Three Women

Kolme naista / Tre kvinnor. US (c) 1924 Warner Bros. P+D: Ernst Lubitsch. SC: Hans Kraly - based on the novel The Lilie by Yolanthe Marès. DP: Charles J. Van Enger. AD: Svend Gade. Starring: Pauline Frederick (Mabel Wilton, mother), May McAvoy (Jeanne Wilton, daughter), Marie Prevost (Harriet), Lew Cody (Edmund Lamont), Pierre Gendron (Fred Armstrong). 2414 m /20 fps/ 105 min. George Eastman House, a French print with reconstructed English titles, /20 fps/ 89 min. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 28 Feb 2008. The second film by Lubitsch in his new sophisticated style is not a comedy but a drama of love, sex, money, and ageing, told with a sense of humour. The three women are the mother Mabel who wants to enjoy life, the daughter Jeanne experiencing her first love affairs and even her first marriage, and the good-time girl Harriet. The man linked with them all is the scoundrel Edmund, whom we first see surrounded by flower-girls and in the next scene by creditors. Told with elegantly simple cinematography by Charles Van Enger, with some memorable close-ups (the first shots about scales) and one wild party scenes (The Monkey Bar). A short appearance by Max Davidson as the jeweller.