Design for Living is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by Ernst Lubitsch from a screenplay by Ben Hecht, based on the 1932 play of the same name by Noël Coward. Starring Fredric March, Gary Cooper, and Miriam Hopkins, the film is about a woman who cannot decide between two men who love her, and the trio agree to try living together in a platonic friendly relationship.
Criticism was mixed, with some critics praising the film, but many were ambivalent about its great departure from Coward's play. Coward said, "I'm told that there are three of my original lines left in the film—such original ones as 'Pass the mustard'." The film was a box office success, ranking as one of the top ten highest-grossing films of 1933. All three of the lead actors—March, Cooper, and Hopkins—received attention from this film as they were all at the peak of their careers.
Plot
While en route to Paris via train, commercial artist Gilda Farrell meets artist George Curtis and playwright Thomas Chambers, fellow Americans who share an apartment in the French capital. Gilda works for advertising executive Max Plunkett, who has had no success in his efforts to engage her in a romantic relationship. Tom and George each realize the other is in love with Gilda, and although they agree to forget her, they cannot resist her when she comes to visit. Unable to choose between the two, she proposes she live with them as a friend, muse, and critic—with the understanding they will not have sex.
Gilda arranges for a producer to read Tom's play and he goes to London to oversee the staging of his work. During his absence, Gilda and George become involved romantically and sexually, much to Tom's chagrin. Months later, Tom bumps into Max at the theatre. Max tells him that George has become highly successful as a portrait artist. Tom returns to Paris and discovers George has vacated their apartment and moved into a penthouse with Gilda. With George in Nice painting a portrait, Gilda and Tom rekindle their affair.
George returns and, realizing his former roommate and current lover have been trysting while he was away, orders the two to get out. Gilda decides to end the men's rivalry by marrying Max in Manhattan, but she is so upset when she receives potted plants from her former beaux that she cannot consummate the marriage. When Max hosts a party for his advertising clients, Tom and George crash the event and hide in Gilda's bedroom. Max finds the three laughing on the bed and orders the men out; a brawl ensues, prompting all the guests to depart. Gilda announces she is leaving her husband, and she, Tom, and George decide to return to Paris and their unusual living arrangement.
Cast
Fredric March as Tom Chambers
Gary Cooper as George Curtis
Miriam Hopkins as Gilda Farrell
Edward Everett Horton as Max Plunkett
Franklin Pangborn as Mr. Douglas
Isabel Jewell as Max's stenographer
Jane Darwell as George's housekeeper
Wyndham Standing as Max's butler
Production
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Coward wrote a succession of popular hit plays. On Broadway, Design for Living was a popular and critical hit starring Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lunt and Coward, and its risqué ménage-à-trois theme made it controversial. Design for Living was one of more than a dozen of Coward's plays made into feature films.
Ernst Lubitsch initially asked Samson Raphaelson to write the screenplay, but he had no interest in adapting Coward. The director then turned to Ben Hecht, and they opted for a loose adaptation of Coward's plot, completely rewriting the play. In the original, the three main characters were sophisticated, urbane and cynical. Hecht changed the men's names, and the trio became naïve and exuberant, living the bohemian life worry-free in the middle of the Great Depression.
Lubitsch hoped to cast Ronald Colman and Leslie Howard as the male leads, but Colman demanded too much money and Howard didn't want to risk comparisons to the play's original cast. The director originally cast Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as George, but the actor contracted pneumonia and had to withdraw just before filming began, and he was replaced by Gary Cooper. Lubitsch cast Paramount contract player Fredric March as Tom. According to the New York State Writers Institute website, a highlight of the film is the scene where, while struggling at his playwriting, he begs Miriam Hopkins, as Gilda, to smack him between the shoulder blades. Gilda was a role well-tailored for Hopkins' talents. Comic character actors Edward Everett Horton and Franklin Pangborn completed the principal cast.
