牡蛎公主 (1919)

　　戲名難免使人聯想到食色「性」也，但慾望的對象？對不起，卻是個男兒。美國蠔業大王有個刁蠻女，一天覺得自己非要嫁人不可，被媒人相中的落難歐洲王子派出心腹試探虛實，蠔女一聲多謝馬上拉去註冊結婚，當晚大排筵席，酒飽飯醉後只差沒半點洞房動機。直至窮王子真人現眼前，慾望傾瀉得一發不可收拾。女性情慾在劉別謙筆下從來都很坦然和直接，蠔女這荷里活女性原型，令後來者亦甘拜下風。揶揄資本家與消費社會的大場面可觀亦抵死，筆觸細膩幽默。劉別謙第二部長片，是他打造品牌之作，驚人的成熟導技令人擊節復感動。 　　 　　Everything Lubitsch learned about the art of comedy in his German period comes to a grand summation in this saber-sharp satire on the crass materialism of America's nouveau riche, and the pompous airs of the declining European aristocracy. Ossi, daughter of the oyster tycoon (but more like Attila the Hun than an heiress), demands a prince when the Shoe-cream King's daughter lands a count. Prince Nucky is chosen for his title and his debts. But when he sends his bald friend Josef to call on Ossi, he is mistaken for the prince. What follows is the most Gargantuan wedding feast ever filmed, with an assembly of 300 hired waiters and a peevish subversion of gender roles. 　　 　　Source: 28th HKIFF