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
Review of Trouble in Paradise
