ERNST LUBITSCH

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBBB.5.  USA, 1939.  Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.  Screenplay by Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Walter Reisch, based on the original story by Melchior Lengyel.  Cinematography by William H. Daniels.  Produced by Ernst Lubitsch.  Music by Werner R. Heymann.  Production Design by Cedric Gibbons.  Costume Design by Adrian.  Film Editing by Gene Ruggiero.  Academy Awards 1939.  

Greta Garbo shines in her first comedy in this hilarious early Billy Wilder script, the film that was the basis for the musical Silk Stockings. A tough-as-nails Russian agent (Garbo) is in Paris to sell a royal member’s precious jewels and finds herself attracting the attention of swoony Melvyn Douglas. Not one to be tempted by the amorous advances of a man, Garbo completely resists him until the starry light of Paris and the idea of romance become too attractive. When he finally breaks her ice in a tavern and makes her laugh, cinema history is born! (In actual fact, the sound department had to beef up Garbo’s famous laugh in post-production). Hysterically funny and romantic too.