Archival Prints! Jon Mirsalis on Piano Forbidden Paradise: Lubitsch reunited with Pola Negri, the star of his best German films, in this brilliant comedy inspired by the amorous intrigues of Catherine the Great of Russia. The setting is updated to a time when bobbed hair and sporting motor cars are in vogue; parallels to other than royal queens are obvious, but despite the satire of movie stars and their off-set activities (most of the scenes are played in the bedroom) Hollywood voted it one of the ten best films of the year. In the book The Lubitsch Touch, Herman G. Weinberg notes, "Negri made a very regal queen who was at the same time a very feline woman; Adolphe Menjou was purest sarcasm as her cynical chamberlain, all too aware of her frailty where men were concerned....Reams have been written about the 'touches' in this one: the officers' revolt against the czarina put down in three quick film shots: the general's hand moving to his sword, the chamberlain's hand pulling out a checkbook, the general's hand loosening from his sword with an 'in that case' gesture....The medal that the lieutenant receives, being the queen's new favorite, which is duplicated on the chests of all the rest of the officers who once also enjoyed that distinction..."