Ernst Lubitsch(1892-1947)
- Director
- Actor
- Writer
From Ernst Lubitsch's experiences in Sophien Gymnasium (high school)
theater, he decided to leave school at the age of 16 and pursue a
career on the stage. He had to compromise with his father and keep the
account books for the family tailor business while he acted in cabarets
and music halls at night. In 1911 he joined the Deutsches Theater of
famous director/producer/impresario
Max Reinhardt, and was able to move up to
leading acting roles in a short time. He took an extra job as a
handyman while learning silent film acting at Berlin's Bioscope film
studios. The next year he launched his own film career by appearing in
a series of comedies showcasing traditional ethnic Jewish slice-of-life
fare. Finding great success in these character roles, Lubitsch turned
to broader comedy, then beginning in 1914 started writing and directing
his own films.
His breakthrough film came in 1918 with
The Eyes of the Mummy (1918)
("The Eyes of the Mummy"), a tragedy starring future Hollywood star
Pola Negri. Also that year he made
Carmen (1918), again with Negri, a film
that was commercially successful on the international level. His work
already showed his genius for catching the eye as well as the ear in
not only comedy but historical drama. The year 1919 found Lubitsch
directing seven films, the two standouts being his lavish
Passion (1919) with two of
his favorite actors--Negri (yet again) and
Emil Jannings. His other standout was the
witty parody of the American upper crust,
The Oyster Princess (1919)
("The Oyster Princess"). This film was a perfect example of what became
known as the Lubitsch style, or the "Lubitsch Touch", as it became
known--sophisticated humor combined with inspired staging that
economically presented a visual synopsis of storyline, scenes and
characters.
His success in Europe brought him to the shores of America to promote
The Loves of Pharaoh (1922)
("The Loves of Pharaoh") and he become acquainted with the thriving US
film industry. He soon returned to Europe, but came back to the US for
good to direct new friend and influential star
Mary Pickford in his first American hit,
Rosita (1923).
The Marriage Circle (1924)
began Lubitsch's unprecedented run of sophisticated films that mirrored
the American scene (though always relocated to foreign or imaginary
lands) and all its skewed panorama of the human condition. There was a
smooth transition between his silent films for Warner Bros. and the
sound movies--usually at Paramount--now embellished with the flow of
speech of Hollywood's greats lending personal nuances to continually
heighten the popularity at the box office and the fame of Lubitsch's
first-rate versatility in crafting a smart film. There was a mix of
pioneering musical films and some drama also through the 1930s. The of
those films resulted in Paramount making him its production chief in
1935, so he could produce his own films and supervise production of
others. In 1938 he signed a three-year contract with Twentieth
Century-Fox.
Certainly two of his most beloved films near the end of his career
dealt with the political landscape of the World War II era. He moved to
MGM, where he directed Greta Garbo and
Melvyn Douglas in
Ninotchka (1939), a fast-paced comedy
of "decadent" Westerners meeting Soviet "comrades" who were seeking
more of life than the mother country could--or would--offer. During the
war he directed perhaps his most beloved comedy--controversial to say
the least, dark in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way--but certainly a
razor-sharp tour de force in smart, precise dialog, staging and story:
To Be or Not to Be (1942),
produced by his own company, Romaine Film Corp. It was a biting satire
of Nazi tyranny that also poked fun at Lubitsch's own theater roots
with the problems and bickering--but also the triumph--of a somewhat
raggedy acting troupe in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation.
Jack Benny's perfect deadpan humor worked
well with the zany vivaciousness of
Carole Lombard, and a cast of
veteran character actors from both Hollywood and Lubitsch's native
Germany provided all the chemistry needed to make this a classic
comedy, as well as a fierce statement against the perpetrators of war.
The most poignant scene was profoundly so, with
Felix Bressart--another of Reinhardt's
students--as the only Jewish bit player in the company. His supreme
hope is a chance to someday play Shylock. He gets his chance as part of
a ruse in front of Adolf Hitler's SS
bodyguards. The famous soliloquy was a bold declaration to the world of
the Axis' brutal inhumanity to man, as in its treatment of and plans
for the Jewry of Europe.
Lubitsch had a massive heart attack in 1943 after having signed a
producer/director's contract with 20th Century-Fox earlier that year,
but completed
Heaven Can Wait (1943). His
continued efforts in film were severely stymied but he worked as he
could. In late 1944 Otto Preminger,
another disciple of Reinhardt's Viennese theater work, took over the
direction of
A Royal Scandal (1945), with
Lubitsch credited as nominal producer. March of 1947, the year of his
passing, brought a special Academy Award (he was nominated three times)
to the fading producer/director for his "25-year contribution to motion
pictures." At his funeral, two of his fellow directorial émigrés from
Germany put his epitaph succinctly as they left.
Billy Wilder noted, "No more Lubitsch."
