A neglected wife disguises herself in order to lure her wastrel husband into a compromising position..
Ernst Lubitsch
Germany
A 1917 nitrate canister, exhumed from Berlin’s vintage fog, reveals The Merry Jail—a brittle bon-bon whose sugar crust cracks to release something headier: the first unmistakable whiff of what will later be called “the Lubitsch touch.” Within its modest two-reel circumference, Ernst Lubitsch stages a miniature commedia...
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Comparing the cinematic DNA and archive impact of two defining moments in cult history.
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch
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"A 1917 nitrate canister, exhumed from Berlin’s vintage fog, reveals The Merry Jail—a brittle bon-bon whose sugar crust cracks to release something headier: the first unmistakable whiff of what will later be called “the Lubitsch touch.” Within its modest two-reel circumference, Ernst Lubitsch stages a miniature commedia dell’arte of marriage, incarceration, and erotic chess, all played at break-neck tempo on sets that shimmer like gilt cardboard Versailles. Plot Re-framed Through a Kaleidoscope ..."
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