Lubitsch, Ernst b. January 28, 1892; Berlin, Prussia d. November 30, 1947; Hollywood, California
German Jewish film director, producer, and actor who went to the United States in 1922 and produced several influential movies in Hollywood. Lubitsch was respected for his historical films while in Germany and later considered a master of comedy during his Hollywood period.
In 1911, like many lucky young actors who became famous, Lubitsch began at nineteen to audition for minor roles in MaxReinhardt’s Deutsches Theater (German Theater). After playing on stage (Hamlet) and appearing on the screen, Lubitsch began directing short films in 1914 and longer movies (such as Die Augen des Mummie Ma [The Eyes of the Mummy Ma]) in 1918. He often cowrote his own scripts and sometimes played in the films of that early period. He was very productive and some of his numerous films were quite successful, among them Die Auster- prinzessin (The Oyster Princess, 1919), Madame Du Barry (1919), Die Puppe (The Doll, 1919). In all, Lubitsch directed some forty silent films (most of them less than thirty minutes long) in Germany between 1914 and 1923.
Lubitsch moved to Hollywood in December 1922 to direct Mary Pickford in Rosita (1923). From that moment on, all Lubitsch’s films were produced in the United States, often by his own company, giving him greater artistic freedom. Some of these American movies were set in Europe, such as So This Is Paris (1926) and The Student Prince in Heidelberg (1927). The 1930s were a golden era for Lubitsch. Some of his best films—Trouble in Paradise (1932), Design for Living (1933), Angel (1937), Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (1938), and Ninotchka (1939)—were partly set in France. Lubitsch adapted twice on screen the French play Divorςons (1880) by Victorien Sardou and Emile de Najac in Kiss Me Again (1925) and That Uncertain Feeling (1941), transposed to New York City. He worked repeatedly with German actresses such as Pola Negri (Forbidden Paradise, 1924), and Marlene Dietrich (Angel, 1937), and actors such as Emil Jannings (The Patriot, 1928).
He also helped younger directors, such as Otto Preminger, by supervising their debut films in Hollywood.Lubitsch went back to Europe (Paris, Vienna, and Moscow) for a few weeks in 1936 to see films and prepare future projects, including his never-made film version of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. But Lu- bitsch was shocked to see antisemitism in Germany and Austria and did not stay for long; he had lost his German citizenship in 1935 because of the Nuremberg Laws. Back in Hollywood, he directed his best film, a brilliant satire on Nazism and Adolf Hitler, titled To Be or Not to Be (1942), about a theater troop that was set in Poland and often referred to Shakespeare’s famous play. A pale remake by the same name of that comedy was produced by Mel Brooks in 1983. Another great Lubitsch film from that period was an adaptation of a play by Hungarian author Nikolaus Laszlo titled Illatszetar, that became The Shop around the Corner (1940), about a seller who writes to a secret correspondent without knowing he is working just beside her every day. Two remakes of that popular comedy were made in the United States by Robert Z. Leonard (In the Good Old Summertime, 1949) and by Nora Ephron (You’ve Got Mail, 1999, with Tom Hanks).
Yves Laberge
See also Dietrich, Marlene Magdalene; Film (German), American Influence on; Hollywood; Jannings, Emil; Preminger, Otto Ludwig; Reinhardt, Max
References and Further Reading
Weinberg, Herman G. The Lubitsch Touch: A Critical Study. New York: Dutton, 1968.