Design for Living (film)
| Design for Living | |
|---|---|
| File:Design for Living.jpg | |
| Directed by | Ernst Lubitsch |
| Written by | Play: Noel Coward Screenplay: Ben Hecht |
| Produced by | Ernst Lubitsch |
| Starring | Gary Cooper Fredric March Miriam Hopkins Edward Everett Horton |
| Cinematography | Victor Milner |
| Edited by | Frances Marsh |
| Music by | John Leipold |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date | December 29, Template:Fy (US) |
Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | Template:FilmUS |
| Language | Transclusion error: {{En}} is only for use in File namespace. Use {{langx|en}} or {{in lang|en}} instead. |
Design for Living is a pre-Hays code comedy film based on a 1933 play of the same name by Noël Coward. The film, released by Paramount Pictures later the same year, was produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The Screenplay was by Ben Hecht. It concerns a trio of artistic characters and their complicated three-way relationship.
The film starred Gary Cooper, Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins and Edward Everett Horton. Coward said, "I'm told that there are three of my original lines left in the film - such original ones as 'Pass the mustard'."[1]
History
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Coward wrote a succession of popular hit plays.[2] On Broadway, Design for Living was a popular and critical hit, starring Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lunt and Coward.[3][4] Coward's playwriting style translated well to film adaptations, and Design for Living was one of over a dozen of Coward's plays made into feature films.
Censorship difficulties arose because of the sexual discussions and innuendos in the film. The Hays Office eventually approved the film for release, but it was later banned by the Legion of Decency, and in 1934 it was refused a certificate by the PCA for re-release under the strict new rules. The film's risqué subject matter also attracted press notice.
Cast
- Fredric March as Tom Chambers
- Gary Cooper as George Curtis
- Miriam Hopkins as Gilda Farrell
- Edward Everett Horton as Max Plunkett
- Franklin Pangborn as Mr. Douglas
- Isabel Jewell as Plunkett's Stenographer
- Jane Darwell as Curtis' Housekeeper
- Wyndham Standing as Max's Butler
Plot
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In Paris, two American friends, playwright Tom Chambers and artist George Curtis both fall in love with Gilda, a free-spirited American woman. She cannot decide which man she loves, but she agrees to live together with them as their friend, muse and critic under a "gentleman's agreement" that they will not have sex. At first, the three are friends, but as time goes by, the two men become more competitive. Gilda decides to end the dispute by marrying her employer, Max Plunkett, but finds the marriage dull and stifling. After Tom and George crash a party at the Plunkett mansion, Gilda returns to the two men, and Max agrees to a divorce.
Notes
References
- Analysis of the film at New York State Writers Institute website, State University of New York]
- Hoare, Philip. Noël Coward, A Biography. Sinclair-Stevenson 1995. ISBN 1-85619-265-2.
- Lahr, John. Coward the Playwright, Methuen, London, 1982. ISBN 0-413-48050-X
- Lesley, Cole. The Life of Noël Coward. Cape 1976. ISBN 0-224-01288-6.
- Richards, Dick. The Wit of Noël Coward, Sphere Books, 1970
External links