Ernst Lubitsch

A 1929 American sound romantic drama film directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring John Barrymore and Camilla Horn. Set in 1806 in the Swiss Alps village of Pontresina, the film follows Marcus Paltran (Barrymore), a mountain man in love with Ciglia (Horn). But the jealous and vindictive Pia throws herself at Marcus and, when rejected, spreads rumors that force Marcus into a loveless marriage with her. Marcus and Ciglia struggle to find happiness together amid the constraints of their marriages and the rigid village society. Based on the novel Der König der Bernina by Jakob Christoph Heer, this was the last silent film for both Lubitsch and Barrymore. While the film has no audible dialogue, it was released with a synchronized musical score and sound effects.

Drama · Romance

Ernst Lubitsch's silent adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play about a respectable woman who suspects her husband of infidelity, receives a fan as a birthday gift, and finds herself at a party where the fan becomes the center of a misunderstanding that threatens her reputation. Lubitsch, working without dialogue, strips the play to its emotional mechanics and lets gesture, glance, and editing carry the wit. The result is a showcase for the "Lubitsch touch," the blend of sophistication and feeling that defined his career. Ronald Colman plays the husband and May McAvoy the wife. Published in 1925, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Drama · Romance · Silent

A silent comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch for Warner Bros. Dr. Paul Giraud (Monte Blue), a respectable Parisian physician, and his wife Suzanne (Patsy Ruth Miller) become entangled in a web of romantic misunderstandings when a flirtatious dancer and her husband move into their apartment building. The film is a showcase for the "Lubitsch Touch"—the director's trademark blend of sophisticated wit, sexual innuendo, and elegant visual storytelling. The famous dance sequence, where the characters' increasingly frantic movements mirror their emotional confusion, is one of Lubitsch's most celebrated silent set pieces. The film is in the public domain.

Comedy · Silent

A bored wife of an insurance salesman seeks psychoanalysis for her mysterious neuroses, only to find herself entangled with an eccentric pianist and demanding a divorce. Ernst Lubitsch's remake of his own silent film Kiss Me Again, starring Merle Oberon, Melvyn Douglas, and Burgess Meredith. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Comedy · Romance

Ernst Lubitsch's first sound film and the first Hollywood musical to weave songs into the narrative rather than stopping the story for a number. Maurice Chevalier plays a womanizing military attaché recalled to the kingdom of Sylvania, where the young queen (Jeanette MacDonald, in her film debut) decides to marry him. The comedy turns on the marriage of state: the consort chafes at being a decorative husband, and the queen cannot run a kingdom and a romance at the same time. Lubitsch's touch, the innuendo delivered with a wink, is already fully formed. The film earned six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. Published in 1930, it entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2026.

Musical · Comedy · Romance

Ernst Lubitsch's first American film for Warner Bros. is the crystalline comedy of manners that critics would later call the "Lubitsch Touch" in its purest early form. Around a circle of suspected and real infidelities in Vienna, Lubitsch suggests everything and states nothing, letting a glance, a closed door, or a misplaced glove carry the joke. Florence Vidor plays a wife whose faith in her husband is tested by the scheming of her unhappily married friend, and Adolphe Menjou is the physician at the center of the misunderstandings. The film was a hit and established Lubitsch as a Hollywood director of sophisticated comedy. He remade it as the musical One Hour with You (1932). The film entered the public domain in the United States in 2020.

Comedy · Romance · Silent

A cloistered young prince is sent to the university town of Heidelberg for his education, where he falls in love with a warm, down-to-earth barmaid named Kathi. When duty calls him back to the throne, he must leave her behind. Ernst Lubitsch directed this MGM silent for an enormous budget, and the film is an early showcase of what critics would later call "the Lubitsch Touch": the love story is built from small, specific gestures rather than grand declarations. Ramon Novarro plays the prince and Norma Shearer the barmaid, with Jean Hersholt as the tutor whose own attachment to Heidelberg is the film's quietest heartbreak. The film's copyright was renewed but it fell into the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2023.

Romance · Drama · Silent

Ernst Lubitsch's first sound film and the first Hollywood musical to weave songs into the narrative rather than stopping the story for a number. Maurice Chevalier plays a womanizing military attaché recalled to the kingdom of Sylvania, where the young queen (Jeanette MacDonald, in her film debut) decides to marry him. The comedy turns on the marriage of state: the consort chafes at being a decorative husband, and the queen cannot run a kingdom and a romance at the same time. Lubitsch's touch, the innuendo delivered with a wink, is already fully formed. The film earned six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. Published in 1930, it entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2026.

Musical · Comedy · Romance

Ernst Lubitsch's first American film for Warner Bros. is the crystalline comedy of manners that critics would later call the "Lubitsch Touch" in its purest early form. Around a circle of suspected and real infidelities in Vienna, Lubitsch suggests everything and states nothing, letting a glance, a closed door, or a misplaced glove carry the joke. Florence Vidor plays a wife whose faith in her husband is tested by the scheming of her unhappily married friend, and Adolphe Menjou is the physician at the center of the misunderstandings. The film was a hit and established Lubitsch as a Hollywood director of sophisticated comedy. He remade it as the musical One Hour with You (1932). The film entered the public domain in the United States in 2020.

Comedy · Romance · Silent

A cloistered young prince is sent to the university town of Heidelberg for his education, where he falls in love with a warm, down-to-earth barmaid named Kathi. When duty calls him back to the throne, he must leave her behind. Ernst Lubitsch directed this MGM silent for an enormous budget, and the film is an early showcase of what critics would later call "the Lubitsch Touch": the love story is built from small, specific gestures rather than grand declarations. Ramon Novarro plays the prince and Norma Shearer the barmaid, with Jean Hersholt as the tutor whose own attachment to Heidelberg is the film's quietest heartbreak. The film's copyright was renewed but it fell into the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2023.

Romance · Drama · Silent