful glass of champagne of a film, fluffy but in a good way which boost a wonderfully witty script, cool art deco sets and some great performances.

Ian Schultz

★★★★☆

Rating:N/C
DVD Release Date: 12th November 2012(UK)
Directed By: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis , Herbert Marshall
Buy:TROUBLE IN PARADISE (Masters of Cinema) (DVD) [1932]

Masters Of Cinema Has Trouble In Paradise This November

ROUBLE IN PARADISE will be released on DVD in the UK as part of the Masters of Cinema Series

Eureka Entertainment have announced that they will be releasing TROUBLE IN PARADISE, for the first time ever on home video in the UK, released in a DVD edition on 12 November 2012.  Widely regarded as one of the greatest romantic comedies ever made, this Hollywood classic, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, legendary filmmaker behind Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, and To Be or Not to Be stars Hollywood icons Herbert Marshall (Foreign Correspondent, The Fly), Miriam Hopkins (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Heiress), Edward Everett Horton (Lost Horizon, Arsenic and Old Lace), and Charlie Ruggles (Bringing Up Baby, Ruggles of Red Gap).

"It's perfection" – Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies

"The most sophisticated comedy ever produced in Hollywood … The performances, visuals and screenplay are all exquisite. ✭✭✭✭✭" – Empire Magazine

"It's a masterpiece, as well as being wonderfully good fun. ✭✭✭✭✭" – Radio Times

“If ever a film slipped down a treat, this one does.” – Time Out

Jean Renoir once said of Ernst Lubitsch (Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, and To Be or Not to Be): "He invented the modern Hollywood." And none of the director's films has had greater influence or impact than Trouble in Paradise. With his first comedy of the sound era, Lubitsch created one of cinema's supreme visions of shimmering romance and worldly sophistication.

When career thief Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall) meets glamorous pickpocket Lily (Miriam Hopkins), their love soon takes on a professional dimension as they initiate a plot to rob beautiful perfume magnate Mariette Colet (Kay Francis). But as Gaston gets ever closer to his intended prey, his romantic confusion, as well as the threat that his past will catch up with him, throws their plan into jeopardy.

A breathtakingly nimble and elegant examination of the perils of mixing "business" with pleasure, this gloriously adult and witty comedy features a peerless screenplay by Samson Raphaelson, effervescent performances by its stars (including Charlie Ruggles and Edward Everett Horton), and exquisite direction by the legendary Lubitsch. Rarely equalled, never topped, The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the UK home viewing première of Trouble in Paradise. Released on DVD in the UK on 12 November 2012.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• New high-definition transfer in the film's original aspect ratio

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired

• Illustrated booklet featuring the words of Lubitsch, rare archival imagery, and more

• Further details to be announced nearer the release date!

Buy/Pre-order Trouble In Paradise: DVD [1932]