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Trouble in Paradise



Jean Renoir once said of Ernst Lubitsch: "He invented the modern Hollywood." And none of the director's films has had greater influence or impact than Trouble in Paradise. With his first comedy of the sound era, Lubitsch created one of cinema's supreme visions of shimmering romance and worldly sophistication.

When career thief Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall) meets glamorous pickpocket Lily (Miriam Hopkins), their love soon takes on a professional dimension as they initiate a plot to rob beautiful perfume magnate Mariette Colet (Kay Francis). But as Gaston gets ever closer to his intended prey, his romantic confusion, as well as the threat that his past will catch up with him, throws their plan into jeopardy.

A breathtakingly nimble and elegant examination of the perils of mixing "business" with pleasure, this gloriously adult and witty comedy features a peerless screenplay by Samson Raphaelson, effervescent performances by its stars (including Charlie Ruggles and Edward Everett Horton), and exquisite direction by the legendary Lubitsch. Rarely equalled, never topped, The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the UK home viewing première of Trouble in Paradise.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New high-definition transfer in the film's original aspect ratio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired
• New and exclusive 40-minute video conversation between critics and filmmakers Kent Jones and Dan Sallitt discussing the film and Lubitsch's oeuvre
• 44-PAGE BOOKLET featuring writing by screenwriter Samson Raphaelson about his years working with Lubitsch; and rare archival imagery

Meh, DVD only. Hope they include the short that the Criterion has or include an alternative one. I've held off the Criterion as I've been waiting for a Crit Blu-ray for a while.

Eureka have confirmed on their Facebook page that they didn't think that the HD master was enough of an improvement on SD to justify the extra expense of a Blu-ray.

So I saw. I just hope there's some real juicy extras then to make it worth the while (unlike the two Pasolini DVDs, which were a real disappointment in that respect, especially in the case of Uccellacci e uccellini as the Italian disc has some cool extras).

I also reckon/hope that MoC will have gotten a superior master from Universal since Criterion's transfer dates back like what, nearly 10 years.

I'm looking forward to seeing what features MoC can pony up for this release, but a decent transfer alone would probably make this a must buy. Shame they didn't feel it was up to Blu release, but I think this was in my top five or ten on my thirties list, and that is with insane competition from Renoir and von Sternberg and so forth- this is absolutely one of the great movies of all time.

Look at the extras on DESIGN FOR LIVING Criterion Blu-ray for how TROUBLE IN PARADISE looks in HD. Same Universal master.

I wasn't referring to THE CLERK.

I was referring to HD clips of TROUBLE IN PARADISE that are on the extras somewhere (can't remember the details) of Criterion's DESIGN FOR LIVING. Pop it in and have a look at TROUBLE in HD right now!

Wow!

This is GREAT news!!

I am just happy that the Criterion image and audio will be getting an upgrade; and any extra features will be bonus.

I hope there is a heck of a lot to come...

Lubitsch is my all-time favorite director and it just doesn't get any better than "Trouble in Paradise." All this talk of Trouble in HD is so exciting (and yet confusing)! My quandry is whether to purchase the new Eureka edition with it's new HD transfer -- or wait for Criterion to put the film out on Blu-ray. I hate to buy titles numerous times (although admittedly for this film I will glady do it) but the ultimate of course would be to have the best possible source material in Blu-ray format. But will it ever come? I too am willing to sing seranades, donate kidneys, promise my first-born child, etc. :-)

Well that knocks me off the fence and twists my arm, MoC done and made themselves a sale.

It's a great extra, but I was hoping MoC would add Das fidele Gefängnis so I could dump my Criterion.

Ditto. I probably won't bother now.

TMDaines wrote:Ditto. I probably won't bother now.

I think there's a very good chance the transfer will improve on the 10-year-old Criterion. Since it's an all-time favorite (and my favorite Lubitsch), I've pre-ordered it. But it would have been nice to be able to save some space.

I absolutely love Trouble In Paradise; and am really hoping the the MOC release improves on the picture quality compared to the Criterion release.

But; as the Criterion has one of my favorite commentary tracks ever by Scott Eyman - I will definitely be keeping it.

Unless the MOC port his commentary track over...

The transfer improves upon the old edition.

It also contains a 45-minute-long conversation between Kent Jones and Dan Sallitt which alone is worth the price of the disc.

evillights wrote:The transfer improves upon the old edition.

It also contains a 45-minute-long conversation between Kent Jones and Dan Sallitt which alone is worth the price of the disc.

Very good news!

I am eagerly awaiting the release of the MOC version.

evillights wrote:The transfer improves upon the old edition.

This is what justifies the price of the disc.

evillights wrote:It also contains a 45-minute-long conversation between Kent Jones and Dan Sallitt which alone is worth the price of the disc.

This, however, is a value judgement based on facts not in evidence for those here. Others (see my post above) might have different valuation criteria. At any rate, the film and its presentation is primary. Extras - any extras - are amuse-gueules.

Basically, yes, but a complete second film ("Das fidele Gefängnis") is more than just an extra. Just imagine anyone would release an improved version of "Lonesome" (unlikely, anyhow) but without the two complete extra films on the CC edition. So the MoC "Trouble in Paradise" will never make the CC superfluous, however much the image quality is improved.

Tommaso wrote:Basically, yes, but a complete second film ("Das fidele Gefängnis") is more than just an extra.

I tend to agree, in that I generally value bonus films--even (and sometimes especially) shorts--over any other kind of extra. Which is why, for example, I'm over the moon about BFI's upcoming release of Battleship Potemkin.

Sure but this is kind of ridiculous... you guys seriously would prefer identical extras to previous editions you already own... to new ones? I could understand if this was a blu and the bonus film could be put in HD... But really, we all know MoC can't afford to include all the extras from other editions + adding their own... nor should we really want this as it would take away from the video file size.

For a film like Trouble in Paradise, owning two different copies isn't really a painful situation.

'Course not, but in times where funds are limited, the previous edition must be able to go to ebay. I already sold my Milestone "Chess Player" in anticipation of the new Bernard box-set from France, for instance. But this is not possible for me in this case here. "Das fidele Gefängnis" is a very fine film, and it's unavailable elsewhere, so it must stay.

I'm still holding out hope that Criterion will put their version out in blu at some point, but as MoC has a unique extra I won't be worried that it will be made redundant when and if that happens- so this situations works for me.