Design for Living, 1933

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Starring: Gary Cooper; Miriam Hopkins; Fredric March

sez says -this Noel Coward play was adapted for the screen by Ben Hecht. Cowards original script is wonderful--and it is testament to Hecht's skill that he altered 90% of the script and it was still delightful.  The film story if not as explicit as the theater story about what the Design for Living looks like --eg sex is a part of the theater story.  In the film version there is a 'gentleman's agreement' of no sex.  In the film, the importance of the woman's role in making the men better artists is made explicit (that being the reason they are a threesome) where her role as a critic is only suggested in the theater version (because the sexual attraction is the magnet holding them together in the theater.)  In any case, this is a delightful movie.  Lubitsch is a master at making sex farces--and he excels here.  March and Cooper do a grand job of being jealous of each other while they profess wholeheartedly to be true to each other and not let Hopkins get between them.  And Hopkins is just plain fun--throwing her self about on dusty couches and wise cracking.  GRADE B

mjc says:   this is great threesome, with the film moving swiftly through the interactions of the players.  It is pure fun to watch even 75 years later.  GRADE B-