Programmed September 2021

The Lubitsch Touch

A delicate hand, effervescent humor, and an economy with words and images define the subtle but instantly recognizable style of the émigré master of the Hollywood comedy Ernst Lubitsch, whose celebrated “touch” lent a special elegance and sophistication to each project he helmed. This selection of some of the director’s later gems—made during a period when his risqué wit had to craftily evade the Production Code censors—features a subversive foray into melodrama starring Marlene Dietrich ( Angel ), the fizzy romantic charmer that introduced audiences to a lighter side of Greta Garbo ( Ninotchka ), a supernatural farce in divine Technicolor ( Heaven Can Wait ), and an audacious anti-Nazi satire ( To Be or Not to Be ) that only Lubitsch could pull off.