Design for Living (1933)

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:

Forbidden Hollywood | Eiffel Tower Paris | Star Spangled Banner | Best Friend | Ménage À Trois

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 preview time for the film was 105 minutes, so that 14 minutes were cut before the film's release. This may account for scenes with Helena Phillips Evans (Mrs. Egelbauer) and Armand Kaliz (Mr. Burton) being cut from the final release print.

Quotes:

Gilda Farrell: You see, George, you're sort of like a ragged straw hat with a very soft lining. A little bit out of shape, very dashing to look at, and very comfortable to wear. And you, Tom, piquant, perched over one eye, and has to be watched on windy days. And both so becoming.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

The Star Spangled Banner

Brilliant

This really is a great movie from 1933 and very ahead of its time.A young woman who is in love with two friends and is obviously sleeping with both of them must have shocked a more prudish audience back then i think it had been censored for a while.But never mind we can view it today knowing that there are a lot of gems like this one waiting to be rediscovered,its a shame that so many of the films made from this era are now lost.A modern audience wouldn't turn away from this film,as you don't expect a film from this era to be saucy and it is.Gary Cooper was a very nice actor and you can see why he was so popular back then,he had a very unusual style of being very masculine and at the same time very sensitive,he was great at picking the more complex roles,his characters weren't as one dimensional as most actors of this era.He was easily one of the most interesting actors of the 30s,this i would say was his best era in films.Unfortunately A Farewell To Arms is the only film you can buy in the UK from this era,i don't know why.Its sad that he is becoming a forgotten actor,i think we must have lost our imaginations a bit as we keep harbouring on with the John Waynes and the Cary Grants,and forget there were other classic actors around that don't deserve to be forgotten yet.