Three Screen Comedies by Samson Raphaelson: Trouble in Paradise; The Shop Around the Corner; Heaven Can Wait
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Three Scripts and Freundschaft Too!,
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This review is from: Three Screen Comedies by Samson Raphaelson: Trouble in Paradise; The Shop Around the Corner; Heaven Can Wait (Hardcover)
"Three Screen Comedies" is much more than an anthology which takes a few scripts, puts them under one cover, and republishes them. These weren't the shooting scripts but have been altered by Mr. Raphaelson to make them more readable and to reintroduce some bits that were cut from the finished movies. This said, this wouldn't be a bad book if republishing the scripts were all that it did. The screen comedies to which the title refers are: "Trouble in Paradise," "The Shop Around the Corner," and "Heaven Can Wait." In this reviewer's opinion, each screenplay would be a mega-hit in today's movie market.One, in fact, is. "The Shop Around the Corner," which premiered in 1940 and starred Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart has been remade as "You've Got Mail" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. What were pen-pals in the original became e-mail "pals" in the update. Like the original, the remake is warm, funny, witty and has a happy ending. The Warren Beatty movie, "Heaven Can Wait," shares nothing except the title with the original which starred Gene Tierney and Don Ameche. In the author's notes introducing "Heaven Can Wait" in the book under review, Raphaelson felt it necessary to comment that ""The title "Heaven Can Wait" has been used recently on a movie that in no way resembles our original film. I don't know why this was done."" A rather subtle understatement in my opinion. What makes this book different than the run of the mill anthology are the insightful and informative introduction by Pauline Kael, the then movie critic for "The New Yorker," and the inclusion of Raphaelson's "Freundschaft: How It Was With Lubitsch and Me," which was originally published in "The New Yorker" in May of 1981. Both Kael's introduction and Raphaelson's "Freundschaft" could, among other things, serve as textbook examples of the workings of creative minds joined together in what they do best, creating. "Freundschaft," arguably Raphaelson's finest piece of writing, was a memorial to Ernst Lubitsch (the incomparable producer/director of many outstanding movies). Raphaelson and Lubitsch worked together for thousands of hours, each feeding off the other's ideas, whims, and comic utterances, in the creation of 9 films spanning two decades, the 30's and 40's. Although Raphaelson was ostensibly the writer, and Lubitsch the director/producer, no such distinction seemed to exist when they collaborated. "Freundschaft," in addition to being a memorial to Lubitsch, is also the story of a collaborative relationship and an ode to a "love/hate/love" intellectual, emotional, creative relationship that is unique in the movie business. I recommend this book for its screenplays, for Mrs. Kael's introduction and for Mr. Raphaelson's paean to Ernst Lubitsch. You can't go wrong on any of these counts, and having them all in one book is a real treat.
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