Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post: Trouble in Paradise

Hello and welcome to another installment of Dave-El’s Weekend Movie Post.

 

Where Dave-El (that’s me) writes a Post (what you’re reading) about a Movie (also known as a Film) that I watched on a Weekend.

 

OK, that’s not quite it. I do not actually have to see the movie on a weekend.  

 

These posts appear during the Weekend.  

 

For the 3rd week in a row, I’m writing about a movie that TCM host Ben Mankiewicz talked me into. This time, Ben was joined by screenwriter and director Rian Johnson.  Rian is either 1) the genius auteur who created the classic murder mystery film Knives Out or 2) the royal fuck up who nearly destroyed Star Wars with The Last Jedi.   

 

The film that Ben and Rian convinced me to watch is from 1932 which means it’s free of the restrictive morality of the Hays movie production code. It was released 92 years ago on October 30, 1932.  

 

For this movie post,here is Trouble In Paradise.   

 

In a hotel room in Venice, a Baron courts scandal with a clandestine sexual liason with a Countess. 

Except the Baron is not a Baron but Gaston Monescu, thief and con artist.  

And the Countess is not a Countess but a woman named Lily who is also a thief and a con artist. 

They shed their fake personas as well as all the stuff each has taken from the person of the other.  

It's enough to make two thieves/con artists fall in love and they do so as they take their new joint act on the road to Paris.  

In Paris, the mark is Madame Mariette Colet, owner of the famous perfume manufacturer Colet and Co. Gaston introduces himself to Mariette as Lavalle and insinuates himself info her life as her new personal secretary.  With Lily brought on as an assistant to "Lavalle", Gaston manipulates Mariette as he convinces her to move a crap ton of money (nearly 1 million francs) to her safe at home.  

Gaston and Lily just needs to be patient and their mark will willingly deliver the money they are going to steal right to them.

Except....

Well, there are complications.  

Mariette has a suitor named François Filiba who was once robbed by  Gaston Monescu. He hasn't quite put his finger on it yet but Fliba thinks he knows "LaValle's" face from somewhere.  

Monsieur Adolph J. Giron is the manager of Mariette's perfume company and he thinks "LaValle" is pretty damn suss.  (Giron is not so squeaky clean himself, skimming off millions from the Colet family for years.)  

And much to Lily's chagrin, it appears Gaston is falling in love with Mariette.    

Long story made short, things than can go wrong do go wrong and Lily and Gaston need to make a run for it. Lily filches cash from the safe and Gaston purloins a  valuable pearl necklace.  

Gaston makes a quick but heartfelt  goodbye to Mariette.

In a cab to the train station, Gaston starts to give Lily the pearl necklace but she's already nicked it from him. As Gaston has already relieved Lily of the cash they stole. It's like Venice all over again as they fall into each other's arms in a passionate kiss and we reach...

The End. 

I can see why Rian Johnson, the genius auteur who created the classic murder mystery film Knives Out, would be drawn to Trouble In Paradise.  There are deceptions and cons aplenty has virtually no one is who they are supposed to be and doing what they're supposed to do.   

Even without the recommendation of Rian and Ben, I was still predisposed towards watching this movie for Miriam Hopkins.  I first encountered Miriam in another pre-code film called Design For Living.  Miriam gave an extraordinarily sexy performance in that movie and she's on fire in Trouble In Paradise as well. Miriam's Lily is sharp witted, beautiful, sensual but tough.

It's a shame that Lily kind gets sidelined halfway through the picture as the story focuses on Gaston's intricate plan to ingratiate himself in Mariette's life.  

Speaking of Mariette, Kay Francis gives Miriam Hopkins a run for her money in the "sharp witted, beautiful, sensual but tough" department.  I like to think that Mariette knows she's being played but she doesn't care. She's having too much fun and LaValle is pretty handsome, you know.  

Regarding Gaston/LaValle/the Baron, Herbert Marshall (who we met in Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent) has quite the role as the quick thinking and smooth talking con artist, switching up playful and serious in rapid succession as he plays out his long game.  

Trouble In Paradise was made before Hays Production Code became effective, the film plays fast and loose with adult themes and sexually charged banter.  Also Gaston & Lily get a happy ending with no price paid for their crimes, something the code would not permit in later years.  

Trouble in Paradise was directed by Ernst Lubitsch (who also directed Design For Living) and was known for what cinephiles would call "the Lubitsch touch" for his unique style with the camera and his approach to storytelling.

In 1991, Trouble in Paradise was selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Tomorrow I will have a 2nd movie post with another pre-code film.