Lili

Plot

Naive country girl Lili arrives in a provincial town in hopes of locating an old friend of her late father, only to find that he has died. A local shopkeeper offers her employment, then tries to take advantage of her. She is rescued by a handsome, smooth-talking, womanizing carnival magician, Marc, whose stage name is Marcus the Magnificent. Lili is infatuated with him and follows him to the carnival, where on learning that she is 16, he helps her get a job as waitress. Lili is fired on her first night when she spends her time watching the magic act instead of waiting tables. When Lili consults the magician for advice, he tells her to go back to where she came from. Homeless and heartbroken, she contemplates suicide, unaware that she is being watched by the carnival's puppeteer Paul. He strikes up a conversation with her through his puppets—a brash red-haired boy named Carrot Top, a sly fox, Reynardo, a vain ballerina, Marguerite, and a cowardly giant, Golo. Soon, a large group of carnival workers is enthralled watching Lili's interaction with the puppets, as she is seemingly unaware that there is a puppeteer behind the curtain. Afterwards, Paul and his partner Jacquot offer Lili a job in the act, talking with the puppets. She accepts, and her natural manner of interacting with the puppets becomes the most valuable part of the act.

Paul was once a well-known dancer, but suffered a leg injury in World War II. He regards the puppet show as far inferior to his old career, which embitters him. Lili refers to him as "the Angry Man". Although he falls in love with Lili, he can only express his feelings through the puppets. Fearing rejection due to his physical impairment, he keeps his distance by being unpleasant to her. Lili continues to dream about the handsome magician, wishing to replace his assistant Rosalie.

Soon, Marcus receives an offer to perform at the local casino and decides to leave the carnival, to the joy of Rosalie, who announces to everyone that she is his wife. Lili is heartbroken and innocently invites Marc to her trailer. His lecherous plans are interrupted by Paul, and he leaves. When Lili finds Marc's wedding ring in the seat cushions and tries to chase him, Paul stops her, calls her a fool, and slaps her.

Two impresarios from Paris who have been scouting the show come to see Paul and Jacquot. They recognize Paul as the former dancer and tell him that his act with Lili and the puppets is ingenious. Paul is ecstatic about this and the offer, but Jacquot tells the agents that they will have to let them know. He then tells Paul that Lili is leaving.

Cast

Leslie Caron – Lili Daurier

Mel Ferrer – Paul Berthalet

Jean-Pierre Aumont – Marc

Zsa Zsa Gabor – Rosalie

Kurt Kasznar – Jacquot

Amanda Blake – Peach Lips

Alex Gerry – Proprietor

Ralph Dumke – Mr. Corvier

Wilton Graff – Mr. Tonit

George Baxter – Mr. Enrique

Production

Development

Lili was adapted from Paul Gallico's short story "The Man Who Hated People", which appeared in the October 28, 1950 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Screenwriter Helen Deutsch adapted the story into a script.

According to Leslie Caron, the film was developed with Italian actress Pier Angeli in mind. At the time, Caron had made her theatrical screen debut in An American in Paris (1951). She previously was a dancer performing in Roland Petit's ballet company "Ballet des Champs Elysées" in Paris where she was discovered by Gene Kelly, who selected her as his co-star. Impressed with her screen test, MGM signed Caron to a long-term contract. When An American in Paris was released in 1951, the film was a box office success and the performances of Kelly and Caron were praised. Deutsch decided to cast Caron after she watched a private screening of An American in Paris.

Because of his success with An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli was offered to direct Lili but he declined as it was another film set in Paris and featured ballet sequences. In the spring of 1952, Deutsch arrived at Charles Walters's Malibu beach house with the script in hand. While he was not completely sold on the script, Walters considered Deutsch's script refreshingly mature and told her it would make for an interesting picture if they chose a less grandiose approach.

Filming

Principal photography on Lili began on March 10, 1952. For the visual style, Walters wanted a muted, less saturated look separate from the Technicolor musicals, to evoke the post-war British films he had seen.

Burr Tillstrom was approached to create puppets for the film, but turned it down. Walton and O'Rourke designed the puppets seen in the film. They had previously worked in cabarets and did not appear on television. Lili is among the few known filmed records of their work which also includes the Walter Lantz cartoon and live action short film, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: Puppet Show (1936).

Lili finished filming in April 1952.

