Liliom

Charles Farrell stars as the titular Liliom, a no-good 'barker', enticing people - especially pretty young ladies – to ride the carousel at the fairground. Along come servant Julie (Rose Hobart) and her colleague Marie and, to cut a long story short, Lil' and Jules find themselves unemployed, drinking in a beer-garden. Thus begins a not quite beautiful relationship. Liliom, being an 'artist', has trouble turning provider and Auntie-in-(common)law is running out of patience for the loafer on the sofa. Furthermore, Lil's former employer/lover, the sultry carousel owner Louise, wants him to come back to the fair, and his 'friend', 'The Buzzard', is never far off with his easy-money schemes… If you haven't had someone spoil the film for you, you're in for one hell of a surprise up ahead.

This is an early sound film and by jiminy it shows. The line readings are like children's TV – you know, sort of wooden and VERY clearly pronounced just in case the wee ones are still learning to understand their native tongues. BUT this film should be enjoyed as a sort of fairy tale anyway, so that isn't quite the problem here that it might be in a more conventional drama. The characters all come across intensely as living souls here and I found myself deeply affected by them. Visually it's other worldly, German expressionist, with the lights of the seemingly omnipresent carnival twinkling through the night and beautiful use of lighting throughout, bringing out the delightful faces of the leads. Some have objected to the film's offensive, out-dated gender politics – there's a possible reading that spousal abuse is fine if it was done for the right reasons; and that 'boys will be boys' and that's fine, even good! – but this wasn't the way I chose to read it. For me this was far from a moral/message film; more like an unforgettable surrealist's dream. Later remade in 1934 by Fritz Lang, and then again in 1956 by Henry King, as Carousel. Highly recommended.

Molnar's dreamlike tragedy-fantasy is, as another poster said, just the meat for Frank Borzage, and he invests the material with a typically deft, warm hand. Those of us who love "Carousel" (I think it's the greatest musical ever written) will be struck by how similar they are, with nearly identical dialog in some spots, from a translation by Benjamin Glazer (though the translation is also rumored to be by one Lorenz Hart). The expressionistic, Murnau-like sets fit well, though they're illogical--would Liliom and Julie really have a picture window looking directly out on the amusement park? I'd give it a higher rating, but there's a fatal flaw: Charles Farrell, good-looking as he is, hasn't the requisite swagger for Liliom, and his high nasal voice isn't suitable. Rose Hobart is a suitably quiet, introspective Julie, and there's wonderful work from a young Lee Tracy. The Budapest setting isn't altogether realized, but there's some lovely, Kalman-like scoring, and the surviving print is, for its day, excellent.

This is a film based on a classic story reworked elsewhere by Fritz Lang, amongst others. It's a love story set in old Budapest about a carnival barker called Liliom, and a servant called Julie (pronounced with a decidedly odd "dj" sound throughout the movie) who is smitten with him. Julie is a remarkably attractive young lady who we first see toiling amongst an exuberance of glass vases, one of the more charming shots in the movie (wasn't life better when directors composed shots like painters?).

In this film and others, Borzage sets out his stall regarding love, his "faint heart never won fair lady" principles. I can live with that though he is rather brutal on the subject, quite happy to let the Fates unravel the threads of any man even faintly milksoppish. He really surpasses himself this time though, there's a carpenter who proposes to Julie and is knocked back, seemingly every week for a decade; perhaps he carries on after the end of the film until the undertaker is measuring him, who knows? The carpenter is an honest hard-working man who however is not the exciting razzmatazz individual we see with Liliom. There's a philosophy here. Liliom is lazy and a brute, Borzage shows no distaste even at the idea of him beating a woman. But he is carefree and charming. Borzage is telling us that there is no other value for a man in life than to be a rascal, beloved of the crowd. Indeed Liliom, absolutely without precedent, is selected as the first human to be allowed to return to earth after dying. That's the level of value that's associated with his lifestyle by the filmmaker.

My opinion is that Borzage stretches his philosophy too far with this movie and ends up seeming obnoxious. Love is a prize that women dangle from on high and men must make superhuman existential efforts to leap for. There's something antediluvian about his attitudes to gender. In Lucky Star, for example, it's charming, because you have a goodie up against a baddie, and it's a feel-good story with a spunky female. But here I just feel sorry for the carpenter, a much kinder man than Liliom, who works hard at life. I get the feeling from watching a few of his movies that he has fairly skewed ideas and would have a lot of sympathy with social Darwinists and also Objectivists like Ayn Rand.

It's an exasperating movie because it really is so beautiful, the fairground set is marvellous for example, and there is some beautiful heavenly footage. On the other hand Borzage hadn't managed to come to terms with sound here, at times it's almost like the actors are being prompted, that's how leaden the delivery can be. More fairly perhaps I should say that he hadn't come to terms with dialogue, because the sound design is actually very good in all other respects, the music in the beer garden is time wonderfully well with the conversation. What's really very nice to hear is the hammer dulcimer, which has a very unusual sound.

All in all a very mixed bag. In my opinion it's still totally unforgettable though.

