In a small compartment on the train from Marseilles to Paris, free-spirited artist Gilda (Miriam Hopkins) meets fellow American ex-pats George (Gary Cooper), and artist, and Tom (Frederic March), a playwright, and is instantly smitten. After being romanced by both men Gilda comes to the conclusion she can’t decide between either artist, the trio engaging in a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ to maintain a working no-sex relationship where she will help both of them achieve greatness in their chosen creative fields.

CRITIQUE

Design for Living is a marvel. Based on the play by the great Noël Coward, directed by the legendary Ernst Lubitsch and scripted by the supremely talented Ben Hecht, this movie is a pre-code sensation and is a romantic comedy ménage-a-trois both for the ages as well as being staggeringly ahead of its time. It borders on perfection, and watching it is something of a revelation, and for a film I knew nothing about before slipping the Blu-ray into the player after watching it is now one I can’t imagine not having in my personal library.

Right from the start you know you’re watching something revolutionary. The sexual tension in that sitting room on the train to Paris is explosive, and watching Hopkins, Cooper and March wrap themselves around one another is as sensuous an experience as anything the likes of Bernardo Bertolluci (Last Tango in Paris) or Ang Lee (Lust, Caution) has ever put to screen. What’s even better, Lubitsch and Hecht accomplish this feat by keeping their characters fully clothed, all the sexual tension generated strictly through performance, dialogue and direction each working in melodious tandem with the other.

It’s hard to believe this film was even made. These three outright openly lust for one another, speak openly about having a relationship free of sex yet one where all three stick together as one singular family unit. There are unabashed homoerotic overtones concerning not just George and Tom but also the fey Max Plunkett (a sensational Edward Everett Horton) who has his own designs on Gilda even though you get the feeling he’d rather use her as a beard than as vessel to fulfill carnal pleasures.

But once you get past the fact it’s pushing boundaries you start to get observed in the story itself. Gilda is a feminist creature that seems so of the now and of the current millennium it flabbergasting to believe Coward came up with her in the early days of the 1930’s. She’s forthright, open-minded, blunt and knows exactly what she wants. When she makes the comparison between men engaging in multiple romances and women trying on hats my jaw hit the floor between fits of giggles, Hopkins bringing this enchanting young ingénue to life with beguiling and ferocious aplomb.

Lubitsch’s deft touch is apparent in every frame, yet his minimalist approach with the actors and the staging is delectably light the movie almost floats into the atmosphere like an effervescent dream. As for Hecht’s screenplay, very few could write snappy bits of dialogue better than he, and it’s no wonder the likes of Billy Wilder considered both men to be major influences he would personally draw from for his entire Oscar-winning career. Running a brief 91 minutes the movie flies by in the blink of an eye, all of it building to the type of ribald and raucous conclusion that is as hysterical and as surprising as it is heartfelt and intimate. Design for Living is a ‘30s classic I knew next to nothing about beforehand, and now that I’ve watched it I can’t wait to show it off to every single one of my family and friends.

THE VIDEO

Design for Living is presented on a dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video with a 1080p 1.33:1 transfer. As stated in the included booklet: “This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit 1K Datacine from a 35mm fine-grain master positive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS and Pixel Farm's PFClean, while Image Systems' DVNR was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction. Image Mill's Steady was also used to reduce film weave.”

THE AUDIO

Design for Living comes to Blu-ray in English LPCM 1.0 Mono and includes optional English SDH subtitles. Again, from the included booklet: “The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a fine-grain soundtrack print. Clicks, thumps, hiss and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AuidoCube’s integrated workstation.”

THE EXTRAS

Extras here include:

·         Selected-Scene Commentary by film professor William Paul, author of Ernst Lubitsch's American Comedy (36 minutes)

·         The Clerk (3 minutes)

·         Joseph McBride: The Screenplay (23 minutes)

·         “Play of the Week: A Choice of Coward” (74 minutes)

The Clerk is an excerpt from the 1932 omnibus film If I had a Million starring Charles Laughton and directed by Lubitsch and showcases just how perfectly a great director can transform three short minutes into something beguiling and borderline wondrous. I kind of wish William Paul would have recorded an entire commentary track for the entire film as his selected-scene thoughts are so intriguing and an informative, while the interview with Joseph McBride is nearly perfect. Finally, the 1964 British television production of Noël Coward’s theatrical version of Design for Living presented in the “Play of the Week” segment is a great counterpoint to this version reworked for the silver screen by Lubitsch and screenwriter Ben Hecht and as such is pretty much a must-see.

The Blu-ray also comes with a 20-page Illustrated Booklet featuring an essay by film critic Kim Morgan.

FINAL THOUGHTS

From a technical standpoint, Design for Living certainly shows its age and that it’s suffered a fair amount of wear and tear over the years, and as great as Criterion’s hi-def handling of the film is concerned its age is apparent on almost every frame. On the plus side, the movie is a delightful dexterous marvel full of heart, laughs and life and as such it’s almost impossible not to adore every single second of it. While not perfect, Criterion’s Blu-ray is still fairly marvelous, and as such it’s an incredibly easy disc to recommend.