LILIOM (DVD/1.33/B&W/1934) DVD

Liliom
Liliom, Ferenc Molnar's bittersweet fantasy play, was first filmed in Hollywood in 1930, with Charles Farrell as ne'er-do-well carnival barker Liliom and Rose Hobart as his long-suffering wife Julie. While that version is not available for public viewing, the 1935 French-language version directed by Fritz Lang and starring Charles Boyer is currently being offered by several home-video warehouses--albeit in an undubbed, unsubtitled print. Boyer plays Liliom, who runs the carousel at a Budapest amusement park. He impulsively quits his job when he falls in love with mill-worker Julie (Madeleine Ozeray). A terrible husband and provider, Liliom panics when he discovers he's about to become a father. He enters into a get-rich-quick robbery scheme with his unsavory pal Alfred (Alcover), but the plan goes awry. Rather than allow himself to be arrested, Liliom kills himself, whereupon his soul is transported via an art-deco express train to the waiting room of Heaven. A celestial judge determines that Liliom will not get his wings until he returns to earth to do one good deed. Liliom materializes before his now-teenaged daughter, and tries to give her a star that he's stolen from heaven; when she panics, he impulsively slaps her. Considering himself a failure, Liliom wearily heads for Purgatory, but a coda shows that his visit has done a world of good for both his widow and his daughter. Liliom was later musicalized by Rodgers & Hammerstein as Carousel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast Madeleine Ozeray as Julie Charles Boyer as Liliom Pierre Alcover as Alfred Roland Toutain as Sailor Robert Arnoux as Strong Arm Alexandre Rignault as Hollinger Raoul Marco as Detective Antonin Artaud as Knife Grinder

Crew Paul Colin - Art Director René Renoux - Art Director Fritz Lang - Director Jean Lenoir - Composer (Music Score) Franz Waxman - Composer (Music Score) Rudolph Maté - Cinematographer Louis Nee - Cinematographer Erich Pommer - Producer Bernard Zimmer - Screenwriter Robert Liebmann - Screenwriter Fritz Lang - Screenwriter Ferenc Molnar - Play Author Ferenc Molnar - Short Story Author

Liliom
On his way to Hollywood after fleeing the rise of the Nazis, legendary expressionist filmmaker and cynic Fritz Lang dallied in 1933 Paris long enough to make Liliom, the third adaptation of the popular play by Ferenc Molnar that eventually became the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Carousel. Shooting this bizarre Hungarian fantasy as if it were a prequel to M, Lang one-upped the early-talkie Hollywood version by Frank Borzage (1930), and, presumably, a 1919 version left unfinished by another soon-to-be émigré, Michael Curtiz. The tale itself hasn't aged superbly: a womanizing carnival barker (Charles Boyer, before he emigrated) loses his job, shacks up with a starry-eyed maiden (Madeleine Ozeray), and loafs and slaps her around, eventually joining in on a botched robbery to net some cash after he learns his girlfriend is pregnant. After committing suicide, Liliom pleads his thin case before a heavenly court, but is sentenced to purgatory regardless. After 16 years, he's allowed to redeem himself by doing a single good deed on Earth -- but after becoming frustrated trying to convince his teenage daughter that her absentee father was a louse, he ends up belting her, too. Only after both his daughter and his aging girlfriend persist in professing unconditional love for Liliom does he find peace in the next world. Cheesily tragic and full of the effervescent otherworldliness so typical of French films of the early '30s (as in Vigo, Clair, Buńuel, Cocteau, and Renoir), Liliom has the dusty charm of a cluttered granny attic, and Boyer is aggressively engaging. But it's difficult to get around the fact that the film comes across today as something of an apologia for spousal abuse, to the extent that spiritual/moral redemption can be had if the victims refuse to emotionally prosecute. Given the long legacy of Molnar's play in 20th-century culture (it was first performed in 1909, and Carousel saw a major revival in the 1990s, culminating with Time labeling it the "Best Musical of the Century"), it's an impossible movie to dismiss, although the PC-minded will try. ~ Michael Atkinson, All Movie Guide
 

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General Specifications: Language Options: French Subtitle Options: English Sound Processing: Additional Features: none specified DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1: Pre-1954 Standard MPAA Rating: DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: Content Length: 116 min   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- 1. The Hippo-Palace [:09] 2. "Out of Commission!" [:18] 3. Seducer of Maids [9:06] 4. Julie's Hooligan [10:01] 5. Police Station [9:00] 6. The Isle of Love [5:22] 7. Mrs. Muskat's Offer [7:37] 8. "A Baby!" [7:41] 9. Alfred's Plan [10:43] 10. Last Words [7:47] 11. Paradise Police Station [6:04] 12. Justice [8:57] 13. Purgatory [8:39] 14. "Incorrigible!" [7:13]