Date and Time for this Past Event
- Thursday, Nov 9, 2023 8:45pm - 10:45pm
Details
AFI’s Silent Cinema Showcase returns with another selection of newly restored screen classics and rare gems from the silent era.
Intro by Karen Burditt, Art Deco Society of Washington
Ernst Lubitsch's wicked romantic farce fizzes with crazed energy and proto-screwball loopiness. Neglected Parisian doctor's wife Mme. Suzanne Giraud (Patsy Ruth Miller) becomes smitten with dancer Maurice Lalle (George Beranger) after a chance glance reveals him through his window across the boulevard. Angered at his wife's voyeurism, husband Dr. Paul Giraud (Monte Blue) pays the dancer a visit with intentions of violence, only to discover that his own former flame, Georgette Lalle (Lilyan Tashman), is now the dancer's wife. With their ardor now rekindled, Paul and Georgette conspire to step out together at the Artists' Ball; meanwhile, Suzanne and Maurice meet and become enamored. The ruses and deceptions of the two couples' multiple infidelities are played for elaborate laughs, and the climactic Charleston dance contest at the ball is a tour-de-force of Jazz Age exuberance and cinematic wizardry. DIR Ernst Lubitsch; SCR Hanns Kräly, from the play "Le Reveillon" by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.
