bkoganbing Ferenc Molnar according to David Ewen's book on Richard Rodgers turned down Giacomo Puccini to do an opera on Liliom. He said that he would rather Liliom be remembered as a Molnar play than a Puccini opera. Sad to say that if remembered it's remembered as the source of the Rodgers&Hammerstein musical Carousel. Watching Liliom now is like watching George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, you just drop in the songs where they go. A bit more difficult for Liliom as the locale was changed to coastal Maine from Budapest. Still it can be done.Charles Boyer, soon to take up permanent residence in Hollywood and Madeline Ozeray are perfectly cast Liliom and Julie. The character of Liliom seems perfect for Fritz Lang's dismal view of the world. Liliom would like to do better for himself, but he seems condemned to barking for a carousel ride and providing the female owner a lift now and then. Seeing Julie who is not quite as innocent as she is in Carousel is him reaching for a last chance at happiness.One hopes there is a heaven where one might get a chance to do something that might merit decent digs there. I did like the surreal black and white images of traveling to and arriving in heaven that Lang employed.Joseph Schildkraut did an acclaimed Liliom on Broadway and there is an earlier American talkie version of Liliom starring Charles Farrell. Drop songs in if you must, but this Liliom is a classic unto itself.

writers_reign As a rule in his Hollywood films Charles Boyer was never called upon to show much animation - of course I haven't seen them all as I can take or leave him - and usually personified gravitas, ruthlessness even, stone- face etc. In fact the only role I can think of where he unleashed any exuberance was a late one, in Barefoot In The Park, so it's something of a revelation to see him in the opening scenes of Liliom, breaking in and keeping warm the striped jersey for Gordon Macrae in Carousel. Trivia buffs will appreciate an early glimpse of Viviane Romance and Florelle is also on hand in her pre-Le Crime of Monsieur Lange days. Anyone who has seen Carousel will be struck at how closely it adheres to Liliom and vice versa. Personally I failed to detect any Langisms but I do take exception to one poster who dismissed Billy Wilder's work in France as 'negligible' and lauding Weill's insipid Seven Deadly Sins. If 'Mauvaise Graine' is negligible then 'Les Enfants du Paradis' is ho hum at best.

MartinHafer There are a lot of very positive reviews for this film and it was apparently director Fritz Lang's favorite film. Despite this, I really had a hard time sticking with this fantasy film. Fortunately, it did get better in the latter portion, but overall I just didn't enjoy this. I think the biggest reason is that the central character, Liliom, is basically an unlikable jerk. When things turn disastrous for him late in the film, I just didn't care--a serious problem with any film.The film begins with Charles Boyer playing Liliom--a hard-living sociopath who lies, beats women, loves fighting and is completely lazy. He lives off of unsuspecting women and, oddly, he's completely irresistible to women (at least the stupid ones) despite being a complete scumbag. It's a decent character study of an Antisocial personality but he's completely unpleasant and totally superficial.Throughout the film, he lives off and uses women. Eventually, though, reality catches up to him when he discovers he's about to become a father. So, his solution is to get money for his new life by stealing the payroll from a local company. But, in the process, he dies and the rest of the film is highly reminiscent of "Faust". He goes to Heaven, they send him to Pergatory and, oddly, they let him go back to Earth to see his wife and daughter (who was born after his death). This part is much more interesting, but the special effects for Heaven (even by 1930s standards) are pretty poor.The entire film just left me flat. If the film were remade (other than as the musical CAROUSEL), better special effects AND making Liliom somewhat likable and helping the audience to understand more about what a woman might like about him would help immensely. I wanted to like this film (as I love French films AND the films of Fritz Lang), but just couldn't. It is an interesting curio, but nothing else...at least to me.

david melville Having tried and failed to sit through Carousel (a lumbering musical remake of the same story) I was wholly unprepared for the delight that is Liliom. A fantasy love story set half on Earth, half in Heaven, it's not at all the type of film you expect from Fritz Lang. It's closer in tone to Michael Powell or Jean Cocteau - and may be a 'hidden influence' on both A Matter of Life and Death and Orphee.Not least among his achievements...Lang pulls off the well-nigh impossible feat of making Charles Boyer interesting! Sorry, but I'd always found this actor deeply resistible. A suburban housewife's stereotype of a suave Continental lover. But in this movie, Boyer plays a role that (even five years later) would have been reserved exclusively for Jean Gabin. A tough carnival barker and petty crook. A sexy 'bad boy' in a striped, clinging T-shirt and skin-tight jeans.Boyer as Liliom is a Gallic cousin of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. I could well understand why Julie (Madeleine Ozeray) fell head over heels for him, because I did too. He treats her appallingly, of course. Boozing, whoring, gambling...even a (very non-PC) touch of wife-beating. For all its fantasy elements, this love story is as warped and sadomasochistic as any in later Lang movies, like Secret Beyond the Door or The Big Heat. (Hot coffee, anyone?)Eventually, two angels show up and haul Boyer off to the hereafter - where he must atone for his sins! The term 'angels' is one I use loosely. Dark-suited, pale-skinned and shaven-headed, these two guys look like denizens of an X-rated Berlin nightclub. Kinkier still is Boyer's personal 'spirit guide' - a mad-eyed knife-grinder played by Antonin Artaud, the twisted genius who invented the Theatre of Cruelty.Liliom is a rare treat for old-movie buffs. Lyrical and fantastic, yes. Soppy and sentimental, never. It stands comparison with Lang's best work from Berlin or Hollywood. I can only regret he did not spend more time in France.