I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed in this film, for though it is lacking punch overall, it does contain a couple subtle nuggets of enjoyment that offer a glimmer of insight into what the director would eventually be capable of creating. That said, it was a step down from his previous effort, Where Is My Treasure?, and not a film I imagine I will rewatch any time soon.
The most disconcerting thing about the film is that Lubitsch, who again is both director and star of his film, is playing Pinkus, a schoolboy. While he was 24 at the time, he looks a lot older to me. Before checking his age I assumed he was close to 40. He certainly looks out of place in the classroom scene, where he’s sitting amongst actual children. It’s kind of creepy, to be honest. The same goes for the scenes of him flirting with the schoolgirls. It was hard to suspend my disbelief and accept he was meant to be another teen, and I kept viewing it as if an old lech was infiltrating a school.
In any event, the film begins with Lubitsch as a schoolboy who is expelled for cheating. He starts looking for a job, and eventually lands one in a shoe store. He’s fired for acting inappropriately towards a female customer— he tickles her feet while helping her try on shoes— but saves his job at the last second by helping a demanding customer while the boss watches. One of the major themes of the film is his behavior towards women. Throughout the film he’s flirting with woman, and generally acting inappropriately, though never getting anywhere with them. He finally has a moment of realization after he flirts with a fellow employee, and walks with her while carrying her bag only to end up bringing her to her husband or boyfriend, with whom she walks off. He feels chagrined that he carried her parcel, and realizes what a sap he’s been.
His life changes when he tricks his boss into delivering used, dirty shoes to the demanding customer he’d helped earlier. It turns out she’s some sort of wealthy heiress. Pinkus had hoped to deliver them as the two of them had flirted a bit with one another, but his boss, something of a flirtatious type himself, decided to do it himself. When he’s humiliated by presenting the dirty shoes, our boy Pinkus shows up with the correct shoes. After chastening his boss by reminding him that he should be thinking about his wife, Pinkus brings the shoes to the customer. She is delighted, and takes a liking to him. She suggests he open his own shoe store. He explains that has no money to do that, and she promptly gives him 30,000 marks, the equivalent of about $150,000 in today’s money. He’s in business, and Pinkus’ Shoe Palace is born.
He hosts a fashion show, and seems to behave himself amongst all the female models, suggesting he really did learn from his earlier mistakes. The local papers write up the shop with glowing reviews, and the money starts rolling in. In the final scene, Pinkus returns to his benefactor to repay the loan, and suggests that rather than repaying her, they could marry, and “keep it in the family.” She agrees, and they presumably live happily ever after.
I watched this on a Blu-ray. It’s an extra feature on the Criterion Blu-Ray of Lubitch’s 1942 Film to Be or Not to Be.
Next I’m watching Sherlock Holmes [1916], directed by Arthur Berthelet.
Shoe Palace Pinkus (May 1916)