Archive Talks: Trouble in Paradise
Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in partnership with the David C. Copley Center for Costume Design at UCLA. Learn more at cinema.ucla.edu.
In person: Introductions and pre-screening conversation with author and film historian Howard Gutner and Deborah Nadoolman Landis, founding director and chair of the David C. Copley Center for Costume Design at UCLA.
This screening will be preceded by a book signing of Banton of Paramount: Haute Couture in Hollywood’s Golden Age with author Howard Gutner beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the lobby.
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
The playboy and thief Gaston (Herbert Marshall) meets the expert pickpocket Lily (Miriam Hopkins) on the Riviera, and they, of course, fall in love. In Paris, Gaston gets a job as the personal secretary to a wealthy heiress to a perfume company, Mariette (Kay Francis), hiring Lily as the maid, so they can rob her blind. Unfortunately, while cleaning up the corruption on her company’s board, he also falls in love with her. No director was better at exposing the false morality of the bourgeoisie when pursuing sexual desire. Here, Ernst Lubitsch sets up a faux marriage, then turns the relationship into a ménage à trois, which he provocatively suggests may be the best way to keep a sexual relationship interesting and stable. Lubitsch’s direction of actors is almost Pirandellian, with the actors speaking their emotional lines in a virtual monotone, thus creating parodies of romantic love.
On display in this luscious pre-code comedic romance is the creative genius of Travis Banton, one of Hollywood’s most important costume designers, whose collaborators included Lubitsch, Marlene Dietrich and Josef von Sternberg. A conversation on Banton’s influence and evocative style, with author Howard Gutner and Professor Deborah Nadoolman Landis, will precede the screening.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch. Screenwriter: Samson Raphaelson. With: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, Charles Ruggles.
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a division of UCLA Library, and presents its public programs in the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer, among other venues. For more information about the Archive, visit cinema.ucla.edu.
ATTENDING THIS PROGRAM?
Ticketing: Admission to Archive screenings at the Hammer is free. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis, limit one per visitor. Box office opens one hour before the event. Questions should be directed to the Archive at programming@cinema.ucla.edu or 310-206-8013.
Member Benefit: Subject to availability, Hammer Members can choose their preferred seats and pick up tickets for one additional guest. Members receive priority ticketing until 15 minutes before the program. Learn more about membership.
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