AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

arieliondotcom It's all about getting what you want when you want it. And the message of Bluebeard's Eighth WIfe is to be careful what you wish for, until what you wish for wishes for you.Most men have heard the stories about what happens when your sexual frustration isn't relieved and a certain part of your anatomy turning blue. Misogynistic pirates aside, Cooper plays a very wealthy man who is very accustomed to getting what he wants whenever he wants it, learning only too late that it wasn't what he expected and never learning his lesson until he runs into the feisty Claudette Colbert. Through a twisted (in soul and in practice) business deal, he ends up marring/buying her with the intent of bedding her, but she will have none of it (literally) and frustrates him at every turn, and corner, and room, and tourist attraction.The film has definite French sensibilities which means it has strong double-entendres and boudoir humor for the day and a sharp edge you're not accustomed to (and may not enjoy seeing) in either Cooper or Colbert. The whole reason I watched the film was because they are "likable" actors, and the whole point of this movie is that they're unlikable people, or at least likable people who have developed unlikable traits to protect themselves, they think, from the world. If you can accept it on its own you'll find satisfaction in this witty and sophisticated film...and satisfaction, as we said, is what it's all about. Such a movie with such a cast only comes around, after all, once in a...ummm...blue moon.

MartinHafer I saw this movie again today and decided to re-review it. While I still was not thrilled by the film, I realize that my earlier review was too harsh. I think this occurred since I knew it was an Ernst Lubitsch film and I expected so much more.While the film was directed by the fantastic director, Ernst Lubitsch, it sure lacked the great writing of his more famous films. His films (apart from this one) were well-known for their charm, romance and the "Lubitsch touch"--a way of saying that the movies had a certain something that lifted them to greatness that was beyond words. Some examples of seemingly ordinary plots that were lifted to greatness by his genius would be IF I HAD A MILLION, THE GOOD FAIRY, TROUBLE IN PARADISE, NINOTCHKA, THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER and THE MERRY WIDOW. Second, the film was co-written by another man destined for greatness, Billy Wilder--director of a long list of his own great films. With this esteemed pedigree, I figured it was practically impossible for the film to be anything but marvelous. Boy, was I wrong--this story was one that just shouldn't have been made despite the efforts of the actors to carry it off. All the elements SEEMED right but the overall effort wasn't.The film starred Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert. This was an odd pairing (even odder than Colbert and John Wayne in WITHOUT RESERVATIONS) and the actors just seemed to have little, if any, chemistry between them. Their styles were just too different and Cooper's character was just too unlikable. He played a mega-rich American who had absolute contempt for marriage and fidelity--having gone through seven "quickie" marriages before he even met Colbert. This is a fundamental problem, because a man who is so shallow that he could do this is tough to like as a leading man. Plus, what's romantic about a guy who's already been married seven times? So, when Cooper professes his undying love for Colbert, she and the audience are left to think "who cares?!". How can you detect the Lubitsch touch in such a contrived and unromantic plot? This makes connecting with and caring about Cooper very difficult, though there STILL could have been a decent film beneath this bizarre plot element. However, given that there is little chemistry between them and that the dialog is often quite forced, there just isn't much left to care about or keep your interest. The bottom line is that unless you are a complete old movie zombie (like me), this film is a bitter disappointment--watchable and cute in places, but still nothing like I'd hoped for in a Lubitsch film.

