alr

Angel

Screening on Film
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch.
With Marlene Dietrich, Herbert Marshall, Melvyn Douglas.
US, 1937, 35mm, black & white, 91 min.
Print source: Universal

Despite being made in the era of the screwball comedy, Lubitsch’s adaptation of Melchior Lengyel’s play quiets the original’s laughs down to a knowing smirk. The masked reactions of Lubitsch’s polite characters caught in an uncomfortable love triangle belie more colorful pasts and passions. Within what is considered a transitional work before hitting his stride, Lubitsch begins to patiently tamper with assumptions and judgments, appearance and identity, through subtle ironies—exhibited everywhere from Marlene Dietrich’s array of enigmatic smiles to the set design. His discreet social commentary manifests by undercutting dramatic scenes of aristocrats with the comic versions already played out by servants; allowing women of both classes a certain sexual liberation; and transforming the titular object of desire into a more complex being than either man is willing to initially behold.

Part of film series

Read more

That Certain Feeling... The Touch of Ernst Lubitsch

Current and upcoming film series

Read more

Harvard Undergraduate Cinematheque

Read more

Museum Hours: Mati Diop’s Dahomey

Read more

Albert Serra, or Cinematic Time Regained

Read more

Wang Bing’s Youth Trilogy

Read more

The Shochiku Centennial Collection

Read more

Planet at 50

Read more

The Yugoslav Junction Continues!

Read more

Theo Anthony, Subject to Review

Read more

The Ideal Cinematheque of the Outskirts of the World