How Would Lubitsch Do It?

S5E01 - Angel [1937] with Chris Cassingham

Film programmer and curator Chris Cassingham joins us to discuss Lubitsch’s ambiguous, cloistered chamber drama ANGEL. We cover Lubitsch’s newfound low-key late period style, the withholding nature of both the film’s characters and the film itself, interwar politics, the film’s deeply-encoded implications, Marlena Dietrich’s persona, and our feminist readings of the text.
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Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
NEXT WEEK:
Film historian Dr. Olympia Kiriakou joins us to discuss BLUEBEARD’S EIGHTH WIFE. For information as to where to find this film, check out our resources page.
WORKS CITED:
Adrian Martin's review of ANGEL

S5E0.5 - Desire [1936] with Imogen Sara Smith

Film writer and author Imogen Sara Smith joins us to discuss Frank Borzage’s DESIRE, produced by Ernst Lubitsch during his tenure as Production Head at Paramount Studios! In this episode, we discuss the state of Lubitsch’s career in this time of personal and political upheaval, the state of Hollywood in the Hays Code era, the the careers of Marlene Dietrich and Frank Borzage, the film’s relationship with genre, and the code-mandated final beat of the plot.
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Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Edited by Brennen King
NEXT WEEK:
Film programmer and curator Chris Cassingham joins us to discuss ANGEL. For information as to where to find this film, check out our resources page.
WORKS CITED:
The Motion Picture Production ("Hays") Code [Full Text]
Marlene Dietrich: Life and Legend by Steven Bach

S5E00 - Scott Eyman, author of 'Laughter in Paradise'

It’s our final season, and much has changed: Lubitsch is production head of Paramount, though not for long. The Production Code administration is enforcing the Hays code with an iron fist and, much worse, the National Socialist German Workers' Party is ruling Germany with a significantly heavier iron first. Over the course of the next ten years, we’ll experience another world war, the height of classical Hollywood, and the death of our show’s namesake.
To kick things off, renowned author Scott Eyman joins us to discuss his definitive biography of Ernst Lubitsch, Laughter in Paradise, as well as Lubitsch’s life and career circa the mid-late 1930s. We cover Eyman’s research process, Lubitsch’s attitudes towards life and art, his tenure as production head of Paramount, and his working methods with actors.
Edited by Sophia Yoon.
We have a Discord!
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
NEXT WEEK:
Author Imogen Sara Smith joins us to discuss DESIRE. For information as to where to find this film, check out our resources page.
WORKS CITED:
Ernst Lubitsch Made the Hollywood Comedy Sublime by Alex Ross
What Makes Lubitsch Lubitsch by Farren Smith Nehme
Survival Tactics: German Filmmakers in Hollywood by Joe McElhaney

S4E09b - The Merry Widow [1934] with Tim Brayton

It’s our season finale, and the end of the pre-code era! To celebrate, Tim Brayton returns to discuss THE MERRY WIDOW. We effuse about the film’s infectious energy, the many incredible ‘Lubitsch Touch’ moments and gestures, discuss Lubitsch’s extremely loose adaptation of the Lehar operetta, the French-language version, Edward Everett Horton’s greatest role, the film’s relationship with love and death, the more “conservative” nature of the film’s resolution, and much more!
With that, Season 4 of HOW WOULD LUBITSCH DO IT comes to a close, and with it the pre-code era. Oh how we’ll miss you, lax Hays office overseers.
Thanks to the guests who lent their time and support to this season: Jennifer Fleeger, Katharine Coldiron, Jonathan Mackris, Will Sloan, Matt Severson, Lea Jacobs, Tanya Goldman, Willa Ross, Krin Gabbard, Molly Rasberry, Jordan Fish, Ray Tintori, Z Behl, Eric Dienstfrey and Tim Brayton.
Our editors: Gloria Mercer, Griffin Sheel, Sophia Yoon, & Rylee Cronin.
Our location sound engineer, Anna Citak-Scott.
And others who lent valuable counsel and support: Peter Labuza, Jose Arroyo, the Margaret Herrick Library, Dave Kehr and the Museum of Modern Art, Dara Jaffe and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Patrick Keating, Scott Eyman, Paul Cuff, David Cairns, and all the members of our Discord.
We have a Discord!
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
NEXT SEASON:
The censor’s hammer falls, and Lubitsch’s career comes to a close in grand fashion in Season 5.
WORKS CITED:
MPAA Production Code Administration Records for THE MERRY WIDOW
The Merry Widow Blog Entry by Jose Arroyo

