Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Steineded How sad is this?

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Jackson Booth-Millard This French/German film was the last directed by Max Ophüls (Letter from an Unknown Woman, The Reckless Moment, Madame De...) before his death two years later from rheumatic heart disease, and it is listed in the book of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Basically, set in the 19th Century, the film tells the tragic life story of dancer, travelling circus star performer and adventurer Lola Montès (Martine Carol), told through flashbacks. Lola had a traditional upbringing, she was pressured by her mother, Mrs. Craigie (Lise Delamare), to get married, but it was not a happy union with he man she was with, so she moved on to become a successful dancer and courtesan, there she sparked a friendship, if not relationship of sorts, with the Circus Master (Peter Ustinov). Lola had many famous lovers during her time, including composer Franz Liszt (Will Quadflieg), Ludwig I, King of Bavaria (Anton Walbrook) and many noblemen. As she travelled across Europe Lola was riddled in scandal, with observers equally shocked and titillated by her activities, but the ring master did his best to protect her, but still demanded her to perform an entertaining circus show performance, even under pressure. Also starring Ivan Desny as Lieutenant Thomas James, Oskar Werner as Student, Henri Guisol as Horseman Maurice and Paulette Dubost as Josephine, The maid. This was the only film Ophüls made in colour, there was also a point where it cut for theatrical purposes, the full length was restored eventually and recognised by many as a masterpiece. As for the film itself the acting was good, Carol and Ustinov standing out best, I admit I did not understand everything going on, having to read subtitles as well, but it had impressive visuals in terms of the circus setting and costumes, and there were interesting moments, it is a watchable historical romantic drama. Good!

Equinox23 Being German I was especially impressed by the passage set in Bavaria, because at that point it became obvious to me that it was not just Lola's story Ophüls was telling but he sort of identified with her.There is this storyline when the king and Lola are still focusing on art while the self-righteous revolution is breaking out, and though I did not know at the time, I realised that it must have been the same for Ophüls when he was a director in Germany and the Nazis were gaining power. The king's longing look out of the window at all that was lost haunted me. Then there is this scene where Lola gets saved by the students, fleeing Munich in the middle of the night, just like Ophüls left Berlin at the last moment. When I was at the Parc de Bercy in Paris to watch the restored version, I sensed the great silence in the audience. Maybe like me they were thinking of all these people, who had not been so lucky.I'm so sorry that this masterpiece was not regarded as such when it was first released and even more at the fact that it was butchered subsequently. Sorry also that Ophüls himself witnessed this, but yet again grateful for the effort displayed in restoring it to its original beauty.

cstotlar-1 "Lola Montes" is a film about movement in every way. The famous tracking shots, so widely written about, are absolutely necessary here and in Max Ophuls' direction reached an apogee. They dominate such different story lines as "Le plaisir", "Madame De...", "Liebelei" and the rest but here the subject is motion - a life in perpetual, ceaseless motion. Actually this motive was appealing to Ophuls in general - lost earrings, the dance of the masked man and down the line -but here it uses a life as its opening premise. Actually the film is not really concerned with the title character as with the men whose lives it touches. In that capacity Martine Carol fulfills her role quite adequately. There's not much to see in Lola - she is portrayed in two dimensions throughout the film and her character was never intended to come to life. The men around her, on the other hand, are a wonderful lot with totally different responses to Lola's seductiveness and this is at the core of the film. The colors of the circus are fabulous and the season's of Lola's life depicted in some of the most sophisticated color schemes I've ever encountered. The wintry blues and whites in the palace with the snow depict the end of one man's life while the autumnal shades of her affair with Liszt were breath-taking. Someone reported that Phuls had actually painted the ground around the carriage to simulate the end of an affair. My only objection in the entire film is George Auric's overuse of his beautiful opening music at the film's beginning. It outlasted its welcome, unfortunately. This is a great film and fitting end to a remarkable career by yet another - Max Ophuls.Curtis Stotlar

writers_reign ... she doesn't get it here and it is difficult to know where she WOULD get it. Max Ophuls was one of if not THE most elegant director who ever looked thru a viewfinder whilst conversely Martine Carol was one of the most wooden performers since Laurence Harvey so what we're left with is a case of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. They were never going to cram all the events of Lola's life into even a four-hour movie, all the more surprising since she was dead at 40 and squeezed all her scandalous living into just over half that time. Ophuls, master of black and white story telling opted for color in what turned out to be his last film and we can only speculate by how far he would have eclipsed say Minelli had he lived. What emerges thru all the truncated and reconstructed versions is little more than a blueprint for a masterpiece manque. 7/10