How Would Lubitsch Do It?

Oct 22 2024 71 ep. 56 mins 46

How Would Lubitsch Do It? Podcast artwork

HOW WOULD LUBITSCH DO IT? is a journey through the life and works of Ernst Lubitsch in chronological order, one film at a time. In this film history podcast, host Devan Scott will facilitate a series of discussions about all 43 of Ernst Lubitsch’s surviving films, from Wo ist mein Schatz to Cluny Brown. Each episode will consist of a mix of historical background and a discussion with a rotating slate of guests - critics, academics, and filmmakers - about one of Lubitsch’s films.

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S5E10 - Cluny Brown [1946] and our Grand Finale with Tim Brayton

Oct 22 2024 119 mins

[Due to our last-minute addition of two episodes, the podcast feed mistakenly had S5E09a queued here for a few hours this morning - it should now be fixed!] How Would Lubitsch Do It comes to a close with a grand finale. Tim Brayton returns to discuss Cluny Brown and look back on both Ernst Lubitsch’s career and the past five seasons of this show. First, we discuss everything Clun

S5E09b - Cahiers du Cinéma deputy editor Charlotte Garson

Oct 15 2024 66 mins

Cahiers du Cinéma deputy editor Charlotte Garson joins us for a wide-ranging discussion that takes a look back at the past five seasons of the podcast and our subject’s career: among other things, we cover Lubitsch’s treatment of unconventional relationships, feminine sexuality and gender fluidity, his treatment of theatricality, his influence upon the critics of Cahiers and o

S5E09a - Lubitsch and Poland with Mateusz Pacewicz [Feat. David Neary]

Oct 08 2024 96 mins

Screenwriter Mateusz Pacewicz (Corpus Christi, The Hater) joins us to discuss the films of Lubitsch from a Polish perspective. We coverTo Be Or Not To Be’s depiction of Warsaw, the history of Lubitsch’s collaborators such as Pola Negri, the dynamics of European immigrants in twentieth-century America, the nature of dark comedy and ‘lightness’, the nature of performance, lie

S5E8.75 - Wes Anderson and The Grand Budapest Hotel [2014] with Matt Severson

Oct 01 2024 58 mins

Matt Severson returns to discuss Wes Anderson and The Grand Budapest Hotel. We discuss Lubitsch’s clear influence on the film, Anderson’s use of fabulist distancing techniques, common attitudes about Anderson’s supposed emotional remoteness, and our own emotional connections to the film. Edited by Eden Cote-Foster. We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT W

S5E8.5- Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three [1961] with Noah Isenberg

Sep 24 2024 60 mins

Author Noah Isenberg joins us to discuss Billy Wilder and his 1961 comedic epic One, Two, Three. We cover Wilder’s early life as a reporter, a dancer-for-hire, and publicist; his lifelong ability to adapt to his circumstances; the question of his cynicism (or is it frustrated romanticism?); and his fraught relationship with Germany. Later on, we cover the fascinating production o

S5E08.25 - Freundschaft by Samson Raphaelson

Sep 17 2024 54 mins

A reading of Samson Raphaelson’s Freundschaft, as published on May 11, 1981, in The New Yorker. We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT WEEK: Noah Isenberg joins us to discuss Billy Wilder and his cold war comedic epic One, Two, Three. For information as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: Freundschaft by Samson Raphaelson

S5E08 - Dragonwyck, A Royal Scandal, That Lady In Ermine, and the Death of Ernst Lubitsch with David Cairns

Sep 10 2024 69 mins

David Cairns returns to discuss the end of Ernst Lubitsch’s career and life: a period in which, after a heart attack left him debilitated, he produced a series of films directed by the likes of Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Otto Preminger. We cover Dragonwyck, cinema’s foremost depiction of the Dutch patroonship system in what is now upstate New York; A Royal Scandal, a remake of Fo

S5E07.5 - Otto Preminger's Laura [1944] with Eloise Ross

Sep 03 2024 52 mins

Writer and film historian Eloise Ross joins us to discuss noted Lubitsch disciple Otto Preminger and his 1944 noir Laura. We cover Preminger’s past and parallels with Lubitsch, the tumultuous story of Laura’s production, the film’s highly unusual tone, its memorable characters and dialogue, and the majesty of Clifton Webb. Edited by Brennen King We have a Discord! Listen on:

S5E07 - Heaven Can Wait [1943] with Willa Ross

Aug 27 2024 65 mins

Willa Ross returns for a lively discussion about Heaven Can Wait. We cover Lubitsch and Raphaelson’s opposing views on the film’s unusual protagonist, its counterintuitive structure and elisions, the film’s theological implications, argue about whether or not the production code negatively impacted the film, and discuss what happened at Fox in the early 1970s and why it matte

S5E06b - To Be Or Not To Be [1942] with Peter Labuza

Aug 20 2024 69 mins

Peter Labuza returns for the second of two episodes on To Be Or Not To Be. We discuss the film’s production history, the way in which the film both fulfills and frustrates conventions of comedic structure, Lubitsch’s specific habits in directing actors, the film’s unusual tonal arc, the film’s depiction of fascist ideology, and Rudolph Mate’s cinematography. Edited by Ede