Samson Raphaelson was a screenwriter and playwright, who worked on nine films with Ernst Lubitsch, including Trouble in Paradise, The Shop Around the Corner and Heaven Can Wait. He also collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock on Suspicion. He is the author of the play The Jazz Singer. Ernst Lubitsch, the King of Comedy Ernst Lubitsch ( Berlin, January 28, 1892 â November 30, 1947 in Hollywood), was a German-born film director. ... Trouble in Paradise is a 1932 romantic comedy film which tells the story of a master thief who meets up with a beautiful pickpocket. ... The Shop Around the Corner is a 1940 film which tells the story of two people who work together in a shop who cant stand each other, not knowing that theyve been conducting a love affair anonymously by mail. ... Heaven Can Wait is a 1943 comedy film which tells the story of a man who has to prove he belongs in Hell by telling his life story. ... Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, (13 August 1899 â 29 April 1980) was a British film director closely associated with the suspense genre. ... Suspicion DVD cover Suspicion (1941) is a film noir directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine as a married couple. ... The Jazz Singer is a 1927 U.S. movie notable for being the first talking motion picture to be widely commercially distributed. ...
Though the dialogue at first seems dated, Raphaelson's script is actually a masterpiece of characterization, with stylized dialogue designed to stereotype each character in the viewer's mind.
A 30-minute episode of Bill Moyers's 1982 PBS series profiles legendary writer SamsonRaphaelson, who, at the time, was still teaching writing in his mid-80s.
Raphaelson's wit had not dulled, and his ruminations on the craft of writing are worth the price of admission as he cuts through the theoretical nonsense and gets to the heart of story and what makes a writer worth his or her salt.