Lili (film)

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Movie
German title Lili
Original title Lili
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1953
length 81 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Charles Walters
script Helen German
production Edwin H. Knopf / MGM
music Bronislaw Kaper
camera Robert H. Planck
cut Ferris Webster
occupation
synchronization

Lili is an American musical film directed by Charles Walters from 1953. It is based on the story The Man Who Hated People by Paul Gallico . The film opened in the USA on March 10, 1953, and in Germany on December 18, 1953.

action

The young orphan Lili comes to a French coastal town to take up a job in a bakery. But the master baker, who was a friend of her father's, died suddenly. Lili has no perspective and no job. She meets the owner of a fashion store. But the man has an argument because he has dubious intentions. Lili meets an attractive magician who is giving a performance at a fair in town. Lili takes a job as a waitress in order to stay with the magician. But when, instead of working, she attends the magic show, she is fired.

Hopeless and heartbroken, Lili decides to kill herself. The fair's puppeteer prevents this by engaging them in conversation on his puppet stage. But he doesn't speak himself, but lets his puppets talk to Lili. A group of workers comes by and is amused to see Lili, who in her situation apparently doesn't even want to admit that the dolls are being controlled by a person, speaks and sings with the dolls. After the curtain has fallen, the puppeteer offers her a place in his performance.

The puppeteer is a bitter man. A leg injury from the war ruined his career as a dancer. He falls in love with Lili and shows his feelings through his dolls. But Lili does not notice this and tries to get back together with the magician. One evening the drunken puppeteer comes back to the trailer he shares with Lili and his assistant. His injured leg hits the wall. Lili takes care of him and gets an amorous look, which worries her. The puppeteer tries to find out what Lili wants, but she just stares at a poster for the magic show. The puppeteer is disappointed and hopeless.

Lili finds out that the magician only played with her and is married to his assistant. She asks her doll friends for help, who tell her to forget about the wizard. Lili has always seen the dolls as real, which have helped her a lot and which she apparently love. She tries to hug the puppets and discovers the puppeteer. Annoyed, Lili admits to herself that she has always forgotten that there is a person behind the dolls. The puppeteer tells her that there is a piece of his soul in every puppet.

Lili leaves the fair. On the way on a lonely country road, she imagines dancing with each of the dolls, which are now human-sized. Each puppet transforms into the puppeteer and then fades into its imagination. Lili realizes that her friendship with the puppets reflects her friendship with the puppeteer. When the last puppet in her mind becomes a puppeteer, she holds him tight. The two walk hand in hand down the street. When Lili is back in reality, she runs back to the fair. The puppeteer is waiting for them, and the two of them embrace. The puppets, this time steered independently without a human hand, watch and applaud.

background

Film composer Bronisław Kaper and screenwriter Helen Deutsch wrote the song Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo sung by Lili and the puppets together .

Advertisements for the film in the New York Herald Tribune on March 10, 1953 showed the first known emoticons (smileys). In the said edition of the newspaper on page 20, columns 4 to 6, it read: “Today you'll laugh :-) You'll cry :-( You'll love <3 Lili .” It wasn't until ten years later that Harvey Ball created the world-famous one yellow "smiley face".

Several Oscar winners worked behind the scenes. Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse were responsible for building the films . Edwin B. Willis and Arthur Krams provided the equipment . Douglas Shearer took care of the sound , while Warren Newcombe was responsible for the special effects .

Reviews

“A poetic story” and “a magical romance of the purity of the heart, whose cautiously used film music gives the soulful work a special touch,” was the lexicon of international film . For Prisma , Lili was a “poetic musical in which [director Charles Walters] repeatedly interwoven wonderfully touching dream sequences of his protagonist”.

The New York Times included the film on its Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list in 2004 .

Awards

At the Academy Awards in 1954 , the film was awarded in the category Best Film Music (Bronisław Kaper). He had further nominations in the categories:

In the same year Lili was awarded the Golden Globe in the category Best Screenplay (Helen Deutsch) . Helen Deutsch also won the Writers Guild of America Award for her screenplay . In addition, Leslie Caron received a British Academy Film Award for Best Foreign Lead Actress , for which Lili was also nominated in the Best Picture category, but was subject to competition. Charles Walters was again nominated for the Directors Guild of America Prize.

At the Cannes International Film Festival in 1953, the film was screened in the competition for the Grand Prix , which ultimately won the reward of fear . Charles Walters was honored for this with an award for best entertainment film, while the acting ensemble received an honorable mention.

synchronization

The German dubbed version was created in 1953 in the MGM synchronization studio in Berlin.

role actor Voice actor
Lili Leslie Caron Maria Koerber
Paul, the puppeteer Mel Ferrer Erik Ode
Max the magician Jean-Pierre Aumont Peter Petersz

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lili. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ See prisma.de
  3. ↑ See synchrondatenbank.de ( Memento of the original from August 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.synchrondatenbank.de
  4. ↑ Lili. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on July 2, 2017 .