One Hour With You (1932, Ernst Lubitsch) (Patreon)

71/100

Second viewing, last seen 2003. Can't honestly claim to detect Cukor's hand here, perhaps because it's been nearly three decades since I last saw Love Me Tonight. Certainly it seems eminently Lubitschy, from its direct-to-camera musical interludes (hard to imagine Cukor encouraging Chevalier to mug quite so hard throughout "Oh That Mitzi"; I'm ashamed to admit that I laugh every single time he pulls his gobsmacked face on the title line) to its quasi-European air of moral nonchalance ("I have a theory that nobody is responsible for their actions," says the Professor, in what amounts to the film's credo). Desire gets roughly equal billing with fidelity—it's treated as natural, no big deal. And while this isn't among the more notorious pre-Code pictures or anything, its sexual symbolism—mostly involving women handling men's neckties—is surprisingly blunt, with one such instance coming across almost like a pity fuck (or at least a pity handjob). Narrative's a soufflé, pleasantly insubstantial until it's time to resolve everyone's trifling dilemmas via some ironic wit, with André secretly encouraging Adolph to confirm what he (André) incorrectly assumes are Colette's lies about last night's (symbolic) tryst. When that doesn't quite work out, Chevalier and MacDonald just more or less directly tell us that they're gonna provide the happy ending we want, without even bothering to make the clinch credible. You're either tickled by that or you're not, and I decidedly am. Also, Charles Ruggles automatically improves any film in which he appears—sometimes I think he might be my very favorite Golden Age character actor. To the friend/peer who complained that the songs aren't catchy enough: The title tune's melody has been stuck in my head for nearly 20 years now, popping up unbidden every damn time I see or have occasion to type those four words. And now I fear the worst regarding "Oh That Mitzi."