S4E09a - The Merry Widow [1934] and Sound Recording Technology with Eric Dienstfrey

Eric Dienstfrey joins us to discuss the sound technology behind early talkies, and in particular THE MERRY WIDOW. We cover the ways in which recording and exhibition technology changed and fluctuated throughout the 1930s, the sordid tale of both the innovation and skullduggery engaged in by Electrical Research Products, Inc, the institution of the uniform-but-limiting Academy Mono standard, Jeanette Macdonald’s vocal stylings, and much more!
We have a Discord!
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
NEXT WEEK:
Tim Brayton returns to discuss THE MERRY WIDOW in our season finale. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page.
WORKS CITED:
Under the Standard: MGM, AT&T, and the Academy’s Regulation of Power by Eric Dienstfrey

S4E08b - Design for Living [1933] with Jordan Fish, Ray Tintori, and Z Behl

Podcasters, filmmakers, and artists Jordan Fish, Ray Tintori, and Z Behl join us to further discuss DESIGN FOR LIVING and disrupt the flow of the podcast much like the film in question disrupts the format of the romantic comedy! We cover the film’s structure, production design, relationship with branding and commerce, Gilda’s identity as “matron of the arts”a, Lubitsch’s camera blocking, draw allusions to, of all films, Robert Altman’s THREE WOMEN and David Fincher’s THE KILLER.
Edited by Griffin Sheel
We have a Discord!
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
NEXT WEEK:
Eric Dienstfrey joins us to discuss the sound technology behind THE MERRY WIDOW. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page.

S4E08a - Design for Living [1933] with Molly Rasberry

Molly Rasberry returns to discuss DESIGN FOR LIVING in the first of two episodes devoted to Lubitsch’s (in)famous 1933 pre-code romantic comedy! We cover the absolutely scandalous nature of the film’s central ménage à trois, the drastic changes made to Noel Coward’s source material, the screen presence of the film’s three leads, and much more!
Edited by Sophia Yoon.
We have a Discord!
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
NEXT WEEK:
Jordan Fish, Ray Tintori, and Z Behl join us to further discuss DESIGN FOR LIVING. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page.
WORKS CITED:
MPAA Production Code Notes for DESIGN FOR LIVING courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library.
Design for Living: It Takes Three (Criterion Collection Essay) by Kim Morgan
Three Square Meals a Day (RogerEbert.com) by Fran Hoepfner
Review: Design for Living by Veronica Magdalene

S4E07 - If I Had a Million (The Clerk) [1932] with Bram Ruiter

Bram Ruiter returns to discuss the Paramount anthology film IF I HAD A MILLION, and in particular Ernst Lubitsch’s contribution THE CLERK. We discuss the struggles inherent to anthology films, compare and contrast the different directorial styles of each of the film’s directors, Lubitsch’s relative mastery of the poetics of cinema, and what we would do if we had one million 1932 U.S. Dollars.
Edited by Sophia Yoon
We have a Discord!
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
NEXT WEEK:
Molly Rasberry returns to discuss DESIGN FOR LIVING. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page.

S4E06c - Trouble in Paradise [1932] with Krin Gabbard

Author and scholar Krin Gabbard joins us for our third and final episode on TROUBLE IN PARADISE! In this episode, we cover Samson Raphaelson’s history with Lubitsch, Samson’s mixed feelings on the film itself, the film’s ambivalence towards the possible romantic pairings that it might end on, and the dense use of leitmotifs in W. Franke Harling’s score.
We have a Discord!
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
NEXT WEEK:
Bram Ruiter returns to discuss IF I HAD A MILLION and THE CLERK. For details as to where to find this film, check out our resources page.

S4E06b - Trouble in Paradise [1932] with Willa Ross

Willa Ross returns to further discuss TROUBLE IN PARADISE! In this episode, fierce debates are had about the film’s position on the spectrum between idealism and cynicism, Lubitsch’s sense of rhythm, the film’s political angles in the context of the great depression, the famous clock scene, the way in which sensory deprivation allows us to participate in the creation of artistic meaning, and much more!
Edited by Rylee Cronin
We have a Discord!
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
NEXT WEEK:
Columbia University professor and author Krin Gabbard joins us to discuss yet more TROUBLE IN PARADISE!
WORKS CITED:
MPAA Production Code notes on TROUBLE IN PARADISE. courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library.
Pre-Code Lubitsch (from THE DISSOLVE) by Kim Morgan