Design for Living: It Takes Three
By December 06, 2011
Ernst Lubitsch’s Design for Living (1933) is what sexy should be—delightful, romantic, agonizing ecstasy. And it’s not just sexy but also revolutionary, daring, sweet, sour, cynical Read more »
- United States
- 1933
- 91 minutes
- Black and White
- 1.33:1
- English
- Spine #592
SYNOPSIS: Gary Cooper, Fredric March, and Miriam Hopkins play a trio of Americans in Paris who enter into a very adult “gentleman’s agreement” in this continental pre-Code comedy, freely adapted by Ben Hecht from a play by Noël Coward and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. A risqué relationship story and a witty take on creative pursuits, the film concerns a commercial artist (Hopkins) unable—or unwilling—to choose between the equally dashing painter (Cooper) and playwright (March) she meets on a train en route to the City of Light. Design for Living is Lubitsch at his sexiest, an entertainment at once debonair and racy, featuring three stars at the height of their allure.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Tom Chambers | Fredric March |
| George Curtis | Gary Cooper |
| Gilda | Miriam Hopkins |
| Max Plunkett | Edward Everett Horton |
| Mr. Douglas | Franklin Pangborn |
| Stenographer | Isabel Jewell |
| Housekeeper | Jane Darwell |
Credits
| Director | Ernst Lubitsch |
| Producer | Ernst Lubitsch |
| From the play by | Noël Coward |
| Screenplay | Ben Hecht |
| Original music | John Liepold |
| Cinematography | Victor Milner |
| Editing | Frances Marsh |
| Art direction | Hans Dreier |
| Costume design | Travis Banton |
Disc Features
- New high-definition digital restoration (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- “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 Noël Coward
- New interview with film scholar and screenwriter Joseph McBride on Lubitsch and screenwriter Ben Hecht’s adaptation of the Coward play
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Kim Morgan
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Design for Living: Notes on the Play
By December 26, 2011
Noël Coward’s play Design for Living was produced for Broadway in 1933, starring Coward, Alfred Lunt, and Lynn Fontanne.
Press Notes
Press Notes: Design for Living
December 20, 2011
“Anyone under the illusion that movies have grown more sophisticated about sex as society has become (allegedly) more open should take a look at Design for Living,” writes Charles Taylor in the New York Times about the classic comedy, now available on Criterion Blu-ray and DVD.