bkoganbing Years before pre-nuptial agreements became a regular thing, Ernest Lubitsch made a screen comedy on which they are the basis. Bluebeard's Eighth Wife involves Gary Cooper as a multi-millionaire living on the French Riviera who's been married seven times and now marries Claudette Colbert for number eight. But Cooper's a good sport about it, he always settles with his ex-wives for a $50,000.00 a year as per an agreement they sign before marrying him. Sounds like what we now call a pre-nuptial agreement.Of course Claudette wants a lot more than that and she feels Cooper takes an entirely too business like approach to marriage. She'd like the real deal and is willing to go some considerable lengths to get it.Bluebeard's Eighth Wife has some really funny moments, the original meeting of Cooper and Colbert in a men's store where Cooper is insisting he wants only pajama tops and Colbert looking for only bottoms. And of course my favorite is Colbert trailing and blackmailing the detective Cooper sends to spy on her. Herman Bing has the best ing role in the film as that selfsame, flustered detective.I've often wondered how back in the day Hollywood could get away with casting so many people who are non-French in a film like this. Of course Cooper is an American and Colbert of the cast is the only one actually of French background. Though David Niven is charming as always, having him be a Frenchman is ludicrous, he is sooooooo British.Nevertheless Bluebeard's Eighth Wife is an enjoyable film and a great example of what was called 'the Lubitsch touch' back in the day.

theowinthrop This film reappeared on channel 13 in the 1990s when they did a series of comedies from Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. In fact, to the tune of "The Jolly Fat Policeman", they had a montage of scenes from the films to introduce the series of people laughing, including one of Gary Cooper chortling when watching a film in a movie house - a sequence from this film.It all begins innocently enough when Cooper, a millionaire, goes into a fancy department store in to buy pajamas. But he only likes to sleep in the tops. The clerk (Tyler Brooke) insists that he cannot sell half a pair of pajamas as Cooper wants. Claudette Colbert hears the argument and offers to help - she only likes to sleep in pajama bottoms. What if Brooke sells them each half? Brooke has never had such an offer before, so he goes to the floor walker (Rolfe Sedan) and asks him if this can be done. He is disturbed too - the request is quite unconventional. Eventually they the store's owner (Charles Halton). Halton is in bed, and gets out - his skinny frame ing only a pajama top (if a suitably long one for the sake of censorship). Can they sell the two customers one set of pajamas (half for each)? Properly horrified, Halton answers, "No, of course not! That is Communism!!". So the sale is not allowed. Apparently nobody thinks that Cooper can buy the total pair and sell half to Colbert.Lubitsch's BLUEBEARD'S EIGHTH WIFE has had a reputation of falling flat, most viewers not liking it because of a misreading of Colbert's character. She is seen as quite mercenary towards Cooper - selling herself to him on her .Actually Cooper's character is the nastier, as he is rich and figures that everything has a price. He is correct most of the time. Look at the way Colbert's aristocratic pauper of a father, Edward Everett Horton, sees his new son-in-law as a golden goose he can use. Cooper's willingness to marry Colbert somehow includes an agreement that if he is hesitant or chooses to not marry her he has to pay damages. Horton, when he realizes this, takes out a watch, and (in a most reassuring voice) says to Cooper - "Take your time my boy!", to come to a decision. Later we see Horton's wardrobe has gotten more modern and fancier.The film, script by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, compares well with their script for Mitchell Leisin's MIDNIGHT (also with Colbert, but with Don Ameche and John Barrymore). There Colbert is willing to sell herself for a money marriage to (to Francis Lederer), but it is complicated by a fictitious marriage to Ameche. She really loves Ameche (a taxi driver) but she explains to him in an unexpectedly realistic moment that her parents married "for love" but poverty made them grow to hate each other. This is not found in BLUEBEARD'S EIGHTH WIFE, where Colbert does not have a background like that (she is, after all, the daughter of a Marquis). Her mercenary plotting is to teach Cooper a lesson about his standards.The film has some nice work by the ing staff, including Herman Bing as a private eye who turns out to be hiding things that Colbert learns about, and a young David Niven, who has a set of choice moments as a stand in punching bag and as a willing ear to Cooper. Coop tells Niven about his problems with Colbert, and how she is so infuriating. Niven listens respectfully. At the end, Cooper is touched by his willingness to hear what he had to say. "Albert, how much do I pay you?", Cooper asks him. Niven thinks and says, "Thirty five francs a week sir.". Cooper looks deeply into his soul, and says (shaking his head), "That's fair!"