Watch Trouble in Paradise For Free

Truly Dreadful Film

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Thank you, "Dailyshampoo48," whoever you are! I feel like I used to feel when my parents insisted on moving every year or two the whole time I was growing up (I went to 5 high schools in 5 different cities in 4 years). Every time we moved I was totally displaced, plopped down into a new, strange, often hostile environment, baffled, confused, lost. That's how I feel when I read all the rave reviews of this absolute and total piece of pretentious B.S. The dialog was stilted and often incomprehensible. The acting was a joke (a bad joke). I don't care how esteemed or glorified or respected this bizarre filmmaker is or was, this movie (and I use the term loosely) is awful. I'm not even sure what it's supposed to be about (other than what I've read). I give it a big fat zero.

As wonderful films The Merry Widow, Heaven Can Wait and The Shop Around the Corner are, Trouble in Paradise in my view even better than them and quite possibly Ernst Lubitsch's- a director who rarely made a dud- best film. It is a truly beautiful-looking film with very stylish photography and some of the most exquisite costumes and sets of any 1930s film. Lubitsch again proves what a talented director he was, his direction here being full of class and subtlety in a way that only he could do, Trouble in Paradise has Lubitsch's trademark and distinctive style all over it. Trouble in Paradise is also brilliantly scripted, one of the best of any film of the 1930s to me. The comedy parts really sparkle in humour, the best parts being hysterical, and the romantic parts are really sweet and heart-warming without being too sentimental, both components beautifully balanced in a typically(for a Lubitsch film) sophisticated way. Few scripts from 1930s films were this sophisticated even. The story draws you right in from the start and doesn't stop, the warm humour, subtle touches, sophistication, classy charm and emotion were just captivating that few other romantic comedies managed this well. And the acting is close to faultless, Herbert Marshall makes for a charming leading man in a performance that is among his best, Kay Francis is glamour personified and Miriam Hopkins has fun in her role. Character actors Charles Ruggles and Edward Everett Horton are very funny, though Horton was ever so slightly under-utilised, and C. Aubrey Smith is effectively fierce. In conclusion, romantic comedy at its best in a film as close to perfection you can get. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Trouble in Paradise is a film that could not have been produced only four years after its 1932 release. Under the soon-to-be Hays Production Code, this narrative of con-artists flagrantly breaks levels of decency, sexual innuendo and criminality that the code was set up to eradicate. Lily (Miriam Hopkins) and Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall) join forces in Venice to become a couple of grifters, they live together in sin and have no scruples when stealing is concerned. They move to Paris where they target the famous perfume manufacturer Madame Mariette Colet (Kay Francis), finding confidence with the heiress, Gaston becomes her secretary, and play the long game in consuming as much of her wealth as possible.With romantic entanglements becoming increasingly apparent, Colet practically offers Gaston a position as a gigolo. This menage-e-trois - love triangle - complicates the situation, as relationships become heated. It's a masterwork of comedy, with Hopkins being the most delightful and versatile of the cast. Her plucky attitude, and effervescent presence gives the film a fantastic tone - in one scene she sits at the bedside of Colet, and anxiously holds her hands under her legs so as to stop herself from stealing the jewels on the bedside table.Based on Hungarian playwright Aladar Laszlo's stage work, 'The Honest Finder', this was the first of Ernst Lubitsch's films given the mantle of having "The Lubitsch Touch", this is a perfect example of creative film making. His camera glides through scenes, and from window to window in some scenes (perhaps nothing to a modern audience, but an incredible achievement in 1930's cinematic production). This is possibly the finest film in the pre-code era, and a complete joy in all respects. As it was produced before Will Hays's iron fist came crashing down on Hollywood production, the film doesn't insult its audience with a moral conclusion, as the thieves happily disappear into the sunset, laughing at the "ill-gotten" stash. Beautiful, anti-moralistic comedy at it finest.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

The line "they don't make movies like that anymore" is one of the most overused in talking about pictures, but in this case it is true. This is a remarkable example of the sort of sophisticated, innuendo-laced light comedy that Hollywood was making until the Hays Code put an end to them. There is not one crude line; we never see anything sexier than a kiss, and they are far from torrid. But this movie implies sex, and more interestingly sexual intrigue and passion, throughout. The duologue is uniformly wonderful, with lines that you will never forget. I can't say there is any real substance to this picture. There isn't. But it is gossamer of the finest quality. Herbert Marshall, who usually strikes me as a cypher, here shows what made him so popular for awhile: he has a wonderful voice, which he can shape and mold to imply whatever he wants. Miriam Hopkins' charms still generally elude me, though she is good in the opening scene. Kay Francis is much more enjoyable here delivering double-entendres than in the sort of heavy parts she got assigned to too often. In short, everything is wonderful.I couldn't believe how fast this movie flew by. There was not a dead moment. This is not a celluloid masterpiece, another Citizen Kane or Les Règles du jeu. But it is one remarkable, sophisticated comedy. You will definitely enjoy it.-------------------------------I watched it again tonight, and still found it enjoyable. The dialog is clever, the tempo just right and never lags. As I wrote before, it's a piece of fluff, but a perfectly-paced, perfectly-acted one that will never let you down, even for a moment. Not as good as the Lubitsch movies with Chevalier and MacDonald, but still a fun hour plus.