How Would Lubitsch Do It?

Film writer and author Imogen Sara Smith joins us to discuss Frank Borzage’s DESIRE, produced by Ernst Lubitsch during his tenure as Production Head at Paramount Studios! In this episode, we discuss the state of Lubitsch’s career in this time of personal and political upheaval, the state of Hollywood in the Hays Code era, the the careers of Marlene Dietrich and Frank Borzage, the film’s relationship with genre, and the code-mandated final beat of the plot. We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify Edited by Brennen King NEXT WEEK: Film programmer and curator Chris Cassingham joins us to discuss ANGEL. For information as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: The Motion Picture Production ("Hays") Code [Full Text] Marlene Dietrich: Life and Legend by Steven Bach

It’s our final season, and much has changed: Lubitsch is production head of Paramount, though not for long. The Production Code administration is enforcing the Hays code with an iron fist and, much worse, the National Socialist German Workers' Party is ruling Germany with a significantly heavier iron first. Over the course of the next ten years, we’ll experience another world war, the height of classical Hollywood, and the death of our show’s namesake. To kick things off, renowned author Scott Eyman joins us to discuss his definitive biography of Ernst Lubitsch, Laughter in Paradise, as well as Lubitsch’s life and career circa the mid-late 1930s. We cover Eyman’s research process, Lubitsch’s attitudes towards life and art, his tenure as production head of Paramount, and his working methods with actors. Edited by Sophia Yoon. We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT WEEK: Author Imogen Sara Smith joins us to discuss DESIRE. For information as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: Ernst Lubitsch Made the Hollywood Comedy Sublime by Alex Ross What Makes Lubitsch Lubitsch by Farren Smith Nehme Survival Tactics: German Filmmakers in Hollywood by Joe McElhaney

It’s our season finale, and the end of the pre-code era! To celebrate, Tim Brayton returns to discuss THE MERRY WIDOW. We effuse about the film’s infectious energy, the many incredible ‘Lubitsch Touch’ moments and gestures, discuss Lubitsch’s extremely loose adaptation of the Lehar operetta, the French-language version, Edward Everett Horton’s greatest role, the film’s relationship with love and death, the more “conservative” nature of the film’s resolution, and much more! With that, Season 4 of HOW WOULD LUBITSCH DO IT comes to a close, and with it the pre-code era. Oh how we’ll miss you, lax Hays office overseers. Thanks to the guests who lent their time and support to this season: Jennifer Fleeger, Katharine Coldiron, Jonathan Mackris, Will Sloan, Matt Severson, Lea Jacobs, Tanya Goldman, Willa Ross, Krin Gabbard, Molly Rasberry, Jordan Fish, Ray Tintori, Z Behl, Eric Dienstfrey and Tim Brayton. Our editors: Gloria Mercer, Griffin Sheel, Sophia Yoon, & Rylee Cronin. Our location sound engineer, Anna Citak-Scott. And others who lent valuable counsel and support: Peter Labuza, Jose Arroyo, the Margaret Herrick Library, Dave Kehr and the Museum of Modern Art, Dara Jaffe and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Patrick Keating, Scott Eyman, Paul Cuff, David Cairns, and all the members of our Discord. We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT SEASON: The censor’s hammer falls, and Lubitsch’s career comes to a close in grand fashion in Season 5. WORKS CITED: MPAA Production Code Administration Records for THE MERRY WIDOW The Merry Widow Blog Entry by Jose Arroyo

Eric Dienstfrey joins us to discuss the sound technology behind early talkies, and in particular THE MERRY WIDOW. We cover the ways in which recording and exhibition technology changed and fluctuated throughout the 1930s, the sordid tale of both the innovation and skullduggery engaged in by Electrical Research Products, Inc, the institution of the uniform-but-limiting Academy Mono standard, Jeanette Macdonald’s vocal stylings, and much more! We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT WEEK: Tim Brayton returns to discuss THE MERRY WIDOW in our season finale. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: Under the Standard: MGM, AT&T, and the Academy’s Regulation of Power by Eric Dienstfrey

Podcasters, filmmakers, and artists Jordan Fish, Ray Tintori, and Z Behl join us to further discuss DESIGN FOR LIVING and disrupt the flow of the podcast much like the film in question disrupts the format of the romantic comedy! We cover the film’s structure, production design, relationship with branding and commerce, Gilda’s identity as “matron of the arts”a, Lubitsch’s camera blocking, draw allusions to, of all films, Robert Altman’s THREE WOMEN and David Fincher’s THE KILLER. Edited by Griffin Sheel We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT WEEK: Eric Dienstfrey joins us to discuss the sound technology behind THE MERRY WIDOW. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page.

