An Ernst Lubitsch comedy, co-scripted by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, which has always been generally dismissed by critics and fans alike. Perhaps with the film's reputation as a lesser effort those who sit down to view it will be pleasantly surprised to find it an agreeable affair, anyway.Gary Cooper plays a seven times married American businessman millionaire who finds that with wife no. 8 (Claudette Colbert) he may have met his match. She has made him agree to a pre nuptial agreement of paying her $100,000 should there be a divorce and then makes him spend much of the marriage unhappy and wishing he hadn't signed that agreement.While the film is never as funny or clever as the best of Lubitsch, it still has its moments. The film is remembered primarily for the scene in which Colbert and Cooper "meet cute" as they agree to split a pair of pajamas in a department store.But there are other moments, too, such as the scene in which Cooper, inspired by having just read Taming of the Shrew, bursts out of his room, walks with great macho determination and accompanying soundtrack drum roll down a hallway, enters a room where Colbert stands and slaps her across the face. She responds by slapping him back and Cooper, perplexed by this unexpected turn of events, leaves the room, walks back through that same hallway to his room again and picks up the book to try to figure out what he did wrong.Like all Lubitsch productions this film has a graceful air of sophistication, with a physical elegance in its sets and photography. Colbert is an old hand at frothy material like this while Cooper, cast against type, plays his role with obvious enthusiasm. He's a far cry from the Cooper we're used to seeing on screen in the scene in which he plays a piano while singing "Looky, looky, looky, Here comes Cookie" to Claudette. The supporting cast is first rate, all of them deft performers: a young David Niven, and old pro character actors Edward Everett Horton and Herman Bing.English mangling, beer barrel shaped Herman Bing is the unlikeliest of detectives, hired by Cooper to follow his wife to see if she has any lovers. "Don't forget," he tells the millionaire, "we are a first class firm. You will find that out when you get our bill." Recommended as middling production code era Paramount fare.

Who wouldn't like a movie with Gary Cooper? Or one with Claudette Colbert? Or one directed by Ernst Lubitsch? Who wouldn't like a comedy film written by Billy Wilder? The answers to all of these questions would be very few people (among movie fans who have seen a body of work dating from the early years of Hollywood). So, when one film has all of these great talents involved in it, well … most of us would probably expect the spectacular. Unfortunately, "Bluebeard's Eighth Wife" is far from the mark. It's not bad, but it's not much better than mediocre. I am a little surprised that a few reviewers scored it a 10. But, with leveler heads, others noted some of the things I did about this film. Oh sure, it has some witty lines and scenes. In the opening we see Michael Brandon (played by Cooper) looking in a store window in what looked to me to be Nice, France. A sign welcomes people in different languages. A sign in Spanish, German, French and English reads that that language is spoken here. A fifth line, after English, reads, "American understood." Then, as Brandon walks through the store, a salesman tries to interest him in one product after another. Walking beside him with a men's cologne bottle, the salesman says, "It's the contention of our management that the man who smells is a thing of the future." To which Brandon replies, "You ought to go a long way." But after that, the clever and funny lines are few and far between. The next scene in the store is where Brandon and Nicole De Loiselle (played by Claudette Colbert) meet. It is amusing but not hilarious. And, from then on, the attempts at humor are mostly one-liners with no response. Cooper is very stiff and wooden in this film, and there is absolutely no chemistry between these two stars. Colbert is Colbert – a very good actress at whatever she puts her heart into. But when the script is poor, as this one is, one actor is not going to save a film. The characters are not matched well, and the direction is lacking. One other reviewer commented on the weak premise for this film, and I agree. That could have been part of why the film flopped at the box office. But, moviegoers in that day knew good actors and directors and writers, and so they probably expected something very good. I give this five stars for Colbert's performance and that of the supporting cast, especially Edward Everett Horton as her movie father. David Niven's part was OK, but in a couple of scenes, he seemed to be an afterthought of the screenwriter. I can see how some viewers felt bored about half way into the film. It did stretch out far too much, probably losing much of the audience interest at the point. For some top Hollywood people of the time, Bluebeard would have to rank toward the bottom of their portfolios.

I saw this movie again today and decided to re-review it. While I still was not thrilled by the film, I realize that my earlier review was too harsh. I think this occurred since I knew it was an Ernst Lubitsch film and I expected so much more.While the film was directed by the fantastic director, Ernst Lubitsch, it sure lacked the great writing of his more famous films. His films (apart from this one) were well-known for their charm, romance and the "Lubitsch touch"--a way of saying that the movies had a certain something that lifted them to greatness that was beyond words. Some examples of seemingly ordinary plots that were lifted to greatness by his genius would be IF I HAD A MILLION, THE GOOD FAIRY, TROUBLE IN PARADISE, NINOTCHKA, THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER and THE MERRY WIDOW. Second, the film was co-written by another man destined for greatness, Billy Wilder--director of a long list of his own great films. With this esteemed pedigree, I figured it was practically impossible for the film to be anything but marvelous. Boy, was I wrong--this story was one that just shouldn't have been made despite the efforts of the actors to carry it off. All the elements SEEMED right but the overall effort wasn't.The film starred Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert. This was an odd pairing (even odder than Colbert and John Wayne in WITHOUT RESERVATIONS) and the actors just seemed to have little, if any, chemistry between them. Their styles were just too different and Cooper's character was just too unlikable. He played a mega-rich American who had absolute contempt for marriage and fidelity--having gone through seven "quickie" marriages before he even met Colbert. This is a fundamental problem, because a man who is so shallow that he could do this is tough to like as a leading man. Plus, what's romantic about a guy who's already been married seven times? So, when Cooper professes his undying love for Colbert, she and the audience are left to think "who cares?!". How can you detect the Lubitsch touch in such a contrived and unromantic plot? This makes connecting with and caring about Cooper very difficult, though there STILL could have been a decent film beneath this bizarre plot element. However, given that there is little chemistry between them and that the dialog is often quite forced, there just isn't much left to care about or keep your interest. The bottom line is that unless you are a complete old movie zombie (like me), this film is a bitter disappointment--watchable and cute in places, but still nothing like I'd hoped for in a Lubitsch film.

Gary Cooper, (Michael Brandon) played the role as an American millionaire who had seven bad marriages, but always divorced his wife's with plenty of money to live on. Michael is in Paris on business and goes into a French Department Store to buy a pair of pajama tops and the sales people refuse to sell him just the tops, he has to buy the bottoms or there is no sale. Nicole DeLoiselle, (Claudette Colbert) listens to this conversation and offers to buy the bottom of these pajama's. Michael becomes very interested in Nicole and they have occasion to meet and go on dates. It is not too long before Michael proposes marriage to Nicole and she is very taken back with his request for marriage since she really does not know him very well. However, once she finds out she is going to become the Eighth wife of Michael she begins to change her mind and this story becomes quite entertaining and funny. Don't miss this film, it is great entertainment by great veteran actors. Enjoy.