BY STEVE RAMOS

Muhammed Ali, The Greatest

Lubitsch and Klein: Two Unlike Geniuses
Muhammad Ali, The Greatest
Unrated
1964-74, Facets

Trouble in Paradise
Unrated
1932, Criterion

Unhappy moviegoers who walk out of bland romantic farces like Two Weeks Notice and Maid in Manhattan would be wise to reintroduce themselves to Trouble in Paradise, Ernst Lubitsch's smart and sexy 1932 comedy. The 1939 Greta Garbo comedy, Ninotchka, and his 1940 Margaret Sullivan/Jimmy Stewart romance, The Shop Around the Corner, might be better known, but neither of those fine films can match the screwball sparkle of Trouble in Paradise. An adaptation of the Laszlo Aladar play The Honest Finder, Trouble in Paradise follows the misadventures of a love-struck trio of his-and-her jewel thieves Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall) and Lily (Miriam Hopkins) and their wealthy target, perfume industrialist Mariette Colet (Kay Francis). Gaston plans his scam to the smallest detail, but he never anticipated falling in love with his target.

Trouble in Paradise looks stunning thanks to a new digital transfer and restored images. The DVD's best bonus feature is Lubitsch's 1917 German short film, The Merry Jail, a comedy that's even rowdier than his later Hollywood work.

Trouble in Paradise is one of six collaborations between Lubitsch and screenwriter Samson Raphaelson, and its twisting plot and scenes of unexpected romance continue to resonate. The film brims with verbal wit, precise comic timing, lush visuals and sophistication. More importantly, Lubitsch made it before Hollywood became entangled with censorship. As a result, Trouble in Paradise is sexier than later films that relied totally on innuendo for generating sparks.

Lubitsch directed 14 features in Germany before coming to America to direct Mary Pickford in Rosita (1923). He made the transition from silent pictures to sound with a number of romantic musicals starring Maurice Chevalier. Still, his bawdy, middle-class comedies -- films like To Be or Not To Be and The Marriage Circle -- are what continue to attract notice. Trouble in Paradise remains his greatest film and, considering his body of work, that's a high compliment.

Artist and photographer William Klein began filming Muhammad Ali in 1964, when he was still known as Cassius Clay. He continued shooting footage of the celebrity boxer until 1974's Ali-George Foreman title bout in Zaire. The resulting footage helped create Klein's spirited documentary Muhammad Ali, The Greatest, a film that captures the political and revolutionary thoughts behind Ali's actions. Klein does not pretend to be objective in his reporting, and that's part of the film's strength. Muhammad Ali, The Greatest is intentionally skewered; emphasizing scenes of Nation of Islam leaders Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan over fight footage. While the better-known Ali documentary, When We Were Kings (1996), focuses primarily on the Ali-Foreman match in Zaire, Klein takes a larger view of the celebrity athlete and makes a place for him in American political history.

Born in New York City in 1928 into a family of poor Jewish immigrants, Klein studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. Abstract paintings and murals on movable panels comprised his early artwork. Later he developed an avant-garde method of out-of-focus photography, wide angles and high-contrast prints. His photography books Rome (1960), Moscow (1964) and Tokyo (1964) earned him the reputation as the anti-photographer's photographer. From 1965 to the early 1980s, Klein abandoned photography and concentrated on film, making documentaries like Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther and surreal features like Who Are You Polly Maggoo?, about a young female model at the Paris fashion shows. His latest film, the 1999 documentary Messiah, is made up of a series of vignettes about people around the world who sing Handel's Messiah.

Klein has always been an arts rebel, and that rebellious spirit lies at the heart of Muhammad Ali, The Greatest. Klein's photography mostly deals with everyday street scenes and ordinary people. With this film Klein matches his edgy methodology with a subject as unique and passionate as himself. Theirs is a pairing that was destined for greatness.

Muhammad Ali, The Greatest grade: A.

Trouble in Paradise grade: A.

E-mail Steve Ramos

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