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Lili (LIL-ee)
Common clues: 1953 Leslie Caron film; Role for Leslie
Lili is a musical film which opened in March, 1953. Considered one among many "classic MGM musicals," it stars Leslie Caron as a touchingly naïve French girl, whose emotional relationship with a carnival puppeteer is conducted through the medium of four puppets.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The movie is not universally liked, though; Paulene Kael called it a "sickly whimsy" and refer to Mel Ferrer's "narcissistic, masochistic smiles."
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.
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.
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.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Lili".
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