Film Critic Joseph McBride on Ernst Lubitch

Join film critic Joseph McBride as he discusses the work of Ernst Lubitsch. This is a book launch for How Did Lubitsch Do It, forthcoming from Columbia University Press in June.

“Joseph McBride’s study of Lubitsch matches the breadth and range of his incomparable work on Welles and Ford. Reading it, it is impossible not to want to see each of the director’s greatest films again or for the first time-readers will be driven straight to seek out not only the repertory standards but the silents, the musicals, and the German films. It is especially gratifying to see McBride apply his supple understanding of the intricacies of Lubitsch’s sexual politics to the paradoxes lurking for contemporary viewers, exploring how the films play both against and into feminist readings. McBride doesn’t shy from such explorations, but never leaps to premature conclusions. The book is an act of devotion matched to the heart
of its subject.” – Jonathan Lethem