Molly Rasberry returns to discuss DESIGN FOR LIVING in the first of two episodes devoted to Lubitsch’s (in)famous 1933 pre-code romantic comedy! We cover the absolutely scandalous nature of the film’s central ménage à trois, the drastic changes made to Noel Coward’s source material, the screen presence of the film’s three leads, and much more! Edited by Sophia Yoon. We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT WEEK: Jordan Fish, Ray Tintori, and Z Behl join us to further discuss DESIGN FOR LIVING. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: MPAA Production Code Notes for DESIGN FOR LIVING courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library. Design for Living: It Takes Three (Criterion Collection Essay) by Kim Morgan Three Square Meals a Day (RogerEbert.com) by Fran Hoepfner Review: Design for Living by Veronica Magdalene

Bram Ruiter returns to discuss the Paramount anthology film IF I HAD A MILLION, and in particular Ernst Lubitsch’s contribution THE CLERK. We discuss the struggles inherent to anthology films, compare and contrast the different directorial styles of each of the film’s directors, Lubitsch’s relative mastery of the poetics of cinema, and what we would do if we had one million 1932 U.S. Dollars. Edited by Sophia Yoon We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT WEEK: Molly Rasberry returns to discuss DESIGN FOR LIVING. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page.

Author and scholar Krin Gabbard joins us for our third and final episode on TROUBLE IN PARADISE! In this episode, we cover Samson Raphaelson’s history with Lubitsch, Samson’s mixed feelings on the film itself, the film’s ambivalence towards the possible romantic pairings that it might end on, and the dense use of leitmotifs in W. Franke Harling’s score. We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT WEEK: Bram Ruiter returns to discuss IF I HAD A MILLION and THE CLERK. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page.

Willa Ross returns to further discuss TROUBLE IN PARADISE! In this episode, fierce debates are had about the film’s position on the spectrum between idealism and cynicism, Lubitsch’s sense of rhythm, the film’s political angles in the context of the great depression, the famous clock scene, the way in which sensory deprivation allows us to participate in the creation of artistic meaning, and much more! Edited by Rylee Cronin We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT WEEK: Columbia University professor and author Krin Gabbard joins us to discuss yet more TROUBLE IN PARADISE! WORKS CITED: MPAA Production Code notes on TROUBLE IN PARADISE. courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library. Pre-Code Lubitsch (from THE DISSOLVE) by Kim Morgan

In the first of three episodes in on TROUBLE IN PARADISE, Tanya Goldman joins us to discuss two key works in the Gentleman Thief subgenre - the aforementioned TROUBLE IN PARADISE as well as William Dieterle’s JEWEL ROBBERY! We cover the work of William Powell, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, and Miriam Hopkins, the differing ways in which each film deals with morality and ethics in the midst of all the pre-code transgressions, the love language of thievery, and plenty else! Edited by Griffin Sheel We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT WEEK: Will Ross returns to further discuss TROUBLE IN PARADISE. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: Flawless: Kay Francis’ Jewel Heist Comedies in 'Crooked Marquee' by Julia Sirmons

University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Emerita Lea Jacobs joins us for a discussion of film rhythm in the early sound era. We discuss the various ways films can deal with on-set singing and musical numbers, the incredibly complex and constrictive ways in with early sound films were constrained when it came to everything from blocking and camera placement to editing, Mamoulian and Lubitsch’s respective uses of music as rhythmic devices, and the difficulties that audio revisionism engenders. Throughout this episode, we’ll be referencing various videos that are available at the bottom of these shownotes. Edited by Gloria Mercer We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT WEEK: Tanya Goldman joins us to discuss TROUBLE IN PARADISE as well as JEWEL ROBBERY. For details as to where to find these films, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: Film Rhythm After Sound by Lea Jacobs

