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Moulin Rouge
Great fun to see this exellent film about Touluse-Lautrec again.
Can recommend this film to all lovers of Paris.
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Ugly side of artistic genius (recommended)
Not to be confused with the Nicole Kidman version of MOULIN ROUGE! (2001), this 1952 fictional portrait dramatizes love in the life of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (José Ferrer). MOULIN ROUGE will stir emotions from pity to disgust. Hopefully without giving away too much, you may even notice a familiar plot borrowed from Bette Davis' early work OF HUMAN BONDAGE (1934).
A wealthy heir's life is dramatically altered by a childhood accident that leaves him crippled, estranged, cynical, and alcohol dependent. Through his adversity, a co-dependant relationship between the unseemly backstreet life of France and a prolific artist is nurtured. Ever on guard against emotional attachment and the bitter pain to which it routinely leads, articulate Lautrec fails to recognize genuine love.
Ferrer convincingly plays the dual role as diminutive Toulouse and his own stately father. It didn't seem dubbed so I was surprised to later read that a black burlesque showgirl in the movie, Aicha (Muriel Smith), provides the singing voice for brief, mostly annoying, appearances by Zsa Zsa Gabor. It is difficult to call a sad movie "good" but that is a fair depiction of MOULIN ROUGE. Prepare yourself for the ugly side of artistic genius.
Movie quote: "Only Leonardo could have painted that smile; she smiles with her eyes!" "I don't care if she smiles with her navel, that still doesn't say that Da Vinci painted it."
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what a movie
the best movie ever made about montmartre,the moulin rouge and toulouse lautrec.
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Elegantly Debauched Life, Whimsically Portrayed Death
Through John Huston's directorial talents, the colors of Toulouse-Lautrec's palette are duly celebrated as he recreates the night life of fin-de-ciecle Paris.
Our story begins at the famous nightclub in 1890, the year after its opening, where can-can girls and a few professinal male dancers compete for customers' attentions and occassionally brawl with each other.
Serenely sitting at a table sipping cognac and sketching the scene is Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the physically deformed son of a noble family, whose condition causes him to empathize with societal outcastes,played with all the elegance of the nobility by Jose Ferrer, who, in a dual role, also portrays the artist's father.
Before the last can-can of the evening, the raucous behavior of those on the dance floor is broken up by the appearance of Jane Avril(the always-exquisite Zsa-Zsa Gabor), who sings a ballad that sounds as hopeful as it is melancholy. Muriel Smith, who plays the exotic Aicha, provided Gabor's singing voice.One inaccuracy of the film is that Avril was the only dancer of the Moulin Rouge allowed to wear colored underwear.
As the artist walks home down the dark, foreboding streets, fending off a potential pickpocket, and passing by one lady of the night beforehand, the audience reviews his early life; once expected to carry the traditions of his ancient family into the future, fate dealt him a cruel blow when an accident( in reality, two accidents within two years) revealed a genetic condition that stunted the growth of his legs. Rejection by the girl he loved drove him to make his life elsewhere.
He saves prostitute Marie Charlet(Colette Marchand) from arrest, and shelters her, but suffers because of her ingratitude, then becomes even more unhappy when he tries to part with her. Depressed, he drinks even more heavily to the point where even his mother, Adele(Claude Nollier)encourages a reconciliation in the hope that he will not drink himself to death. But the reunion is not sucessful. In the grand tradition of artists, Toulouse-Lautrec puts all his emotion into his work, which immortalizes such Moulin Rouge regulars as the wiry, hook-nosed Valentin Le Desosse(Walter Crisham), and Louise Weber, a.k.a., "La Goulue"(Katherine Kath).
One interesting character who is absent from the story is the red-scarved insult comic, Aristide Bruant, who insulted everyone who came to the Moulin Rouge except for Henri.
Gradually, we watch Toulouse-Lautrec make innovations in art as a draftsman, and gain stature in his profession,and the character of the Moulin Rouge change from a bawdy dance hall to a more sophisticated societal club. The flighty, fliratious Jane continues to have affairs, La Goulue becomes more superficially pompous and difficult, and the King of Prussia (Theodore Bikel)purchases one of Henri's paintings. The pauses in which the artist's sketches dance across the screen are truly a feast
for the eye.
As Henri takes up with a society woman named Myriamme Hayam (Suzanne Flon), the couple observe Jane's rise in status as a stage performer, and they manage to rescue La Goulue from oblivion.
Elegant surroundings do not alter Henri's view of love or his cynical, self-deprecating humor.
After his affair with Myriamme ends, his drinking increases, and his art dealer, Maurice Joyant(Lee Montague), and his housekeeper, Madame Louet(Mary Clare) stand helplessly by. But the film politely deals only with part of what leads to his demise and does not mention syphilis, as it would if it were made today.
A tragic fall down a flight of stairs leads to the 36-year-old's return home to his family chateau to die. His mother expresses her grief, and there is a fictionalized expression of remorse from his father.... But in the mind's eye of the dying artist, the characters he knew at the outset return to bid him farewell, led by the non-speaking Black male dancer, then Le Desosse on the arm of La Goulue, who stopped fighting with Aicha....Then out of the mists of time, memory, and imagination, his beloved Jane, who bids him adieu and then must be off...Soon, Henri leaves us too, amid the viewing of one last fiery can-can by dancers waving handkerchiefs...Would that the ends of all of our lives could be that whimsical!
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The Real Lautrec & Moulin Rouge!
This is one of the most interesting biographies I've ever seen on film.
Until I acquired the DVD, I never fully realized how beautiful this film looked, either. I was stunned to see how spectacular the colors were and how much it helped capture the flavor of the dance hall and the cobblestone streets of France 100 years ago.....and, of course, Tolouse-Lautrec's great artwork. This movie is a feast for the eyes.
The DVD also offers an opportunity to do something I suggest other fans of this movie try: use the English subtitles. This way, you don't have to strain to understand the French accents, notably Colette Marchand's, and it makes this intriguing story even better.
Story-wise, it's a bit of a soap opera but one I still found fascinating, thanks mainly to Lautrec's dialog. He had some really interesting things to say, mostly in a cynical way. That cynicism, unfortunately, caught up with him in the end. Jose Ferrer captured this tortured soul about as well as any actor could expect to do. I'm sorry he didn't win an Academy Award for this performance.
Viewers who only saw the more recent "Moulin Rouge!" missed the real story. That movie was a farce; this is the real thing.
