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LILI
(LIL-ee)
1.
MGM musical of 1953
2.
Lili Taylor: American actress
Common
clues:
1953
Leslie Caron film; Role for Leslie; 1953 Mel Ferrer musical;
Taylor of “Mystic Pizza”; Actress Taylor; Taylor of
“The Haunting”
Crossword
puzzle frequency:
5 times a year
Frequency
in English language:
9712 / 86800
Video:
Lili
(1953)
It's
been very important for me to follow my gut or my heart, or
whichever organ you want to go by ~ Lili
Taylor
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.
Lili
Anne Taylor (born February 20, 1967) is an American actress.
Taylor,
the fifth of six children, was born in Glencoe, Illinois, a
suburb of Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Marie, a
professional babysitter, and Park Taylor, a folk artist and
hardware store operator. She grew up in a "warm family
environment" and has described herself as being "a bit
of a searcher" during her childhood. Taylor graduated from
New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, in 1985. Thereafter,
she attended The Theatre School at DePaul University and the
Piven Theatre Workshop. Lili introduced Louise Post and Nina
Gordon, founding members of 1990s alternative band Veruca Salt,
at a party in Chicago in 1993.
Taylor
has appeared in dozens of films since 1988, including Dogfight,
Mystic Pizza, and Rudy. Her work has mostly been in independent
films and theater. She played the role of Lisa Kimmel Fisher
(mostly in the second and third seasons) in the HBO drama Six
Feet Under.
Taylor
received critical acclaim for her supporting film roles in Mystic
Pizza (1988) and Say Anything... (1989). She then starred in
Dogfight (1991) directed by Nancy Savoca, in which she played an
unattractive young woman who is taken to a cruel contest by a
Marine (played by River Phoenix) under the pretense of a date. In
1993, she again teamed up with Savoca for Household Saints.
In
the 2008 film The Promotion, Taylor played the Scottish wife of
John C. Reilly's character as he competed to be the manager of a
grocery store.
In
2009, Taylor played Sheriff Lillian Holley of Lake County,
Indiana, who incarcerates John Dillinger (played by Johnny Depp),
in Michael Mann's Public Enemies.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Lili"
and “Lili
Taylor”.
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