Cheap Lola Montes (DVD) (Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook) (Max Ophüls) Price

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Customer Reviews of Lola Montes

Director Max Ophuls,brillantly brings to the screen, the sad but true story of "Lola Montes". In the 19th century, she was the talk of Europe. Her affairs with dozens of men including the great composer Franz Liszt and even a King were infamous and resulted in such great scandal, that Lola became an object of hatred and curiosity. Outcast from society, in poor health and with no place to turn,her once regal lifestyle is now reduced to being put on display in a circus act that parallels her story. Once you enter her life, you'll be as captivated as her admirers were.

The beautiful Martine Carol is the actress who portrays this tortured soul that no man could resist. The cast also includes, Peter Ustinov,as the seemingly cruel ringmaster forcing Lola to go on with her story,Anton Walkbrook as King Ludwig I ,so taken with Lola, he bestows on her her own palace. Also look for Oskar Werner as the young student.

The early use of "CinemaScope" is wonderful and you can take in all the details on this DVD. Although the colors seem somewhat dated, I thought this 50 year old French film had a nice clear picture. The sound was recorded low and needs to be turned up a bit. The DVD includes Filmographies of the principle cast.The subtitles are nice and in the black bar area.

It's a beautiful film, and a story that may leave you sighing.A nice addition to your foreign film collection...enjoy...Laurie

Swan Song: Max Ophuls Final Movie
Max Ophuls last movie, Lola Montes, is now on DVD, though it has no special features, no trailer, merely filmography and a list of awards as well as scene selections. In 1955, Max Ophuls had already directed several classic films of the French market during World War II days, 30's and 40's- his most honored being La Ronde. To many, Lola Montes was not the greatest film Max Ophuls ever made. He was a naturalized Frenchman, adored the culture but was Austrian born, specifically Vienna. His films were considered artsy, classy and dramatically appealing. Ophuls followed an ABA or "Ronde" circular plot structure. What happens in the beginning of a film will return at the end of the film. Never is this more true than in his famous La Ronde, set in Vienna about the many intrigues of love affairs. On DVD, the CinemaScope color of Lola Montes is in its beautiful restored glory, though it can look better in some parts. The movie is so old it truly shows its "cinematic wrinkles". Martine Carol is the woman whose quiet beauty and restrained mannerisms landed her the title role, Peter Ustinov, who did several movies, including American films, plays the role of the ringmaster who is entertaining audiences at a circus by showing off Lola Montes and her incredible life story and Anton Walbrook, who appeared as Lentmontov in the English film, "The Red Shoes" in the part of King Ludwig.

Lola Montes is a fictional and sensationalized account of the true, historic person of the courtesan/Spanish dancer Lola Montes, regarded as the most famous 19th century courtesan. She did exist, she had love affairs with what were celebrities at that time- Franz Liszt the pianist and composer and her most impressive lover, King Ludwig of Bavaria, the so-called "Mad King" whose extravagant lifestyle, erratic behavior and expensive castle building projects cost Bavaria a lot of money and made his own people turn against him. The circus element is entirely fabricated for the sake of drama. The ringmaster, Peter Ustinov, is entertaining audiences, mostly composed of men, with scenes of Lola Montes lives and in the end, she leaps from on high in an incredible stunt after which she must deign herself to be kissed by all the men for only one dollar. Peter Ustinov is speaking three languages if you really notice- French, German and the bits of English he speaks to Lola during the jumping scene. The use of English, which even Lola uses now and then, is meant to cater to the American or English audiences who must have seen this film. Martine Carol, in my opinion, does a terrific job as Lola Montes. She is a polyamorous woman, who is clearly liberated, passionate and earthy. She has dignity despite everything. The only thing I had against her performance is they never showed her dancing the Spanish dances she was so famous for- the bolero, the fandango, tarantella, etc. They could have cast an actual Spanish dancer in the role.

A Female Casanova -- or so she appears
Other women in the same time period became famous for their artistic talents(George Sand for one) but Lola Montes had no real talent and so she made her mark by being beautiful and aggressive. These qualities won her many admirers and at least two famous lovers: the King of Bavaria and Franz Liszt. Its a complicated story though and one with many ironies. When Lola was younger her mother wanted to marry her off to a wealthy older banker but Lola refused and instead ran away with a young man who ended up being a drunk and a philanderer. We never really see Lola's transformation from young innocent girl into woman of the world but she makes the transition so completely that nothing of the little girl remains in the woman that Lola Montes becomes. The way Carol Martine plays her we assume that either Lola Montes has no emotions or that she has them but has learned to keep them to herself. Either way it seems what Lola really loves is a man who can take care of her in style and so the real love of her life is not Franz Liszt who she grows bored with but rather the King of Bavaria who sets her up in a little palace of her own which seems perfect for her (an icy palace in an icy land for the icy Lola). Later Lola will refer to this as the happiest period in her life but we are likely to attribute this happiness not to the elderly and deaf King of Bavaria himself but to the palace he provided her with. This was the one time in her life she had a home. When the stability of Bavaria is threatened by revolution she is forced out of her palace. Outside of Bavaria she is destitute and she has nothing to sell -- except her reputation. Though penniless shes now become famous or infamous throughout Europe and so when Ustinov offers her a salary for merely telling her tale she has little choice but to accept. In the 21st Century we are so used to seeing how people capitalize on scandal that its fascinating to see a nineteenth-century version of this phenomena. Its also fascinating to see how Lola Montes must play "Lola Montes". There is a huge difference between what really happened and what the public wants to hear happened and so the story that Ustinov tells each night is just a fiction designed to give the crowd what it wants. Lola herself just goes through the motions of playing this fictive "Lola" to make a buck. In our media savvy era we might have a hard time seeing Lola Montes as a victim, rather we are likely to see her as someone cashing in on her "fame". Lola is ultimately a victim however in the same way Jay Gatsby was a victim -- they are victims of others misperceptions of them. The misperception so often repeated takes on a larger than life reality while the real life is buried in the shadows. This is the tragedy of fame, this is the tragedy of Lola. It is perhaps the most fascinating study of personality of its era. And one that speaks to our era most pointedly.