Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett from a play by Albert Savoir
1938/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing
[box] Nicole de Loiselle: I wish someone would tell you what I really think of you.[/box]
Any film that combines Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, and this cast has to be entertaining.
Michael (Gary Cooper) is a decisive multi-millionaire. He meets Nicole (Claudette Colbert) in a Paris department store while trying to purchase only the top of some pajamas. Nicole buys the bottoms and, without further ado, Michael decides she will be his wife.
Nicole’s father (Edward Everett Horton) is broke and Michael funnels some money his way by buying an allegedly antique bathtub from him. At first, Nicole resists Michael’s advances but eventually she falls in love with him. At their engagement party, she discovers that he has been married seven times before. He explains that his wives have made out fine as he signs a prenuptial agreement with each one guaranteeing $50,000 per year for life, Nicole holds out for $100,000 per year and hatches a plot to ensure their divorce. With David Niven as Nicole’s friend.
This is good fun even if parts of the story don’t hang together too well. Cooper is very good in a part reminiscent of Mr. Deeds. The dialogue sings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz74bn-xCtU
Trailer
