Directed by Mitchell Leisen
Leisen’s fascination with the nature of identity is clear from the first scene of Easy Living when a sable coat, dropped by a millionaire banker in a fight with his wife, lands on struggling journalist Mary Smith (Arthur). While trying to return the coat, Mary is mistaken for the banker’s mistress and suddenly everyone’s life is turned upside down. In one particularly inspired scene, the machines of an automat go haywire sparking a choreographed delirium worthy of Jacques Tati.
Paramount Pictures, Inc. Producer: Bob Crandall. Screenwriter: Preston Sturges. Cinematographer: Ted Tetzlaff. Editor: Doane Harrison. Cast: Jean Arthur, Ray Milland, Edward Arnold, Luis Alberni, Mary Nash.
35mm, b/w, 88 min.
