CinemaLit - Design for Living (1933) – 91 minutes
October 2021 CinemaLit: Classics With Wit

CinemaLit is Live Again!

After more than a year of Friday night CinemaLit discussions on Zoom, we're going live again at the Mechanics' Institute screening room. Join us at 6pm for a film followed by a lively discussion. Free Refreshments! Sweet and salty snacks, juice and sparkling water.

All attendees must wear masks and bring proof of vaccination.

CinemaLit October 2021: Classics With Wit

Our first back-to-the-screening-room theme highlights sophisticated comedies of the 1930s. Each one sparkles with fantastic dialogue, peerless acting, and a few of the great screen teams of all time.

Friday, October 29 – Design for Living (1933) – 91 minutes

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, and Gary Cooper

When two men fall in love with the same woman, what is the solution? Well, these are expatriate writers and artists in Paris of the 1930s, so naturally they decide all three should live together in a strictly platonic relationship. An uphill battle with the production code transformed Design for Living from a Coward play about three cynical sophisticates (one of them an obviously gay man) into a story about three naïve and idealistic Americans. In spite of this, Ernst Lubitsch’s light and exuberant touch, along with the performances by Miriam Hopkins, Gary Cooper, and Fredric March, make this a delightful confection of a film, and one of the most popular movies of 1933.

The Legion of Decency still banned it.

Matthew Kennedy, CinemaLit’s curator, has written biographies of Marie Dressler, Joan Blondell, and Edmund Goulding. His book Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s, was the basis of a film series on Turner Classic Movies. 

 

“I don't have a favorite film,” Matthew says. "I find that my relationships to films, actors, genres, and directors change as I change over the years. Some don't hold up. Some look more profound, as though I've caught up with their artistry. I feel that way about Garbo, Cary Grant, director John Cassavetes, and others."

“Classic films have historical context, something only time can provide,” Matt observes. “They become these great cultural artifacts, so revealing of tastes, attitudes, and assumptions.”

 

MI Members Free

Public sliding scale Free to $10

 

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