Rating: 
Summary: Not every film was shot in widescreen
Review: According to IMDb, "Moulin Rouge" was shot in 1.37, not widescreen. Therefore you're not losing that much to view this in 1.33 (full screen) format.
Rating: 
Summary: A great film for artists and creative people !
Review: AS a painter myself there are many moments in the film I could relate to,like not being appreciated or understood by your peers and family. Jose ferrer gives a delicate and beautiful performance to resurrect Lautrecs aura and we have to thank him for that.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible film!
Review: Extremely moving film, the kind hollywood rarely makes anymore. If you like smart but very accessible, emotionally engaging tear-jerkers, this will beocme one of your all time favorites, guaranteed. It's about falling in love and losing the one you love. It's also about a man who was maimed and misunderstood in every way all his life, but in the end he succeeded.
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Summary: No Absinthe of Malice?
Review: First of all, why is the VHS out of stock? Also, why is there no DVD? Shame on somebody!Many of those who have seen the film directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Nicole Kidman (2001) may not know about this film which appeared about 50 years earlier. Based on Pierre LaMure's biographical novel and directed by John Huston, this Moulin Rouge focuses entirely on the life of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Two years previously, Jose Ferrer received an Academy Award for leading actor in Cyrano de Bergerac. He was nominated again in 1952 for his portrayal of Toulouse Lautrec (he also plays the painter's father, Comte Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec, a small but significant role in this film), losing to Gary Cooper (High Noon). How interesting that each of Ferrer's two greatest performances on-screen is of a French aristocrat with a significant physical deformity who encounters only failure and despair in his love life. In any event, Ferrer is brilliant in a cast of consistently high quality. As chanteuse Jane Avril, Zsa Zsa Gabor essentially plays herself: beautiful, vain, melodramatic, self-absorbed, good-hearted, and charming. Also noteworthy are Colette Marshand (as Marie Charlet), Suzanne Flon (Myrianne Haven), Katherine Kath (La Goulue), and Christopher Lee (Georges Seurat). Although nominated for several Academy Awards, this film received only two (for Color Art Direction and Color Costume Design), both richly deserved. Huston skillfully directs an excellent cast while blending seamlessly Oswald Morris' cinematography with George Auric's musical score. Born in 1864, Toulouse-Lautrec spent his childhood years on family estates near Albi, with Paris becoming his home in 1872. The victim of a genetic bone condition that made him vulnerable to fractures, he walked with a cane by age thirteen and grew to be only four feet eleven inches tall. One example of Huston's genius is the fact that much of the film is shot from Toulouse-Lautrec's perspective. That is, we see the aristocrat-artist's world almost literally through his eyes as he sits and sketches in the music hall, then drags himself to his stunted feet and slowly, painfully resumes his late-night debauchery. In frail health throughout his adult years, Toulouse-Lautrec exacerbated his situation with alcoholism which no doubt hastened his death in 1901. Lying in bed and near death, he learns from his astonished father that his paintings will be on exhibition at the Louvre. ("The Louvre, Henri, the Louvre! I did not know, Henri, I did not understand....") This final scene reminds me of the final scene in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), starring Robert Donat. Both Toulouse-Lautrec and Charles Chipping are near death, barely conscious. Both imagine being visited by those they once knew, bidding them a fond farewell. For Toulouse-Lautrec, the performers from the Moulin Rouge; for Chipping, many of the boys he taught over a period of several decades at Brookfield School. This film is a feast for the eyes. At least for about two hours, it enables us to return to Paris near the end of the 19th century, to a world which remains vivid in the great art of Seaurat, Renoir, Degas, Monet, Manet, Bonnard....and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
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Summary: Stunning DVD transfer!
Review: How nice it feels to be 100% satisfied with a MGM release! (I'm still close to tears when I think of the horrible treatment they gave Garland's "I Could Go on Singing" recently!) This is certainly one of the best three strip Technicolor transfers available on DVD. The image quality is absolutely gorgeous from start to finish! I find it hard to believe that this haunting work of art looked any better when it was initially shown in first class cinemas way back in 1952. I've seen Mr. Huston's film maybe 50 times over the years, but never in my wildest dreams could I ever imagine that it was possible to restore it into something as beautiful as this DVD. A loud BRAVO to MGM!
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Summary: First Widescreen movie was "The Robe" in 1953.