Post-production

An unfinished cut of Lili was screened before Deutsch, the film's producer Edwin H. Knopf, lyricist Howard Dietz, William Rodgers of Loew's Inc., and several MGM studio executives including Dore Schary and Joseph Vogel. Walters was not present at the screening as he was enjoying a ten-day vacation while preparing his next film, Dangerous When Wet (1953). He was told by his friend Keenan Wynn that the film was met with a silent response.

Meanwhile, Harry Brandt, president of the Independent Theater Owners Association (ITOA), was searching for a film to screen at the Trans-Lux Theatre in New York. Brandt was shown the rough cut and loved it. Relieved, Schary accepted Brandt's terms and finished Lili for a sneak preview.

Music

The score was composed by Bronisław Kaper and conducted by Hans Sommer, with orchestrations by Robert Franklyn and Skip Martin. Kaper's music received the Oscar for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture".

Lyrics for the song "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" were written by Helen Deutsch for her previously published short story "Song of Love". Kaper's setting of the song was performed by Caron and Mel Ferrer in the film; the performance was released on record, reaching number 30 on the American charts.

Four excerpts from the score were first issued by MGM Records at the time of the film's release. The complete score was issued on CD in 2005 on Film Score Monthly records.

Release

On March 10, 1953, Lili premiered at the Trans-Lux 52nd Street Theatre in Manhattan as a benefit performance for the North Shore Hospital. During its opening weekend, the film earned $17,200—then a record gross for the theatre. MGM held its own Hollywood premiere on March 17 at the Vogue Theater, but further theatrical exhibition was prohibited due to the agreement with Brandt. Lili remained at the Trans-Lux for the next ten months until it left on December 22, 1953.

Lili was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation. Gene Moskowitz for Variety wrote the film "was nicely received here as a change of pace after the grim mayhem, brutality and oppressiveness of many of the preceding [pictures]." Although it lost the Grand Prix to The Wages of Fear (1953), the film won the International Prize for the Most Entertaining Picture, with Special Mention for the Charm of the Interpretation.

By June 1953, MGM released the film in several U.S. cities, including Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Missouri, Seattle, Portland, and Washington, D.C.

Reception

Box office

According to MGM records, Lili earned $2,210,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $3,183,000 overseas, resulting in a profit of $1,878,000, making it MGM's most popular musical of the year.

Critical reaction

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised Lili as "a lovely and beguiling little film, touched with the magic of romance and the shimmer of masquerade." William Brogdon of Variety praised the film for its "sentiment, done with an air of charm" and Caron's performance, stating she has an "ingratiating approach that wins sympathy and warm chuckles." Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times also praised Caron's performance and wrote: "There is a warm, human quality to the work she does in this romance of a carnival, so effectively directed by Charles Walters and produced by Edwin H. Knopf in Technicolor for MGM." Harrison's Reports called the film an "enchanting, heart-warming picture".

John McCarten of The New Yorker praised Caron's performance, but felt Ferrer's character "seem to be more suited to one of those damp-basement Russian affairs than to a nervous little fantasy, but even so he is something of a relief among all the lovable types who populate the film." Time magazine wrote, " Directed with a deft touch by Charles Walters, Lili is a triumph of lighthearted manner over lightweight subject matter. In telling of Lili's loves for the magician and the puppeteer it is also genuinely touching. Director Walters, a veteran choreographer himself, has given the picture visual bounce and a blithe sense of improvisation."

In her 1982 book 5001 Nights at the Movies, Pauline Kael called Lili a "sickly musical whimsy" and referred to Mel Ferrer's "narcissistic, masochistic smiles." Geoff Andrew of Time Out wrote: "Perhaps too deliberately charming for its own good, but this adaptation of a Paul Gallico novel about a 16-year-old waif who falls unhappily in love with a carnival magician, thus adding to the bitterness of the crippled puppeteer who loves her from afar, is actually rather delightful, thanks to Caron's touching performance and Walters' delicately stylish direction. The New York Times included it in its 2004 Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made, as did Angie Errigo and Jo Berry in a 2005 compilation of Chick Flicks: Movies Women Love.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of 8 critics' reviews are positive. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Musical adaptation

In 1961, Lili was adapted into a Broadway musical titled Carnival!. It starred Anna Maria Alberghetti and Jerry Orbach, with direction and choreography by Gower Champion and music and lyrics by Bob Merrill. Arthur Freed immediately acquired the film rights and hired Champion and screenwriter Julius Epstein to direct and write the film adaptation, respectively. However, Robert Weitman, then-head of production for MGM, informed Freed by telephone that Carnival! would have to be shelved.