The difference between Billy and Lubiechen is that the world in his mind is absurd, he will joke constantly in serious narratives, while Lubitsch's heart is serious, he will reveal truth in absurd narratives. Billy was the Woody Allen of his era, but he was better looking than Woody Allen: he was able to catch you the first time, which is what he learned from Lubitsch, the beginning of Poker King, Douglas sitting in the drag Read the newspaper in the car. He's good at laying out characters with dialogue that's thoughtful and funny, like a lotus-mouthing salesman rather than a grumbling little scholar in Greenwich Village.
I think he was influenced by expressionism, and there is fear in his heart.
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