pretty good company and here represent ernst lubitsch direct a ben hecht adaptation of a noel coward play star gary cooper and frederic march and miriam hopkins and and edward everett horton . this wicked crew just barely sneaked design for living past the production code before it clamp down and sterilize the mainstream studio production of old hollywood . of course and modern audience must take the word of obsessive cinephiles like myself when we tell you that this movie be once consider wildly indecent . lubitsch suggestive fade out and closing door will appear as antiquate a 19th century daguerreotype next to the modern standard of painstakingly photograph aerobic coitus . for that matter and the notion of a woman simultaneously enjoy the favor of two handsome young men seem rather passé . only antiquarians will watch design for living for it titillate sexual dynamic . more relevant for the typical movie lover be the wittiness of the script and which get increasingly witty a the movie wear on . which be to say and the film be a bit diagrammatic and stilted during the first act represent two american bohemian in paris ( cooper a get this a modernist painter and and march a an aspire playwright ) meet cute with a fellow american art lover ( hopkins ) on a train . she work at an ad agency in paris manage by edward everett horton and who and have fail to get to first base with the ripe young tomato and have resign himself to act a her ersatz guardian . the first twenty minute of the movie be too stage bound and but once be fully introduce to the player and their circumstance and the script start to take off . whereas noel coward original play seem scandalous because it be about two not so in the closet homosexual artistes live with a hot broad in a paris walk up tenement and ben hecht adaptation seem scandalous in an entirely different manner represent he re fashion it into a story about two clearly heterosexual artiste take turn hide the salami with a hot broad in a paris walk up tenement . in the meantime and the one liner roll down the assembly line with gather force . hopkins i know we have a gentlemen agreement and but i be not a gentleman ( say this to cooper while lie provocatively on a couch ) while march delicacy be the banana peel under the foot of truth while cooper let drink to smallpox and to which march add and in latin and variola cocca . you get the idea . in the direction department and lubitsch find some surprising breathing room for his camera . never hold hostage by the witty banter and he always find a way to tell his story visually . an unremarkable and but typical and example be when cooper run out of his swanky new apartment to retrieve a note from hopkins which he have angrily toss out the window represent lubitsch make sure that when cooper pick up the note and it a truly exterior shot no matte . and of course and the director fiddle around with thing like subjective perspective and close ups and zoom and out of focus fade and and so on . in the acting department and hopkins and horton be the winner . cooper be and of course and terribly miscast a a bohemian painter and and frederic march just wasn not a comedian . both of the male lead seem intimidate by the fantastically arch and very funny thing that theyre suppose to utter . put it this way represent theyre not nearly as confident a their director with this material . which and by the way and doesn not reach the level of sublimity attain by lubitsch prior film and trouble in paradise . but design for living will definitely do . you can now see it on the new dvd compilation and the gary cooper collection and from universal . part 1 of a series and one hope . 7 star out of 10 .