Review: I don't want to offend anyone, but the reason this wonderful film arrives in full screen on dvd, is because it was shot that way. The very first widescreen movie was "The Robe", 1953. So any film which you buy on DVD before 1953 will be a 4:3 aspect ratio. We as movie going fanatics back then didn't know any better. "The Robe" was produced in widescreen as a way of drawing people back into movie houses, since theater goers were staying home to watch old movies on 4:3 televisons.
So, if you're upset about the aspect ratio of this DVD, feel better about it. There never was a widescreen version of this movie. Enjoy it for lush sets and wonderful performances, all directed by a man who knew exactly how to use every single inch of a 4:3 screen, John Huston. He made some of the greatest movies ever produced in that aspect ratio, and this is one of them.
Rating: 
Summary: Moulin Grey
Review: I usually like John Huston films, but this has got to be his most pointless effort. It just goes on and on and on without getting anywhere and the historical accuracy is abysmal. Toulouse-Lautrec spoke with a very pronounced lisp, part of the same congenital defect that stunted his legs. But in this film Jose Ferre's perfectly monotone diction is neither accurate or interesting. And the film is so dull that you can never forget about the fact that Ferrer is standing on his knees in every scene. Your mind will keep drifting away from the story of Lautrec and musing on the obvious camera angles that were designed to keep Ferrer's lower legs out of sight.
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Summary: **THE** Moulin Rouge (1952) to DVD
Review: If any film can be close to history, this Moulin is one. This Moulin Rouge does require digitalization and restoration in the conversion to DVD, and all of this is possible. It would be wonderful if an accompanying DVD, "Making of Moulin Rouge" (1952) be with the DVD release. Many are not aware that in his role Ferrer demonstrates interesting things, i.e. how Lautrec produced his lithographs with the methods of the day with etched stones; how he splattered paint
springing back the hair on a paint brush, etc.
With all of the offered insights of the day, will the critics take Ferrer to task for walking on his knees, instead of surgically removing his legs ?
Consider the production, "Making of Lust for Life" which furnishes the background for the Kirk Douglas classic, and how and where it was filmed on actual locations in France.
In the "Making of Lust for Life" Kirk Douglas speaks with living people who knew Van Gogh, and what a great experience.
These four films represent a great period in art history, and artists, young and old, should be able to view these products in
the best technology available; rather than relegating them to some dark film vault to be forgotten. These films are vibrant and alive.
The contribution of these production outweighs the efforts of the "spoilers" who would very likely throw out the Mona Lisa as
some smiling insignificant lady of the night. Those who dismiss the value of these art productions reflect the poverty of their cultural background,
and anemia coursing their limited concepts. The misguided should be forgiven for their total lack of experience and deprived aesthetics.
Moulin Rouge (1952) was an Oscar winner for stunning art direction, set decorations, and costumes.
Theme song by Georges Auric, one of the members of French composers who called themselves, "The Six."
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Summary: JANE,LA GOULUE ET VALENTIN
Review: Il y a le can can bien sur,JANE AVRIL,LA GOULUE(dont on verra la déchéance)et VALENTIN LE DÉSOSSÉ.Mais il y a surtout un transfert dvd remarquable;la couleur est nette et absolument irréprochable.JOSÉ FERRER excelle a nous montrer la dualité de TOULOUSE-LAUTREC,a la fois gai dans ses oeuvres et malheureux en amour.Des fondus enchainés permettent d'admirer certaines oeuvres du peintre.Pas de bonus,ni de galeries de photos,mais on ne saurait s'en plaindre ici.A la fin,sur son lit de mort,HENRI dans un mirage,renoue avec les personnages du MOULIN-ROUGE,tandis que son père découvre trop tard le talent de son fils.Deux regrets:ne pas avoir fait figurer ARISTIDE BRUANT et YVETTE GUILBERT(un choix du scénariste)pourtant rendus célèbres par le peintre, et ne pas avoir inclus la piste sonore FRANCAISE.Qu'a cela ne tienne,qu'attendez-vous pour acheter ce film?
Rating:
Summary: DVD BREATHTAKING!
Review: John Huston's MOULIN ROUGE is one of the truly great examples of the Technicolor process being used at its very best -- and I'm pleased to report that the DVD issue of this film is flawless. The Technicolor look of this film takes your breath away! And Jose Ferrer's performance is one the two or three finest of his career. This film takes its place along side LUST FOR LIFE as one of the finest film adaptations of an artist's life. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
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