[[Bernard Zimmer]] (dialogue)"},"based_on":{"wt":"{{based on|''Liliom''|[[Ferenc Molnár]]}}"},"narrator":{"wt":""},"starring":{"wt":"[[Charles Boyer]]"},"music":{"wt":"Jean Lenoir
[[Franz Waxman]]"},"cinematography":{"wt":"[[Rudolph Maté]]
[[Louis Nee]]"},"editing":{"wt":""},"studio":{"wt":"[[Fix Europa|Les Productions Fox Europa]]"},"distributor":{"wt":"[[Fox Film Corporation]]"},"released":{"wt":"{{Film date|1934|04|27|df=y}}"},"runtime":{"wt":"116 minutes"},"country":{"wt":"France"},"language":{"wt":"French"},"budget":{"wt":""},"gross":{"wt":""}},"i":0}}]}" id="mwAg">1934 French film
Liliom | |
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![]() French theatrical film poster | |
Directed by | Fritz Lang |
Written by | Robert Liebmann (adaptation) Bernard Zimmer (dialogue) |
Based on | Liliom by Ferenc Molnár |
Produced by | Erich Pommer |
Starring | Charles Boyer |
Cinematography | Rudolph Maté Louis Nee |
Music by | Jean Lenoir Franz Waxman |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Fox Film Corporation |
Release date |
|
Running time | 116 minutes |
Country | France |
Language | French |
Liliom is a 1934 French fantasy film directed by Fritz Lang based on the 1909 Hungarian stage play of the same title by Ferenc Molnár. The film stars Charles Boyer as Liliom, a carousel barker who is fired from his job after defending the chambermaid Julie (Madeleine Ozeray) from the jealousy of Mme. Muscat, the carousel owner who is infatuated with Liliom. He moves in with Julie and they begin an affair. When Liliom discovers he's about to become a father, he finds he needs money and participates in a robbery which goes awry. Rather than allow himself to be arrested, Liliom kills himself and his soul is transported to a waiting room of Heaven. A heavenly commissioner determines that Liliom will not be admitted into Heaven, only Purgatory, until he returns to Earth to do one good deed.
Liliom was one of the two first French productions by producer Erich Pommer for Fox-Europa and director Fritz Lang's only French film. On the film's release it was protested by the French Catholic clergy and was generally not well received by French film critics or playwright Ferenc Molnár. Despite the reception, the 1934 Liliom was one of Lang's favorites out of all his films.
Liliom Zadowski is a barker at Madame Muscat's carousel. A rival barker named Hollinger tries to get Liliom in trouble by telling the jealous Mme. Muscat, who is having an affair with Liliom, that Liliom flirts with his customers behind her back. When Mme. Muscat insults Liliom's female customers Julie and Marie, Liliom comes to their defense, which leads to Mme. Muscat firing Liliom. Liliom makes a date with Julie and Marie and leaves the carousel. When he meets the girls later, Liliom tells them that he intends to only take one of them out, which leads to Liliom going only with Julie. Julie is infatuated with Liliom and they move in together in a run-down trailer. Julie works in a photo studio while Liliom loafs, drinks and gets into violent arguments with Julie.
Mme. Muscat later tries to bring Liliom back to the carousel by offering him a substantial raise. Liliom considers it but denies the offer finding that Julie is expecting a child. Liliom's criminal friend Alfred suggests that the two rob the local payroll clerk, and insists that Liliom bring a knife, as Alfred will also do. Desperate to find money for the child, Liliom agrees. The robbery attempt is foiled and Alfred escapes while Liliom finds himself cornered by the police. Rather than be arrested, Liliom stabs himself with the kitchen knife he brought with him to commit the robbery. An unconscious Liliom is brought home on a stretcher. Near death, he repents and tells Julie that he must face the judgment of God. He then dies.
Liliom's soul rises from his body when he is visited by two uniformed agents who identify themselves as God's Police. They take Liliom to Heaven where he is taken to an area for suicides. There, Liliom is questioned by an officious commissioner who looks exactly like a police commissioner that Lilom reported to once while alive. When Liliom refuses to explain to the clerk why he beat Julie, he is first shown a silent film of one of his arguments with her, then again with a soundtrack of his thoughts. He realizes that he beat Julie because he hated himself so much for his cruelty and selfishness. The Commissioner sentences Liliom to sixteen years in Purgatory, so that he will be cleansed of his pride and violence. Afterwards, he will be allowed one day back on Earth to visit his child, and his behavior on that day will determine where he shall spend eternity.
