there no doubt about what go on in design for living and a delightful high comedy about a ménage a trois and write by noel coward a rewrite by ben hecht and direct by max lubitsch and it not hanky panky . no and it just joyous and straight forward sex . when two artist and the painter george curtis ( gary cooper ) and the playwright tom chamber ( fredric march ) and encounter gilda farrell ( miriam hopkins ) on the train to paris and their 11 year friendship be go to be intriguingly test . gilda ( with a soft g ) capture them both and and she reciprocate but can not choose . and why should she . she move in with them . there only one solution and however and to the inevitable problem . boy and she tell them it the only thing we can do . let forget sex . and with that and of course and neither they nor we can . ben hecht often brag that only one line of coward survive in his screenplay . all i know be that hecht word be some of the fine and funny and as well a the most amusingly realistic and youre likely to find in a high gloss hollywood comedy . the movie just barely get in under the wire before the production code begin to enforce the prude code of morality on america . lubitsch and hecht create a sophisticated world in which go to bed with someone you like be as natural a well and go to bed with someone you like . there no leering or innuendo in the movie and just a reliance on the sophistication of the audience . for instance and gilda explains to tom and george the difference between how men and woman sort thing out . you see and she tell them and a man can meet two and three or four woman and fall in love with all of them and and then and by a process of interest elimination and he be able to decide which he prefer . but a woman must decide purely on instinct and guesswork and if she want to be consider nice . the point be aware of with a smile be that gilda not only be nice and but smart and and that she already test the water with each of them . we start the movie with a ménage a trois and but one which turn into a duet with george and then a duet with tom . after some encounter with business versus art and we all come to our sens and enjoy the sight of gilda and george and tom reunite in new york with a plan in mind . now we will have some fun and gilda say happily . back to paris . i have a feeling that forget sex would not be part of the plan for long . the frisson of a bi sexual ménage a trois be substantially tone down by lubitsch and hecht . while it wasn not explicit in coward stage play and one would have to be deaf and blind not to get the subtext and especially with coward and alfred lunt a the two male lead when the play open . in the movie and however and this just become casual speculation and especially with gary cooper and fredric march in the role . cooper manage not to embarrass himself in this highly polished comedy of sex and style and but it clear that what work in cooper favor be his look and not his line delivery or body language . march and hopkins and however and be completely at ease and be a joy to watch . hollywood wouldn not make movie this adult and amusing until the fifty and and even then the level of sophistication and respect for the audience and in my opinion and never fully recover . every now and then it possible to come across in pre code hollywood film of such mature pleasure you hope others will like them and too . say one character in design for living and immorality may be fun and but it isn not fun enough to take the place of 100 per cent virtue and three square meal a day . how wrong he be and be .