Design for Living [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Overview

In this film, based on the stage comedy by Noel Coward, playwright Fredric March and artist Gary Cooper both fall in love with Miriam Hopkins, an American living in Paris. The girl can't make up her mind between the two men, so the threesome decide to move in together.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/06/2011
UPC:	0715515089913
Original Release:	1933
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:31:00
Sales rank:	10,674

Special Features

The Clerk", starring Charles Laughton, director Ernst Lubitsch's segment of the 1932 omnibus film If I Had a Million; Selected-scene commentary by film scholar William Paul ; British television production of the play Design for Living from 1964, introduced on camera by playwright No?l Coward; New interview with film scholar and screenwriter Joseph McBride on Lubitsch and screenwriter Ben Hecht's adaptation of the Coward play

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Fredric March	Actor
Gary Cooper	Actor
Miriam Hopkins	Actor
Edward Everett Horton	Max Plunkett
Franklin Pangborn	Mr. Douglas
Isabel Jewell	Lisping Stenographer
Harry Dunkinson	Mr. Egelbauer
Helena Phillips Evans	Mrs. Egelbauer
James Donlan	Fat Man
Vernon Steele	Manager
Thomas Braidon	Manager
Jane Darwell	Housekeeper
Armand Kaliz	Mr. Burton
Emile Chautard	Conductor
Adrienne d'Ambricourt	Cafe Proprietress
Wyndham Standing	Max's Butler
Nora Cecil	Tom's Secretary
Grace Hayle	Woman on Staircase
Olaf Hytten	Englishman at Train
Mary Gordon	Theatre Chambermaid
Lionel Belmore	Theatre Patron
Charles K. French	Theatre Patron
Rolfe Sedan	Bed Salesman
Mathilde Comont	Heavy Woman
John Leipold	Composer

Technical Credits

Ben Hecht

Samuel Hoffenstein

Ernst Lubitsch	Producer
Ben Hecht	Screenwriter
Noel Coward	Playwright
Samuel Hoffenstein	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

When first released, Design for Living was assailed for the incredible liberties it took in transferring the material from stage to the screen. Indeed, director Ernst Lubitsch and screenwriter Ben Hecht kept only a single line of dialogue from the witty, sparkling Noel Coward comedy -- and that one line was hardly itself distinguished. In other hands, this would have been a recipe for disaster; fortunately, Lubitsch and Hecht were enormous talents themselves, and the film they concocted from the barebones of Coward's play is sharply observed, slightly daffy and a total delight. It's true that Gary Cooper is a little out of place in high-style comedy of this sort; he's a little too "downhome" to pull off some of what is asked of him. Nevertheless, his natural charisma is sufficient to overcome this deficiency, and his innate masculinity is used to interesting effect. On the other hand, Fredric March is right at home, turning in a deliciously comic performance that never takes a false turn. He's matched by Miriam Hopkins, creating some subtly wonderful variations on a madcap theme and proving irresistible in whatever she does. Lubitsch's hand is deft as always, especially in the near-wordless opening and the invasive through-the-windows shot after Tom has left for London. If the play has been coarsened somewhat, the film is still a treat.