Lili

:See lilin for the Hebrew demons.

Lili (the movie)

The movie was based on a story by Paul Gallico, considerably adapted by Helen Deutsch, and was later made into a stage musical, Carnival! starring Anna Maria Alberghetti.

Related Topics:
Paul Gallico - Helen Deutsch - Carnival! - Anna Maria Alberghetti

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It won the Academy Award for Original Music Score and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Leslie Caron), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color, Best Cinematography, Color, Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay.

Related Topics:
Academy Award for Original Music Score - Best Actress in a Leading Role - Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color - Best Cinematography, Color - Best Director - Best Writing, Screenplay

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Leslie Caron and Mel Ferrer's rendition of "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" was released as a record, and became a minor hit, reaching a respectable #30 on 1953's charts.

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Bosley Crowther, reviewing the movie at it opening, had nothing but praise for the movie, rejoicing that "at last" Leslie Caron's "simplicity and freshness... have been captured again in the film." He showers other encomia on Caron, calling "elfin," "winsome," the "focus of warmth and appeal," praising her "charm," "grace," "beauty," and "vitality." He said screenwriter Helen Deutsch had "put together a frankly fanciful reomance with clarity, humor, and lack of guile," and admires the choreographer, sets, music, and title song.

Related Topics:
Bosley Crowther - Leslie Caron

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The movie is not universally liked, though; Paulene Kael called it a "sickly whimsy" and refer to Mel Ferrer's "narcissistic, masochistic smiles."

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Since the puppets are almost Caron's co-stars, it is odd that few reviews of the film even mention puppeteers Walton and O'Rourke, famous in puppeteering circles. They mostly did cabaret work, did not appear on television, and Lili is the only known filmed record of their work. For the film, Walton and O'Rourke made the puppets; George Latshaw manipulated Carrot Top; Wolo manipulated Golo the Giant; and Walton and O'Rourke manipulated Marguerite and Reynardo.

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Story summary

Lili, rendered homeless by circumstances, contemplates suicide and is dissuaded by the friendly intervention of four puppets in a carnival puppet theatre. In her naïve simplicity, she relates directly to the puppets, seemingly unaware of the existence of a puppeteer. She becomes a part of the show. Her simple, direct interaction with the puppets, and their improvised responses in return, are a great success with audiences.

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The puppeteer, played by Mel Ferrer, is gruff and emotionally cold. He falls in love with Lili, but can express his feelings only through the puppets. His situation is complicated by Lili's infatuation with a handsome magician in the carnival, played by Jean-Pierre Aumont, who (it is implied) seduces Lili. In a dream-ballet sequence, Lili competes with the magician's sophisticated and attractive assistant, played by Zsa Zsa Gabor. The puppeteer's genial assistant and friend, played by Kurt Kasznar, helps the puppeteer accept and deal with his own feelings.

Related Topics:
Mel Ferrer - Jean-Pierre Aumont - Zsa Zsa Gabor - Kurt Kasznar

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When Lili discovers that the magician has only been toying with her and is actually married to his assistant, Lili leaves the carnival. On the road out of town, she falls asleep and, in a dream, dances with each of the puppets she loves, now enlarged to human scale. To her shock, each one dissolves into the figure of the puppeteer and fades. Realizing finally that her bond with the puppets is really a bond with the puppeteer, she runs back to the carnival and to a happy ending.

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