Upcoming Cultural Events

ERNST LUBITSCH FILM FESTIVAL:



THE LUBITSCH TOUCH – known and unknown Ernst Lubitsch
2-8 June 2008, Tallinn

  “HOW WOULD LUBITSCH HAVE DONE IT?” asked a sign above Billy Wilder's door. Ernst Lubitsch (1892-1947) was the first of the great European directors to establish himself in Hollywood and by far the most influential. Having made hit ribald comedies and triumphant spectacles in his native Germany, Lubitsch revolutionized American movies with a sui generis subtlety, style, visual wit, and sophisticated innuendo — “The Lubitsch Touch” (as definitive a trademark as “Master of Suspense” would be for Hitchcock), inventing the modern movie musical and romantic comedy in the process. In the 20s, 30s, and 40s, he was, with Cecil B. DeMille, the most famous director in Hollywood (in Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels, Veronica Lake is desperate for a screen test with Lubitsch) and, such was his prestige, the only one to retain full artistic control throughout his career. Years after Lubitsch's death, Wilder (an up-close observer as a two-time scenarist for The Master) remarked, “For years we all tried to find the secret of 'The Lubitsch Touch.' If we were lucky, we'd sometimes make a film like Lubitsch. Like Lubitsch, not real Lubitsch.”

1) Ich möchte kein Mann sein / I Don't Want to be a Man / 0.45 / Germany 1918 / format: DVD
Cast: Ossi Oswald, Curt Goetz, Victor Jansen / genre: comedy

2) Die Austernprinzessin / The Oyster Princess / 1.00 / Germany 1919 / format: DVD
Cast: Ossi Oswald, Harry Liedtke, Victor Jansen / genre: satirical comedy

3) Sumurun / 1.43 / Germany 1920 / format: DVD
Cast: Paul Wegener, Pola Negri, Carl Clewing / genre: historical adventure

4) Anna Boleyn / 1.58 / Germany 1920 / format: DVD
Cast: Henny Porten, Emil Jannings, Hilde Müller / genre: historical drama

5) Die Bergkatze / The Wildcat / 1.22 / Germany 1921 / format: DVD
Cast: Pola Negri, Marga Köhler, Victor Jansen / genre: drama

6) The Merry Widow / 1.39 / USA 1934 / format: 35mm
Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Edward Everett Horton / genre: musical comedy

7) Angel / 1.31 / USA 1937 / format: 35mm
Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, Melvyn Douglas / genre: comedy

8) Ninotschka / 1.50 / USA 1939 / format: 35mm
Cast: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Bela Lugosi / genre: comedy