Ernst Lubitsch is the guiding hand behind "Bluebeard's Eighth Wife," a 1938 comedy starring Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper. The screenplay was written with a light touch by Brackett and Wilder.

The story concerns a wealthy man, Michael Brandon (Cooper),who meets the very attractive Nicole De Loiselle (Colbert) in a Parisian men's department store. Brandon wants to buy the top of the pajamas, as that's what he sleeps in, but the clerk insists that he buy the entire set. Nicole enters and buys the pants.

Nicole's father (Edward Everett Horton) is a penniless marquis, trying to sell a project to Brandon, who isn't interested. The marquis then attempts to get him to buy a Louis IV bathtub. When he realizes that Nicole is the marquis' daughter, the marquis sees immediately that there is interest and tries to get them together. After all, he's loaded, and the hotel bill is due.

Finally, the couple does become engaged and of course the marquis brings in his entire family at his expense for the wedding. While everyone is gathering for a photograph, some white stuff falls out of Michael's suit. "What is that?" she asks. "It's rice," he says. "Don't you use it at weddings? It's supposed to bring good luck." "Did your bride and groom have good luck?" she asks. "Well," he says, "we had a pleasant six months."

She then finds out he's been married seven times. After renegotiating some sort of prenup he has set up, she goes through with the wedding, but they live separate lives.

For some reason, people put this film in the same category as I Met Him in Paris because they're on the same DVD and they both take place in Paris. I Met Him in Paris is not a Lubitsch film and has some problems. This film has a fine script, zips along at a great pace, and has some wonderful scenes. I Met Him in Paris didn't really pick up until the second part.

Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert are delightful. It's hard to believe that someone like Gary Cooper actually existed - tall, drop dead gorgeous, and a cowboy to boot. Talk about your perfect man. And what a smile.

Colbert is flawless in acting and in beauty - I saw her up close in 1974 and she looked the same as she did in this film. For as much success that she had, I don't think she ever received the credit for her dramatic work that she deserved, though she did for her comedy.

In her last appearance, in The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, she played an actual person, Elsie Woodward (name changed in the movie),and people who knew Elsie said Colbert was totally the character.

I don't think this is Lubitsch's best, but it's still delightful. How can you miss with those stars, that director, and those writers.

David Niven has a supporting role as an employee of Brandon's who is also a friend of Nicole's. He's very funny.

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.

Claudette Colbert. Gary Cooper. Edward Everett Horton. The great Ernst Lubitsch, with one of the most distinctive directing styles of any director that even has its own name as director. Billy Wilder, a terrific director himself, with a writing credit. That the 30s is one of my favourite decades in film and 'Bluebeard's Eighth Wife' in type of story sounded like something that would be enjoyable to me. So the potential was quite large, the potential for it to be great.

'Bluebeard's Eighth Wife', having said all of that, could have been a lot better. Great potential with enough to recommend but for my personal tastebuds it doesn't completely come off and for Lubitsch it is quite a big disappointment, especially considering that it came from a very good period for him. But not because it didn't try, it and everyone involved, very much did try. If anything this was a case of trying too hard. While one can totally see what Colbert's appeal was watching her performance here, this is not a good representation of Cooper.

There are good things. It is beautifully filmed and do love Colbert's wardrobe, she always did look lovely in her films. It is scored with the right amount of energy and lushness. There are signs of brilliance in Lubitsch's direction and his uniquely deft mix of wit and sophisticated elegance. The script does boast some wonderfully witty lines, and as others have said 'Bluebeard's Eighth Wife' has some great moments too. The biggest delights being Colbert's drunk scene and especially the opening sequence. The slapping scene is surprisingly clever and amusing for something that could have easily been distasteful.

Furthermore Colbert is terrific, she radiates on screen, her comic timing is on point. Horton as always steals his scenes, comedy comes so easy to him. Likewise with Herman Bing.

Did think however that there were too many times where the humour could have been sharper and even more subtle. As said, other efforts of Lubitsch and Wilder show off their different styles more. Wilder is usually more consistently wittier than this and Lubitsch's elegant touch is not quite as elegant to usual. As said, there were times where it does feel like 'Bluebeard's Eighth Wife' was trying too hard which made the story particularly later on feel contrived.

Namely towards the end where the material lost its freshness, and actually though that the treatment of David Niven (doing his best in the wrong role)'s character was on the mean-spirited side. Cooper seemed too amiable to me in playing a character meant to be a jerk and he doesn't look at ease. A few nice moments aside, like their first scene, their chemistry doesn't quite gel properly.

Altogether, watchable but disappointing. 5/10