In this very special episode, we visit Matt Severson on-location at the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills, California to discuss the glorious pre-code adultery musical ONE HOUR WITH YOU! In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss the film’s monumental horniness, the ways in which Lubitsch & company were allowed to get said horniness past the censors, the musical styles on display, the film’s status as a remake of THE MARRAIGE CIRCLE, the various fourth-wall breaking moments, the rare tinted cut of the film, Hans Dreier’s gorgeous art deco production design, and much more. Oh, that Mitzi! Edited by Griffin Sheel Recorded by Anna Citak-Scott at the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills, California. We have a Discord! NEXT WEEK: University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Emerita Lea Jacobs joins us to discuss LOVE ME TONIGHT as well as film rhythm in the early sound era. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: Eclipse Series essay on One Hour With You by Michael Koresky MPAA. Production Code Administration Records for One Hour With You courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library

Film writer and podcaster Will Sloan joins us to discuss THE MAN I KILLED (BROKEN LULLABY), Lubitsch’s heartfelt 1932 pacifist screed and his only straight-ahead drama of the sound era. We cover the film’s radical interwar politics, its portrayal of grief, the many different performance styles on display, the haunting and twisted ending, national post-WWI guilt, the film’s imperfections (which we love), our fantasy recasting of Philips Holmes, and much more. Edited by Sophia Yoon. We have a Discord! NEXT WEEK: Matt Severson returns to discuss ONE HOUR WITH YOU. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page.

UC Berkeley PHD student Jonathan Mackris joins us to discuss Lubitsch’s 1931 musical THE SMILING LIEUTENANT! In this episode, we cover Maurice Chevalier’s career and charisma, the film’s mildly troubled production, the entrance of the highly consequential Samson Raphaelson to the Lubitsch stable of collaborators, Lubitsch’s increasingly ambitious use of montage, the questionable musical abilities of various lead characters, and much more. Edited by Rylee Cronin. We have a Discord! NEXT WEEK: Will Sloan joins us to discuss THE MAN I KILLED (aka BROKEN LULLABY.) For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: Eclipse Series essay on The Smiling Lieutenant by Michael Koresky Billy Wilder’s Explanation of the Lubitsch Touch Romantic Comedy in Hollywood by James Harvey

Katharine Coldiron, author of Junk Film: Why Bad Movies Matter, joins us to discuss Ernst Lubitsch’s 1930 musical MONTE CARLO. Our wide-ranging conversation covers the evolution of Lubitsch’s formal technique in the early sound era, the film’s extremely naughty lyrical content, and its gentle satire of class and gender roles. In the second half of the episode, we move on to a discussion of “junk movies”: films which, despite a distinct lack of competence on the part of their creators, achieve something of value. Edited by Sophia Yoon We have a Discord! NEXT WEEK: Jonathan Mackris joins us to discuss THE SMILING LIEUTENANT. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: Eclipse Series Essay on Monte Carlo by Michael Koresky Junk Film by Katharine Coldiron Anti-Masterpieces by Will Ross After Last Season (Film Formally Podcast) Street Fighter: The Movie (The Hit Factory Podcast feat. Devan Scott)

Ursinus College professor Jennifer Fleeger joins us to discuss THE LOVE PARADE. In this episode, we cover the operetta form, the divergent singing styles of Jeanette Macdonald and Maurice Chevalier, how those styles interact with the recording technology of the time, as well as this film’s fascinating and sometimes uneasy ways of dealing with both class and gender roles. Edited by Griffin Sheel. NEXT WEEK: Katharine Coldiron joins us to discuss MONTE CARLO. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: The MPAA Production Come Administration Records for THE LOVE PARADE courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library Paris and the Musical: The City of Lights on Stage and Screen edited by Olaf Jubin Eclipse Series: Lubitsch Musicals essay on The Love Parade by Michael Koresky Pre-Code.com’s list of Essential Pre-Code Hollywood Films Sound American by Jennifer Fleeger Mismatched Women: The Siren Song Through the Machine by Jennifer Fleeger Media Ventriloquism by Jennifer Fleeger

