Design for Living (1933)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Ernst Lubitsch

Writers:

Noel Coward (play)
Ben Hecht (screenplay)

Release Date:

29 December 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

Two Americans sharing a flat in Paris, playwright Tom Chambers and painter George Curtis, fall for free-spirited Gilda Farrell...

Plot Keywords:

London | Play | Playwright | Paris | Painter

Cast

Fredric March	...	Thomas B. 'Tom' Chambers
Gary Cooper	...	George Curtis
Miriam Hopkins	...	Gilda Farrell
Edward Everett Horton	...	Max Plunkett
Franklin Pangborn	...	Mr. Douglas, Theatrical Producer
Isabel Jewell	...	Plunkett's Stenographer
Jane Darwell	...	Curtis' Housekeeper
Wyndham Standing	...	Max's Butler

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The play opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 24 January 1933 and had 135 perfomancs. The 3 leads were played Noel Coward, Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt. There were 2 Broadway revivals, the last in 2001.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Camera shadow visible on window frame as Gilda sets the table.

Quotes:

George Curtis: I haven't got a clean shirt to my name.
Tom Chambers: Why a clean shirt? What's up? A romance?
George Curtis: I'm not talking pajamas, just a clean shirt.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Star Spangled Banner

Movie Odyssey Review #098: Design for Living

098: Design for Living (1933) - released 12/29/1933, viewed 6/28/07.

DOUG: We reach the end of 1933 at long last, and an excellent finish it is with a highly underrated comedy starring Miriam Hopkins, Gary Cooper, and Fredrich March. If you're looking for great comedies from the 30's and you've already gone through the Marx Brothers, just do a search for "Ernst Lubitsch" and go nuts. A lot of movies from this period date themselves, but somehow Lubitsch's films hold up, with a combination of great writing and great comedic acting that it seems only Lubitsch can bring out. The three leads, Hopkins, Cooper, and March, play characters that you would love to hang out with, people who are witty and cool, inspired, and love to trade quips and barbs with each other with complete honesty. Everybody is just a little bit crazy in that fun, charming, sexy kind of way that Lubitsch does so well. The dialogue is so crisp and so funny. You just don't hear the word "sex" spoken very often in the 30's, so that when you do hear it, as you will several times in this film, it's a little jarring (but in a good way). Also props go out to Everett Van Horten (also from Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise) as the straight man who just can't understand this gang.

KEVIN: Wow. Why isn't this movie a classic? Because it is in my book. One of the most enjoyable movies of the year, or next year, or the entire decade I expect, is the hilarious and endlessly quotable Design for Living, directed by Ernst Lubitsch from a play by Noel Coward, starring Gary Cooper, Fredric March, and the always fantastic Miriam Hopkins. There are so few movies I've seen where nearly every line of dialogue is either a joke or is a set up for a joke. Lubitsch and Ben Hecht's fine-tuning of Coward's play brings out an incredible energy that proves Lubitsch's skill not just for silent moments, but great dialogue as well. The three leads give enormously likable standout performances as three struggling artists (two guys and a girl) in star-crossed love, who pour that energy of love into their work. They find success, but it's the emotional companionship that trumps it all. What I love about the story is that these three individuals are all-around good people and whatever happens to them, we really hope that they work it out.

Last film: Sons of the Desert (1933). Next film viewed: Wings (1927). Next film chronologically: It Happened One Night (1934).