Critics’ Picks: ‘Trouble in Paradise’

It doesn’t get much better than the lightning-fast, perfectly timed tête-à-tête of two charming cons in director Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 delight “Trouble in Paradise,” which kicks off LACMA’s July tribute to the great comic mind at the Bing Theatre on Friday night. The film is breathless fun as Miriam Hopkins’ Lily and Herbert Marshall’s Gaston flirt their way toward disaster, relieving the unsuspecting of pocket watches, jewelry and cash with the slightest sleights of hand. Trouble comes in the form of the rich and lovely Madam Mariette Colet (Kay Francis), whose fleecing could set them up for life, that is if Gaston doesn’t fall in love first. Setting the stage for this whirlwind of “Trouble” will be Lubitsch’s daughter Nicola — what fun.

— Betsy Sharkey