How Would Lubitsch Do It returns for a fourth season! It’s an exciting time for Ernst Lubitsch and, therefore, the podcast: this season, we’ll be covering the years between the introduction of synchronized sound in Hollywood and the establishment of the Production Code Administration in 1934. Ahead of us lie the years of Lubitsch’s greatest influence in Hollywood: by the end of this season, he’ll have gone from a prominent silent film director to being the first (and only!) director to have ever been given the reins of a major Hollywood studio. In between lie many of his greatest and most celebrated works. Aside from our film-by-film coverage of Lubitsch’s work in this period, this season will feature a number of experts in the field of early sound cinema who have lent their time and knowledge so as to help paint a clearer picture of the evolving state of both technology and artistry in Hollywood cinema throughout this era. The first of these guests is Patrick Keating, professor of Communication at Trinity University and author of Hollywood Lighting from the Silent Era to Film Noir as well as The Dynamic Frame: Camera Movement in Classical Hollywood, among others. In this episode, Patrick and I discuss the history and ideology of early camera movement: why do directors choose to move, and how do they theorize the motivations behind this movement? We also discuss the dimensions of visible labor behind camera operation, the many differences between dollies, cranes, gimbals, and steadicams, aspect ratio shifts, and the many misconceptions floating around regarding early film camera movement. Edited by Griffin Sheel. NEXT WEEK: Ursinus College professor Jennifer Fleeger joins us to discuss THE LOVE PARADE. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: Hollywood Lighting from the Silent Era to Film Noir by Patrick Keating The Dynamic Frame: Camera Movement in Classical Hollywood by Patrick Keating

In our Season 3 finale, returning guest Bram Ruiter joins us to discuss the final film Ernst Lubitsch ever directed that didn’t involved on-set sound recording: ETERNAL LOVE! We discuss the film’s unusual status as a hybrid silent/sound picture, the strange story of how this film was lost and then discovered, John Barrymore’s dipsomaniacal tendencies, and the film’s terrific ending amidst long tangents in which break down how, exactly, one might deign to fix this rickety screenplay. Edited by Will Ross. Thanks to the guests who lent their time and support to this season: Peter Labuza, Tim Brayton, Molly Rasberry, Sarah Shachat, James Penco, Will Ross, Dave Kehr, Julia Sirmons, David Neary, David Cairns, and Bram Ruiter. Our editors, Griffin Sheel, Gloria Mercer, and Will Ross, and our sound recordist, Anna Citak-Scott. And others who lent valuable counsel and support: William Paul, the MOMA, Jose Arroyo, Matt Severson, the Margaret Herrick Library, Dara Jaffe, Scott Eyman, Patrick Keating, Paul Cuff, and many others. We have a Discord! NEXT SEASON: We return on October 31st with Season 4, in which the movies begin to talk! Yes, we’re entering the sound era as well as the height of Lubitsch’s influence in Hollywood!

THE PATRIOT is a lost film. So, returning guest David Cairns joins us to pick up the pieces and discuss the film’s, and Ernst Lubistsc’s, connections to acclaimed studio rebel Josef Von Sternberg! We discuss THE SCARLET EMPRESS, THE LAST COMMAND, DISHONORED, THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN, BLONDE VENUS, SHANGHAI EXPRESS, and Sternberg’s habit of burning every bridge available to him. Dialogue edit by Griffin Sheel. Introductory synopsis from the Paramount Press Book for THE PATRIOT as printed in LOST FILMS by Frank Thompson. NEXT WEEK: Returning guest Bram Ruiter joins us to discuss ETERNAL LOVE. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: FUN IN A CHINESE LAUNDRY by Josef Von Sternberg LOST FILMS by Frank Thompson The Red, Gold, Sunset Sound Libraries at Archive.og

Whitney Museum digital asset manager and restorationist David Neary joins us to discuss THE STUDENT PRINCE IN OLD HEIDELBERG. We discuss all things film preservation, including photochemical and digital restoration processes, stochastic film restoration, the dangers and benefits of nitrate film stocks, and the morality of piracy. Recorded live in New York City by Anna Citak-Scott. Edited by Griffin Sheel. This episode is dedicated to Carl Davis (1936–2023). NEXT WEEK: Returning guest David Cairns joins us to discuss THE PATRIOT and the works of Josef von Sternberg. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: FilmColors - Timeline of Historical Film Colors The Carl Davis Collection Photoplay Productions