Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Ernst Lubitsch

Writers:

Charles Brackett (screenplay) and
Billy Wilder (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

18 March 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

He married in haste and repeated in pleasure!

Plot:

US multi-millionaire Michael Barndon marries his eight wife, Nicole, the daughter of a broken French Marquis...

Plot Keywords:

Nobility | Beautiful Woman | Sanitarium | Wheelchair | Hotel

Cast

Claudette Colbert	...	Nicole De Loiselle
Gary Cooper	...	Michael Brandon
Edward Everett Horton	...	The Marquis De Loiselle
David Niven	...	Albert De Regnier
Elizabeth Patterson	...	Aunt Hedwige
Herman Bing	...	Monsieur Pepinard
Warren Hymer	...	Kid Mulligan
Franklin Pangborn	...	Assistant Hotel Manager
Armand Cortes	...	Assistant Hotel Manager
Rolfe Sedan	...	Floorwalker
Lawrence Grant	...	Professor Urganzeff
Lionel Pape	...	Monsieur Potin
Tyler Brooke	...	Clerk

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Hungary:14 | USA:Approved (PCA #3985) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Finland:K-16

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

François Truffaut has said that Miriam Hopkins was slated to star as Nicole de Loiselle.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Nicole shuts the door to her part of the apartment to keep Michael out, you can hear her locking it. But throughout the film there is no keyhole or lock visible on either side of her door.

Quotes:

Nicole de Loiselle: I wish someone would tell you what I really think of you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Holiday (2006)

Soundtrack:

Here Comes Cookie

Sub-par Lubitsch

I saw this movie again today and decided to re-review it. While I still was not thrilled by the film, I realize that my earlier review was too harsh. I think this occurred since I knew it was an Ernst Lubitsch film and I expected so much more.

While the film was directed by the fantastic director, Ernst Lubitsch, it sure lacked the great writing of his more famous films. His films (apart from this one) were well-known for their charm, romance and the "Lubitsch touch"--a way of saying that the movies had a certain something that lifted them to greatness that was beyond words. Some examples of seemingly ordinary plots that were lifted to greatness by his genius would be IF I HAD A MILLION, THE GOOD FAIRY, TROUBLE IN PARADISE, NINOTCHKA, THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER and THE MERRY WIDOW. Second, the film was co-written by another man destined for greatness, Billy Wilder--director of a long list of his own great films. With this esteemed pedigree, I figured it was practically impossible for the film to be anything but marvelous. Boy, was I wrong--this story was one that just shouldn't have been made despite the efforts of the actors to carry it off. All the elements SEEMED right but the overall effort wasn't.

The film starred Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert. This was an odd pairing (even odder than Colbert and John Wayne in WITHOUT RESERVATIONS) and the actors just seemed to have little, if any, chemistry between them. Their styles were just too different and Cooper's character was just too unlikable. He played a mega-rich American who had absolute contempt for marriage and fidelity--having gone through seven "quickie" marriages before he even met Colbert. This is a fundamental problem, because a man who is so shallow that he could do this is tough to like as a leading man. Plus, what's romantic about a guy who's already been married seven times? So, when Cooper professes his undying love for Colbert, she and the audience are left to think "who cares?!". How can you detect the Lubitsch touch in such a contrived and unromantic plot? This makes connecting with and caring about Cooper very difficult, though there STILL could have been a decent film beneath this bizarre plot element. However, given that there is little chemistry between them and that the dialog is often quite forced, there just isn't much left to care about or keep your interest. The bottom line is that unless you are a complete old movie zombie (like me), this film is a bitter disappointment--watchable and cute in places, but still nothing like I'd hoped for in a Lubitsch film.