10. Ernst Lubitsch
Key Films: Trouble in Paradise, Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, To Be or Not to Be, Heaven Can Wait I debated whether or not Lubitsch should be considered an underrated director as he is so revered by his peers and those who love films. Yet, his name is not brought up when names such as Capra and Hawks are mentioned. Lubitsch was a comedic mind that brought the phrase the Lubitsch Touch to light. If a filmmaker has a phrase associated with them, then that is a legacy. The Lubitsch Touch describes his skill of crafting a joke in which there is the joke upfront followed by the sly wit and humor that is under that. He plays with paradoxes in which the outer layer of his films seems one way but he slyly adding something to subvert it underneath. Andrew Sarris best describes it when he said referring to the Lubitsch Touch, A counterpoint of poignant sadness to films gayest moments. Lubitsch was perhaps the first comic mind in the mainstream Hollywood to really use irony in his humor. He wasnt as accessible as Capra who was probably his counterpart in his straight forward narratives of the typical Americana. Lubitsch was darker in his films thus have not caught on with a modern audience, making him the true definition of a filmmakers filmmaker. Before the popularization of the screwball comedy, most famously innovated by Capra, Lubtisch made Trouble in Paradise which set into place the tropes of what we would know today in screwball comedy. It oozed sexual tension especially with the banter back and forth between Miriam Hopkins and Herbert Marshall. Lubitsch also proved to be a master of political satire with films such as Ninotchka which tackled the restraints of Soviet Russia, making the casting of Greta Garbo as an uptight, rigid Bolshevik even more amazing. To Be or Not to Be also proved to be one of the first Nazi comedies and proved to be a more poignant satire than it appeared to be at the time in the same way Chaplins Great Dictator was. The last film of Carole Lombard, this film touches combines thriller and comedy while just having the audacity of making a comedy about Nazis without making it offensive. But, his greatest contribution to film, in my estimation, has to be The Shop Around the Corner, a simple romantic affair that has more complexities to it than it lets on. Its subtle humor makes it a film that surprises with each viewing and unfortunately spawned Youve Got Mail. Either way, Lubitsch is a great comic mind that should be rank up there with the mainstream audiences and not just film geeks.