Pretty Good

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

(Flash Review)This is a comedic caper film. Elegantly dressed Dietrich, attempts to cleverly heist an expensive pearl neckless by tricking two men while in Paris. Only she clumsily gets in the way of a calm automobile engineer Cooper during her escape. Their paths cross multiple times and ultimately so do their hearts. Haha Of course Cooper ends up in the caper mix which leads to romance. The caper is rather clever and Dietrich's fashion stellar but overall the film is fine and light- hearted; never fully engaging or gripping. Fun little story from the 1930's.

VHS rental. The second of a Borzage double bill (after A Farewell to Arms), this was something of a disappointment. Gary Cooper again, a charming somewhat countrified American engineer who gets mixed up with pearl thief disguised as petty noblewoman Marlene Dietrich in Paris and then in flight to Spain. The early scenes of Dietrich scamming both pearl merchant and psychologist into believing that the other is her husband are well-played, and the meet-cute moments on the road though a little labored are still -- cute. But around the time Dietrich's partner in crime Margoli (John Halliday) enters the scene the film slows to a deadly crawl, and knowing how it's going to finish I can't wait for it to do so. This seemed much lighter and less intense than the other Borzage films I'd seen, so I wasn't surprised to learn that Ernst Lubitsch was the producer (and rumored director of some scenes); the Lubitsch touch mixed with the Borzage romanticism doesn't really come off. Worth seeing for the two stars though, by all means, especially Dietrich who is as magnetic as ever.

No doubt of it, in Desire Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich were definitely fated to be together from the first time they had that fender bender in Paris before Coop got a good look at Dietrich and those celebrated gams.Marlene Dietrich is a countess, but one of those members of the nobility upon whom hard times have fallen. She and a partner John Halliday support themselves through some clever jewel robbery. In fact she pulls one classic scam on jeweler Ernest Cossart and psychiatrist Alan Mowbray and winds up with a valuable pearl necklace.The getaway proves to be a bit of a problem and she hooks poor innocent Gary Cooper at the customs inspection between France and Spain. She slips the swag into his pocket and at that point she's stuck with him. But it soon proves to be a very pleasant experience.Desire was produced by Ernest Lubitsch and directed by Frank Borzage. There's definitely more Lubitsch than Borzage in this film. Borzage normally directed heavy duty romantic tragedies and his favorite leading lady was Margaret Sullavan in films like Three Comrades and The Mortal Storm. It's unusual for someone not die in one of his films. I'm not sure Lubitsch didn't direct a lot of this himself.This was Dietrich and Cooper's second teaming, the first being the far more serious Morocco in which Dietrich made her American film debut. For some reason Desire was something the American movie public wasn't all that crazy about. I'm not sure why it's light and entertaining and should have done better.

if you liked Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise, this is a lesser but still quite enjoyable version. Directed by Borzage and produced by Lubitsch, it is difficult to find but features a marvelous Dietrich and adorable Coop. The opening scenes quickly show you why Paris by Paramount was often considered better than Paris as itself. Charming lines like 'I'm going to put my hand in your pocket' were clever ways to overcome the Hays era constraints. The elegance of the era is well presented here combined with the straight up-ness of the 'good American' culture. There are also poignant references to the oncoming WWII through lines like 'Don't underestimate America, it's a big country', quite prescient since this was still 1936. If you like American Romantic Comedy of the 30's, you will enjoy this film...a shame they don't make 'em like this anymore.