Sixteen years pass and Liliom is allowed to visit his daughter, who is named Louise in the play, but whose name is not mentioned in this film version. One of the angels reminds Liliom to bring his daughter something beautiful, and Liliom surreptitiously steals a star on his way down to Earth. Liliom approaches Louise and tells her that he knew her father many years ago, and that he was a violent brute. This disgusts Louise, who throws Liliom's gift of a star into the gutter. Liliom follows the sobbing Louise home, where she demands to be alone. Liliom slaps her hand out of frustration before disappearing.
As Liliom returns to Heaven, the angels watch as the scales of justice tip toward the devil's side, and the devil begins to inscribe Liliom's name on his tablet. In Heaven, the commissioner is furious at Liliom for breaking the heart of a child, and Liliom responds that one can only love him as he is. Just then the angel-typist excitedly points to a scene happening down on Earth. Louise is then seen telling her mother that Liliom's slap felt like a kiss, and asks if it is possible to receive a slap that does not hurt at all. Julie says yes and the two embrace with tears in their eyes. It is Liliom's love for his daughter which has miraculously made the slap feel exactly like a kiss. The scales of justice tip toward the heavenly side and Liliom's name is slowly removed from the devil's tablet.
After being fired by Universum Film AG (UFA), producer Erich Pommer moved to France in April 1933 where he founded the Fox-Europa film studio based at the Joinville Studios in Paris. Pommer's studio began work on their first two films: the detective film On a volé un Homme and an adaptation of Ferenc Molnár's Liliom . [1] Pommer had two directors to work with: Max Ophüls and Fritz Lang. Pommer gave the Liliom story to Lang, which Ophüls later felt was a mistake, stating that "Lang would have certainly made a remarkable detective film, and as for me, I probably would have probably succeeded in making a good romantic comedy". [2] The screenplay for Liliom was written by Robert Liebmann. Liebmann was fired from Universum Film AG, his former studio in Germany after they purged the company of all Jewish staff. Liebmann fled to France where he was worked on adapting on the screenplay for Liliom. [3]
Production on Liliom began in late 1933. Lang was not completely fluent in French, and was assisted by Gilbert Mandelik in learning French filmmaking translations to help the production on the film. [2] The French cast included Charles Boyer, who worked with Pommer on several French-language versions of German films. Madeleine Ozeray, who was part of Boyer's stage company, played Julie. The technical crew of Liliom included cinematographer Rudolph Maté who worked with Pommer as a second-unit photographer in Berlin.
During production, Lang zealously took to the project, annotating the screenplay with his own notes and ignoring advice from others. Screenwriter Bernard Zimmer suggested scenes that did get filmed, but were later cut during post-production by Lang. [4] [5] After production ended in early 1934, Lang spent 48 hours without sleep to finish editing Liliom before the film was to be shown to the producers. [6]
Liliom premiered in France on April 27, 1934. [7] The French Catholic clergy protested Liliom on its initial release due to Lang's conception of heaven to be too contrary to the perception of the church. [6] The original playwright, Ferenc Molnár, denounced the film because he did not receive screen credit on the poster. [6] Liliom was not a commercial success and did not receive a wide release in the United States. It was shown in New York in 1935. [8]
Liliom received generally negative reception on its initial release. Jean Faynard of Candide described the film as "false, stiff and badly situated". [9] In Action Française , François Vinneuil wrote "the result is a heterogeneous spectacle... this French-Jewish-Hungarian collaboration doesn't create a breathable atmosphere". [9] Jean Vidal of Pour Vous wrote that "A pace that's rather too slow spoils the movement of the film". [10] A review in Le Journal criticized the visual effects in the film as he felt that emphasis on them detracted from the other film elements. [9] Despite the film's reception, Liliom was one of Lang's favourite directorial efforts. In 1974, Lang stated that "Liliom, I always liked very much... Today, I almost like Liliom best of all". [11]
Liliom was released on a Region 1 DVD by Kino International on March 30, 2004. [12] In 2006, Liliom was included on the 50th Anniversary Edition DVD of Carousel . [13]
Carousel is the second musical by the team of Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II. The 1945 work was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline. The story revolves around carousel barker Billy Bigelow, whose romance with millworker Julie Jordan comes at the price of both their jobs. He participates in a robbery to provide for Julie and their unborn child; after it goes tragically wrong, he is given a chance to make things right. A secondary plot line deals with millworker Carrie Pipperidge and her romance with ambitious fisherman Enoch Snow. The show includes the songs "If I Loved You", "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" and "You'll Never Walk Alone". Richard Rodgers later wrote that Carousel was his favorite of all his musicals.