For those posters who wondered about the quality of the new (Dec. 2008) DVD release of LILIOM, which is part of the over-stuffed, badly packaged Murnau and Borgaze at Fox set, the actual quality of this disc is unbelievably good. I don't know where they found their source elements, but this is a beautiful print, with only occasional flaws. The black and white photography is detailed and beautiful, allowing the best look we've had at the elaborate sets and interesting production design. Even Charles Farrell's voice, which is not ideal for this hyper-masculine role, is much improved on this newly restored print.

There is no commentary, but an impressive collection of still photos is included as an extra.

The film is still the stilted, downbeat, badly paced film it was before, but for "Carousel" aficionados, or fans of early talkies, this is a very interesting movie, which can now be experienced in a much more pleasurable manner. I would give the movie a 5-star rating, and the print 8 or 9. Amazingly good for its vintage!

LILIOM (Fox Films, 1930), directed by Frank Borzage, stars Charles Farrell in the title role taken from a famous play by Fernec Molnar. With some silent screen adaptations based on this material, including A TRIP TO PARADISE (Metro, 1921) starring Bert Lytell, LILIOM became its first sound edition. Popularized years later as the Broadway musical, CAROUSEL (1945), later adapted as a 1956 motion picture, this early screen edition offers romance and sentiment in the Frank Borzage tradition, and often hailed as a motion picture of great promise weakened by the performance by its leading actor.

Opening title: "This play is the love story of Julie, a serving maid, and Liliom, a merry-go-round barker. Liliom gropes and struggles through life and death, and even beyond death, ever seeking escape from himself, while Julie's love for him endures always." Set in Budapest, Hungary, Julie (Rose Hobart), works as a servant girl accompanied by her friend, Marie (Mildred Van Dorn). As much as Julie turns down dates with a caring young carpenter (Walter Abel), Julie's sole interest is Liliom Zadowsky (Charles Farrell), an amusement park merry-go-round barker and ladies man. Although their union on the carousel is innocent, Liliom stirs up jealousy from his domineering employer, Madame Muskat (Estelle Taylor). She soon warns Julie to stay away from Liliom, who enters the scene by telling Madame Maskat that he does what he pleases. Losing his job, Liliom walks away with Julie to the pub where he drinks away his sorrows. Three months later, Liliom and Julie, now married, struggle through life's hardships. Liliom, still unemployed and having the reputation of being a lazy loafer by neighbors, turns down offers to return to Madame Muskat in favor of joining forces with Buzzard (Lee Tracy) to commit a robbery and use the stolen money for a better life in America, especially after learning that Julie is going to have a baby. Their plot of robbery fails. With Buzzard captured by the police, Liliom chooses the easy way out by taking his own life. On a train bound for Paradise, the soul of Liliom meets with the Chief Magistrate (H.B. Warner) who offers him a second chance in life to return to Earth. After serving ten years "in the hot place," he is given temporary freedom to visit with his daughter (Dawn O'Day). What Liliom does should determine his fate with destiny. Also in the cast are Lillian Elliott (Aunt Hulda); Bert Roach (Wolf Feiser); and Harvey Clark (The Angel Gabriel). Child actress, Dawn O'Day, would later become professionally known as Anne Shirley following to first leading role as ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (RKO, 1934).

As much as Charles Farrell's popularity rested upon his frequent pairing opposite Janet Gaynor (12 films in all), it's a wonder how successful he would have become acting opposite other young actresses instead. Having already done solo work opposite other leading ladies as Maureen O'Sullivan or Joan Bennett, Farrell is given Rose Hobart, making her movie debut. Farrell's leading role here, sporting dark curly hair and mustache, might have done it for him, but his weak voice was somewhat against him. Playing a similar character as an egotistical young man with a heart of gold in his first role opposite Gaynor in SEVENTH HEAVEN (1927), LILIOM, certainly has the makings of another Gaynor and Farrell romancer. Had Spencer Tracy assumed the role of Liliom instead, chances are the movie would have been a hit since Tracy acting ability seemed to be a better fit than Farrell. It's been critically said that the 1934 French-made adaptation of LILIOM starring Charles Boyer to be far superior, and possibly so. For the role of Julie, Rose Hobart does a commendable job. Her performance as a loyal wife with eternal love for her husband is certainly believable, as opposed to the pretty Mildred Van Dorn, whose weak acting and method of speaking limits the movie's credibility.

For an early 1930 talkie, LILIOM looks somewhat advanced in the European cinema sense, especially with its Heavenly futuristic scenes that make this movie seem more like a 1935 release instead. Aside from dark visuals of "film noir" style and underscoring, the train express leading to the clouds of Heaven with lavish settings is quite impressive. Aside from OUTWARD BOUND (Warners, 1930), the Heavenly theme and spiritual guidance would be done repeatedly a decade later starting with Robert Montgomery in HERE COMES MR. JORDAN (Columbia, 1941), which set the pace for other fantasies of this nature to come.

Unavailable for viewing in decades, LILIOM, has been resurrected through its distribution to DVD as a tribute to Academy Award winning director, Frank Borzage. For those familiar with the movie musical version of CAROUSEL (1956) starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, may want to take a look at this dramatic form of the same story and compare. (**)