BLUEBEARD’S EIGHT WIFE is so delightful that the only reason it’s not held in higher esteem must be that it’s a Lubitsch film. It’s not up to the heights of TROUBLE IN PARADISE or SHOP AROUND THE CORNER but then what is? It’s the story of an American millionaire, already married seven times, who falls for an impoverished aristocrat who’s unwilling to become the next notch in his belt (Colbert).  It has a  superb opening with maybe one of the great meet-cutes of all time, when Colbert and Cooper are out shopping for pyjamas and he only wants the top and she only wants the bottom. Colbert and Cooper are great together but it’s his double takes that made me laugh out loud most. A very young and very sexy David Niven has a small role and it’s a delight to see Edward Everett Horton, Franklin Pangborn, and others in the supporting cast. Lubitsch makes even the graphics funny (the section on Czechoslovakia). It’s one gag after another, with Lubitsch’s usual inventiveness, the sections we see but don’t here being a case in point. Billy Wilder and Charles Bracket are credited with the screenplay. Bliss. Lovely disc from Powerhouse.

José Arroyo