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang, better known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian-born German-American film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States. One of the best-known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute. He has been cited as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time.
Thea Gabriele von Harbou was a German screenwriter, novelist, film director, and actress. She is remembered as the screenwriter of the science fiction film classic Metropolis (1927) and for the 1925 novel on which it was based. von Harbou collaborated as a screenwriter with film director Fritz Lang, her husband, during the period of transition from silent to sound films.
Benjamin F. Glazer was a screenwriter, producer, Foley artist, and director of American films from the 1920s through the 1950s. He made the first translation of author / playwright Ferenc Molnár's play Liliom (1909) into English from its original Hungarian (Magyar) in 1921. His translation was used in the first American live stage play performance that year and later in the subsequent 1930 film version, and in every production in English of the play for the 115 years since its 1909 writing until recently. It also served as the basis for the libretto for Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, as well as for Phoebe and Henry Ephron's screenplay for the 1956 film version.
Ferenc Molnár, often anglicized as Franz Molnar, was a Hungarian-born author, stage director, dramatist, and poet. He is widely regarded as Hungary's most celebrated and controversial playwright.
Dudley Digges was an Irish stage actor, director, and producer as well as a film actor. Although he gained his initial theatre training and acting experience in Ireland, the vast majority of Digges' career was spent in the United States, where over the span of 43 years he worked in hundreds of stage productions and performed in over 50 films.
"If I Loved You" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.
Liliom is a 1909 play by the Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár. It was well known in its own right during the early to mid-20th century, but is best known today as the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein 1945 musical Carousel.
Erich Pommer was a German-born film producer and executive. Pommer was perhaps the most powerful person in the German and European film industries in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Carousel is a 1956 American drama fantasy musical film based on the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical of the same name, which in turn was based on Ferenc Molnár's 1909 non-musical play Liliom. The film stars Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones and was directed by Henry King.
The Scoundrel is a 1935 American drama film directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, and starring Noël Coward, Julie Haydon, Stanley Ridges, Rosita Moreno and Lionel Stander. It was Coward's film debut, aside from a bit role in a silent film. It deals with supernatural redemption in a way rather similar to Ferenc Molnár's Liliom, and drew inspiration from the life of publisher Horace Liveright, who had died in September 1933.
Ferenc Molnár wrote The Good Fairy, originally A jó tündér, in 1930. The English translation by Jane Hinton was presented on Broadway, with another production later that year. In 1935, Preston Sturges adapted the story for the film The Good Fairy. The film's screenplay was used as the basis for the 1951 Broadway musical Make A Wish. The Good Fairy tells the story of a woman who must face the consequences of pretending to be someone she is not.
Liliom is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film directed by Frank Borzage and written by S. N. Behrman and Sonya Levien. The film stars Charles Farrell, Rose Hobart, Estelle Taylor, H. B. Warner, Lee Tracy and Walter Abel. It was an adaptation of the 1909 play of the same name, serving as the first sound version of the film and the first of two sound adaptations of the play in the 1930s, with a 1934 adaptation being directed by Fritz Lang. The film was released on October 5, 1930, by Fox Film Corporation, who also handled the 1934 film. Alongside Just Imagine, also released by Fox, this was one of the first films to employ rear projection, which is done during a train sequence.
Roland Toutain was a French actor, songwriter and stuntman. He appeared in 55 films between 1924 and 1957, both in leading and supporting roles.
Liliom is a 1909 play by Ferenc Molnár.
Madeleine Ozeray, was a Belgian stage and film actress. She appeared in many films between 1932 and 1980. She is the godmother of theater actor, dancer and singer Frédéric Norbert.
Marcel Vandal (1882–1965) was a French film producer. During the 1910s he worked closely with the German producer Erich Pommer for the French company Eclair. Vandal served in the French Army during the First World War. He directed four silent films between 1926 and 1928.
Bettler GmbH is a 1919 German silent film directed by Alwin Neuß and starring Paul Otto and Lil Dagover.
The Weissensee Studios was a collection of separate film production studios located in the Berlin suburb of Weißensee during the silent era.
A Man Has Been Stolen is a 1934 French comedy thriller film directed by Max Ophüls and starring Lili Damita, Henri Garat and Raoul Marco.
Bibliography