Almost anyone writing about Lubitsch, from a journalistic or academic perspective, invokes “The Lubitsch Touch” as shorthand for some elusive quality that sets this director's work apart. The phrase is vague and usually not very helpful. Anyone who knows what it means already knows Lubitsch, and for someone who does not know Lubitsch, the phrase explains little. It is not likely, however, to go away, and for that reason it might be helpful to end by trying to pin it down just a little, both in terms of its meaning and its origins.

There is a popular impression that the Lubitsch Touch usually indicates a moment of sophisticated sexual innuendo, but in fact commentators tend to imply something more general. Even though Lubitsch is today far less known to the public than Hitchcock, Ford, or Hawks, filmmakers tend to retain an enormous amount of respect and affection for him. Peter Bogdanovich made this stab at defining the Touch:

Billy Wilder was a bit more specific: