February 25 movie: Design for Living. Ernst Lubitsch directs Miriam Hopkins, Gary Cooper and Fredric March in a comedy about a menage a trois. I had been wanting to see this movie since I heard about it in a documentary about pre-code Hollywood. It's delightful! It's based on a play by Noel Coward, though I hear that almost none of Coward's dialogue survived and the racy story was toned way down. Even toned down it's pretty outrageous for Hollywood in the 30s. Hopkins meets Cooper and March, best friends living together in Paris, and falls in love with both of them. She can't choose between them so they make a "gentleman's agreement:" Hopkins moves into their garret apartment, platonically of course, and helps them with their work. With Hopkins as their critic and muse, both men achieve creative success. Eventually she breaks the gentleman's agreement, first with Cooper and then with March. Still unable to choose, she runs off and marries Edward Everett Horton. But eventually the happy threesome gets back together.
There's a lot of talk about "the Lubitsch touch," and it's here in full force. The whole movie sparkles. I found myself laughing a lot: sometimes because the jokes were funny, and sometimes because the movie was just so delightful that it made me happy to be watching it.
I should note that, while the threesome claims to have a "no sex" agreement, they live in a one-room apartment with only one visible bed. Kind of makes you wonder! Not only about the threesome, but about Gary Cooper and Fredric March's friendship before Miriam Hopkins comes on the scene.