HOW WOULD LUBITSCH DO IT?

In Billy Wilder's office in Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles once hung the beautifully calligraphed sign inscribed with the words 'How would Lubitsch do it?"

How would he do it indeed? It is a hypothetical challenge set unintentionally by a supreme master of film comedy to all those who have subsequently tried their best to imitate his unique style. Perhaps only Billy Wilder himself (a writer and friend of Lubitsch) got close to replicating the magic of the late German director born in 1892 with films such as 'Some Like It Hot' (1958), 'The Apartment' (1960) and 'Kiss Me Stupid' (1964).

The infamous 'Lubitsch touch', for those who know about it, is the screenwriting/filmmaking equivalent of a Faberge egg. Its elusive magic seems wholly idiosyncratic and therefore unrepeatable. Yet it may be, that it was, in fact, born from a perfect storm of censors, societal puritanism and sexually charged humour borrowed from Berlin's decadent 'Golden Twenties' that resulted in this subtle fusion of genius which eventually found its way to Hollywood, never to be repeated.

Rather than me attempting to provide a succinct definition of the 'Lubitsch touch', here is Billy Wilder himself explaining it in an interview given at the American Film Institute.

There are simply too many examples of the 'touch' for me to cite a personal favourite although I might suggest that you may find (should you be so inclined) to discover some of the best in 'Trouble In Paradise' (1932), 'Ninotchka' (1939), and 'The Shop Around The Corner' (1940).

As for myself, the closest I can think of in my own attempts at a 'Lubitsch touch' would be one instance where I had a character lose a girlfriend because he was out of her league (most notably financially); he proceeds to run out of funds to maintain the illusion of their expensive relationship alive. In the final scene she watches a street mime artist (whom she doesn't recognise) and pays him handsomely for his impressive performance. Only as she departs do we, the audience, notice it is her ex who sheds a single tear on his white clown make up as she walks away.

Even here, I don't think I got remotely close to Lubitsch.

Still, as Osgood (Joe E. Good) says to Daphne (Jack Lemmon) in Wilder's ultimate Lubitsch-style ending, in 'Some Like It Hot'.

"Nobody's perfect!"