Trouble in Paradise

Mixing business and pleasure often leads to trouble (personal, professional, and--if you're really unlucky--with the IRS). In the case of thief and lady's man extraordinaire Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall), trouble has two spellings: M-A-R-I-E-T-T-E (Kay Francis) and L-I-LY (Miriam Hopkins); the former a perfume empire owner; the latter, Gaston's girlfriend and partner in crime. The problem is that even as Gaston and Lily are preparing to rob Mariette blind, our suave burglar ups and falls in love with his intended victim. Ernst Lubitsch's (The Shop Around the Corner, Ninotchka, Heaven Can Wait) early, pre-Hollywood code 1932 comedy is a playfully saucy, sexy battle of the sexes romp brimming with "the Lubitsch touch," from the opening shot of Venice (focusing on, of all non-romantic sights, a garbage gondola) to the closing taxi ride Gaston shares with…well, one of the aforementioned ladies. Trouble in Paradise boasts smart comic direction, top-notch performances, and scintillating dialogue (Lily: "Darling, remember, you are Gaston Monescu. You are a crook. I want you as a crook. I love you as a crook. I worship you as a crook. Steal, swindle, rob. Oh, but don't become one of those useless, good-for-nothing gigolos."). Although the print is occasionally dark and includes some blemishes (heck, the film is no spring chicken), Criterion has done its usual salutary cinematic spit and polish job, adding luster to this little-seen gem. Extras include a fine commentary track by Lubitsch biographer Scott Eyman, an 11-minute video tribute to Lubitsch by director Peter Bogdanovich, and Lubitsch's 1917 German silent short "Das Fidele Gefangnis" (48 min.), a screwball takeoff on Strauss's Die Fledermaus. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)