William Wyler answered, "Worse than that -
no more Lubitsch films."
theater, he decided to leave school at the age of 16 and pursue a
career on the stage. He had to compromise with his father and keep the
account books for the family tailor business while he acted in cabarets
and music halls at night. In 1911 he joined the Deutsches Theater of
famous director/producer/impresario
Max Reinhardt, and was able to move up to
leading acting roles in a short time. He took an extra job as a
handyman while learning silent film acting at Berlin's Bioscope film
studios. The next year he launched his own film career by appearing in
a series of comedies showcasing traditional ethnic Jewish slice-of-life
fare. Finding great success in these character roles, Lubitsch turned
to broader comedy, then beginning in 1914 started writing and directing
his own films.
His breakthrough film came in 1918 with
The Eyes of the Mummy (1918)
("The Eyes of the Mummy"), a tragedy starring future Hollywood star
Pola Negri. Also that year he made
Carmen (1918), again with Negri, a film
that was commercially successful on the international level. His work
already showed his genius for catching the eye as well as the ear in
not only comedy but historical drama. The year 1919 found Lubitsch
directing seven films, the two standouts being his lavish
Passion (1919) with two of
his favorite actors--Negri (yet again) and
Emil Jannings. His other standout was the
witty parody of the American upper crust,
The Oyster Princess (1919)
("The Oyster Princess"). This film was a perfect example of what became
known as the Lubitsch style, or the "Lubitsch Touch", as it became
known--sophisticated humor combined with inspired staging that
economically presented a visual synopsis of storyline, scenes and
characters.
His success in Europe brought him to the shores of America to promote
The Loves of Pharaoh (1922)
("The Loves of Pharaoh") and he become acquainted with the thriving US
film industry. He soon returned to Europe, but came back to the US for
good to direct new friend and influential star
Mary Pickford in his first American hit,
Rosita (1923).
The Marriage Circle (1924)
began Lubitsch's unprecedented run of sophisticated films that mirrored
the American scene (though always relocated to foreign or imaginary
lands) and all its skewed panorama of the human condition. There was a
smooth transition between his silent films for Warner Bros. and the
sound movies--usually at Paramount--now embellished with the flow of
speech of Hollywood's greats lending personal nuances to continually
heighten the popularity at the box office and the fame of Lubitsch's
first-rate versatility in crafting a smart film. There was a mix of
pioneering musical films and some drama also through the 1930s. The of
those films resulted in Paramount making him its production chief in
1935, so he could produce his own films and supervise production of
others. In 1938 he signed a three-year contract with Twentieth
Century-Fox.
Certainly two of his most beloved films near the end of his career
dealt with the political landscape of the World War II era. He moved to
MGM, where he directed Greta Garbo and
Melvyn Douglas in
Ninotchka (1939), a fast-paced comedy
of "decadent" Westerners meeting Soviet "comrades" who were seeking
more of life than the mother country could--or would--offer. During the
war he directed perhaps his most beloved comedy--controversial to say
the least, dark in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way--but certainly a
razor-sharp tour de force in smart, precise dialog, staging and story:
To Be or Not to Be (1942),
produced by his own company, Romaine Film Corp. It was a biting satire
of Nazi tyranny that also poked fun at Lubitsch's own theater roots
with the problems and bickering--but also the triumph--of a somewhat
raggedy acting troupe in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation.
Jack Benny's perfect deadpan humor worked
well with the zany vivaciousness of
Carole Lombard, and a cast of
veteran character actors from both Hollywood and Lubitsch's native
Germany provided all the chemistry needed to make this a classic
comedy, as well as a fierce statement against the perpetrators of war.
The most poignant scene was profoundly so, with
Felix Bressart--another of Reinhardt's
students--as the only Jewish bit player in the company. His supreme
hope is a chance to someday play Shylock. He gets his chance as part of
a ruse in front of Adolf Hitler's SS
bodyguards. The famous soliloquy was a bold declaration to the world of
the Axis' brutal inhumanity to man, as in its treatment of and plans
for the Jewry of Europe.
Lubitsch had a massive heart attack in 1943 after having signed a
producer/director's contract with 20th Century-Fox earlier that year,
but completed
Heaven Can Wait (1943). His
continued efforts in film were severely stymied but he worked as he
could. In late 1944 Otto Preminger,
another disciple of Reinhardt's Viennese theater work, took over the
direction of
A Royal Scandal (1945), with
Lubitsch credited as nominal producer. March of 1947, the year of his
passing, brought a special Academy Award (he was nominated three times)
to the fading producer/director for his "25-year contribution to motion
pictures." At his funeral, two of his fellow directorial émigrés from
Germany put his epitaph succinctly as they left.
Billy Wilder noted, "No more Lubitsch."
William Wyler answered, "Worse than that -
no more Lubitsch films."