Ernst Lubitsch's The Oyster Princess is a sweet and silly story about love, wealth, and mistaken identities. By 1919, the year it was released, Lubitsch had begun to develop his own visual style of storytelling seeped in sophistication. Eventually this would come to be known as the "Lubitsch Touch." The film follows an almost love triangle between a spoiled American heiress, a down-on-his-luck prince, and his long-suffering friend/assistant. The assistant, ordered to vet the heiress, ends up marrying her under the assumed identity of the prince. And from there things go humorously awry. There are two very interesting things about The Oyster Princess. First is Lubitsch's aforementioned visual style. He portrays the household of the American heiress like a mechanized factory: lines of servants robotically carry out commands, the mansion is much too big for its few inhabitants, and everything is mercilessly sterile. I read one observation online that astutely compared a scene where the heiress is bathed by several maids to an automated assembly line. This leads to the second area of interest in The Oyster Princess: the portrayal of Americans. Lubitsch's Old World sensibilities perhaps made it impossible for him to resist poking fun at the New World nouveau riche. At times it is almost impossible to tell whether he is being light-hearted or genuinely malicious towards his American characters. I'm still not sure. Perhaps both. Remember, The Oyster Princess was made one year after America helped defeat Germany in World War One. You make the call.
7/10
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