Ernst Lubitsch

Ernst Lubitsch (1892-1947), German American motion-picture director, who excelled at witty, effervescent film comedies that were said to have the Lubitsch touch. Born in Berlin, Lubitsch became an actor as a young man, but he began to direct motion pictures in 1914 and soon gained fame with such historical dramas as Carmen (1918; United States release in 1921 as Gypsy Blood) and Madame Du Barry (1919; U.S. release as Passion). Lubitsch was invited to the United States in 1923 by actor Mary Pickford. Although the film they made together, Rosita (1923), was not a popular success, Lubitsch was placed under contract by Warner Bros. and soon gained a reputation as one of the leading directors of sophisticated comedy. His other notable silent films include The Marriage Circle (1924), Lady Windermere's Fan (1925), The Student Prince (1927), and The Patriot (1928).

After the advent of sound in cinema in 1927, Lubitsch reveled in the verbal wit and subtle nuances of characterization that were possible with the new medium. Soon his films were celebrated for having “the Lubitsch touch,” a quality involving a worldly attitude toward love and sex, a tendency to favor unusual or glittering settings (coupled with a reluctance to take wealth and power too seriously), and—most importantly—a fondness for revealing in one telling detail the inner nature of a character or even the whole thrust of a plot. Beginning in 1929, he produced a stream of comedies that faltered only when his health began to fail in the early 1940s. They include The Love Parade (1929), One Hour with You (1932), Trouble in Paradise (1932; often considered his finest film), Design for Living (1933), The Merry Widow (1934), Angel (1937), Ninotchka (1939), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), To Be or Not to Be (1942), and Heaven Can Wait (1943).

Lubitsch's first sound films were made for Paramount Pictures, where he also served as production manager for a brief period in the mid-1930s before returning to full-time directing. From 1939 to 1943 he directed for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and as an independent. He then signed a contract with 20th Century-Fox film studio, but by then he was in poor health, and his last few films (except for Cluny Brown,1946) were completed for him by director Otto Preminger.

In 1947 Lubitsch received a special Academy Award in recognition of his 25 years of service in the film industry. The following year he was awarded the Legion of Honor by the French government.