[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lubitsch13.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:Lubitsch with the Honorary UsefulNotes/AcademyAward he was given in 1946.[[note]]And, no, [[AwardSnub he never won]] a competitive Best Director Oscar.[[/note]]]]

-> '''Creator/BillyWilder''': No more Lubitsch.
-> '''Creator/WilliamWyler''': It's worse than that: [[ToughActToFollow no more Lubitsch pictures]].
-->-- at Lubitsch's funeral

Ernst Lubitsch (January 29, 1892 – November 30, 1947) was a director, screenwriter, and [[ThePioneer Pioneer]] of a non-flashy kind. His films don't have the sorts of obvious, over-the-top editing or lighting gimmicks or {{epic tracking shot}}s that cinema aficionados tend to squee about. And yet, in his own way, he was as innovative as a Creator/SergeiEisenstein or Creator/JohnFord. In his lifetime Lubitsch was highly respected by his peers, with a style distinctive enough that promoters would talk about "The Lubitsch Touch" that defined his films.

He's best known for ''Film/{{Ninotchka}}'', the film where Creator/GretaGarbo laughs. He's also known for the musicals and sophisticated comedies he made in UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra, such as ''Film/TroubleInParadise.'' His film ''Film/TheShopAroundTheCorner'', starring Creator/JamesStewart and Margaret Sullavan, is still well known and widely seen; he later cited it as his favorite among his own films. His anti-Nazi comedy ''Film/ToBeOrNotToBe'' was even cribbed by Creator/QuentinTarantino for ''Film/InglouriousBasterds''.

Lubitsch began his career in Germany in the 1910s where he made his name as a maker of historical EpicMovie, in which he occasionally appeared as an actor. He gradually found his mark as a comedy director in films like ''Film/TheOysterPrincess'' and ''Film/TheWildcat''. His films were hits around the world and Creator/MaryPickford herself was interested in working with Lubitsch, inviting him to work in Hollywood. The resulting collaboration didn't work out all that well, but Lubitsch stuck around and made films that were successful and original elegant comedies. His ''The Marriage Circle'' and his adaptation of Creator/OscarWilde's ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' were seen as incredibly advanced and sophisticated attempts at telling adult dramas within the limitations of silent film. When sound arrived, Lubitsch became a major innovator with one of the earliest musicals, ''Film/TheLoveParade'' (1929), starring Creator/MauriceChevalier and Jeanette [=MacDonald=]. This led to a series of films with the duo that created a kind of musicals which were RuritanianRomance with fairy tale landscapes that contrasted with the adult LoveDodecahedron that audiences recognized as being very 20th Century. This was made during UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra and as such Lubitsch got away with a lot more in these films than would be possible later.

Lubitsch eventually found his mark with ''Film/TroubleInParadise,'' the film which made him associated with sophisticated comedies about adults who kept moving between relationships and were pretty interested in sex outside of marriage and monogamy. These elegant comedies have a distinct style. Scenes are underplayed, emotions are subtle and nuanced, and while it's funny, the laughs aren't slapstick either. This came to be called "The Lubitsch Touch" and barring occasional experiments like the underrated ''Broken Lullaby'', a war film, he made comedies for the rest of his life, right up to ''Film/ClunyBrown'', his post-war comedy. He served as TheMentor to Creator/BillyWilder, who worked as screenwriter on his films and was a personal friend. Wilder would hang a message in his office reading, "What would Lubitsch do?"

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!!Ernst Lubitsch films on this wiki:
[[index]]
* ''Film/IDontWantToBeAMan'' (1918)
* ''Film/MeyerFromBerlin'' (1919)
* ''Film/TheOysterPrincess'' (1919)
* ''Film/TheDoll1919''
* ''Film/RomeoAndJulietInTheSnow'' (1920)
* ''Film/TheWildcat'' (1921)
* ''Film/{{Rosita}}'' (1923)
* ''Film/LadyWindermeresFan'' (1925)
* ''Film/TheStudentPrinceInOldHeidelberg'' (1927)
* ''Film/TheLoveParade'' (1929)
* ''Film/{{Monte Carlo|1930}}'' (1930)
* ''Film/TheSmilingLieutenant'' (1931)
* ''Film/OneHourWithYou'' (1932)
* ''Film/TroubleInParadise'' (1932)
* ''Film/DesignForLiving'' (1933)
* ''Film/TheMerryWidow1934''
* ''Film/{{Ninotchka}}'' (1939)
* ''Film/TheShopAroundTheCorner'' (1940)
* ''Film/ToBeOrNotToBe'' (1942)
* ''[[Film/HeavenCanWait1943 Heaven Can Wait]]'' (1943)
* ''Film/ClunyBrown'' (1946) (The last fully completed film by Lubitsch)
* ''Film/ThatLadyInErmine'' (1948) (completed by Creator/OttoPreminger after Lubitsch died during production)
[[/index]]
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