Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin - Wellington Film Society

Robert Fischer | Germany | 2006

Presented in association with the Goethe Institut

This documentary depicts Ernst Lubitsch’s life in Berlin throughout the 1910s and 1920s and traces his rise to becoming Germany’s most prominent film director. The film provides a revealing insight into Lubitsch’s life using private anecdotes, historical documents and comments from historians and his family. In addition to interviews with Lubitsch's daughter Nicola, who was nine when her father died in 1947, and her daughter Amanda Goodpaster, the film features German film historians who discuss Lubitsch’s career and legacy. Influential contemporary film directors such as Tom Tykwer, Wolfgang Becker, and Dany Levy express their admiration for Lubitsch, and statements by Evy Bettelheim-Bentley, Henny Porten and Emil Jannings can be heard via audio recordings.

These comments are interspersed by excerpts from 20 films directed by and/or starring Ernst Lubitsch, including: Der Stolz der Firma (Pride of the Firm) (1914), Fräulein Piccolo (Miss Piccolo) (1914), Robert und Bertram (Robert and Beltran) (1915), Doktor Satansohn (Doctor Satanson) (1916), Schuhpalast Pinkus (Pinkus Shoe Palace) (1916), Wenn vier dasselbe tun (If Four Do the Same) (1917), Hans Trutz im Schlaraffenland (Hans Trutz in Cockaigne) (1917), Das fidele Gefängnis (The Merry Jail) (1917), Der Blusenkönig (The Blouse King) (1917), Ich möchte kein Mann sein (I Don’t Want to Be a Man) (1918), Die Augen der Mumie Ma (The Eyes of the Mummy Ma) (1918), Carmen (1918), Meyer aus Berlin (Meyer from Berlin) (1918), Die Austernprinzessin (The Oyster Princess) (1919), Madame Dubarry (1919), Die Puppe (The Doll) (1919), Kohlhiesels Töchter (Kohlhiesel’s Daughter) (1920), Sumurun (1920), Anna Boleyn (Anne Boleyn) (1920) and Die Bergkatze (The Wildcat) (1921).