Rating: 
Summary: Max Ophuls cinematic look at the famous courtesan
Review: "Lola Montes" tells the story of the famous courtesan, played by Martine Carol, who became a circus novelty because she was ill and had nowhere else to go. As the high points of her life out acted out for the crowd, Lola recalls her own memories of these events, only having to respond when the Circus Master (Peter Ustinov), compels her to answer questions from the audience. Obviously Ophuls is looking at how fame and fortune can be fleeting, but it is the style rather than the subject matter that proves most memorable. The only significant problem with this film is the performance of the leading lady, who never manages to evoke either the desirability of Lola at her height of popularity or her despair on the bottom side of life. Peter Anton Walbrook plays the elderly Ludwig I, King of Bavaria and Will Quadflieg plays the musician Franz Liszt, two of Lola's most famous conquests. Oskar Werner plays a student in this 1955 French/German film. The true star becomes Ophuls' camera work, showing us what he wants us to see as he wants us to see it. He also takes advantage of the widescreen in several interesting ways. The last thing you need to know is that this appears to be a "semi-restored" version of Max Ophuls' legendary film. "Lola Montes," the director's only film made in Technicolor and CinemaScope, was originally 140 minutes long. The producers cut this down to 92 minutes and this videotape professes to be 110 minutes long. Work the math and it would seem 18 of the lost 48 minutes have been restored to this version. Hopefully more of what has been lost will magically pop up in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Max Ophuls cinematic look at the famous courtesan
Review: "Lola Montes" tells the story of the famous courtesan, played by Martine Carol, who became a circus novelty because she was ill and had nowhere else to go. As the high points of her life out acted out for the crowd, Lola recalls her own memories of these events, only having to respond when the Circus Master (Peter Ustinov), compels her to answer questions from the audience. Obviously Ophuls is looking at how fame and fortune can be fleeting, but it is the style rather than the subject matter that proves most memorable. The only significant problem with this film is the performance of the leading lady, who never manages to evoke either the desirability of Lola at her height of popularity or her despair on the bottom side of life. Peter Anton Walbrook plays the elderly Ludwig I, King of Bavaria and Will Quadflieg plays the musician Franz Liszt, two of Lola's most famous conquests. Oskar Werner plays a student in this 1955 French/German film. The true star becomes Ophuls' camera work, showing us what he wants us to see as he wants us to see it. He also takes advantage of the widescreen in several interesting ways. The last thing you need to know is that this appears to be a "semi-restored" version of Max Ophuls' legendary film. "Lola Montes," the director's only film made in Technicolor and CinemaScope, was originally 140 minutes long. The producers cut this down to 92 minutes and this videotape professes to be 110 minutes long. Work the math and it would seem 18 of the lost 48 minutes have been restored to this version. Hopefully more of what has been lost will magically pop up in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Max Ophuls cinematic look at the famous courtesan
Review: "Lola Montes" tells the story of the famous courtesan, played by Martine Carol, who became a circus novelty because she was ill and had nowhere else to go. As the high points of her life out acted out for the crowd, Lola recalls her own memories of these events, only having to respond when the Circus Master (Peter Ustinov), compels her to answer questions from the audience. Obviously Ophuls is looking at how fame and fortune can be fleeting, but it is the style rather than the subject matter that proves most memorable. The only significant problem with this film is the performance of the leading lady, who never manages to evoke either the desirability of Lola at her height of popularity or her despair on the bottom side of life. Peter Anton Walbrook plays the elderly Ludwig I, King of Bavaria and Will Quadflieg plays the musician Franz Liszt, two of Lola's most famous conquests. Oskar Werner plays a student in this 1955 French/German film. The true star becomes Ophuls' camera work, showing us what he wants us to see as he wants us to see it. He also takes advantage of the widescreen in several interesting ways. The last thing you need to know is that this appears to be a "semi-restored" version of Max Ophuls' legendary film. "Lola Montes," the director's only film made in Technicolor and CinemaScope, was originally 140 minutes long. The producers cut this down to 92 minutes and this videotape professes to be 110 minutes long. Work the math and it would seem 18 of the lost 48 minutes have been restored to this version. Hopefully more of what has been lost will magically pop up in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Fox=crafty, sly, or clever person, but...
Review: ...Fox-Lorber can be credited with sly only, for releasing this lack of quality even Madacy would be ashamed of.
The 1 star is because of this release. Maybe they don't know yet that DVD technology allow for subtitles as a choice option, and maybe their budget was too short to get them right (one quarter is accurate, one quarter is approximate, one quarter is absolute fancy, and one quarter has escaped translation. But the worse is the (absence of) quality of the picture which is perfectly matched by a botched soundtrack.
Until Criterion or some real professional in DVD business will take care of getting this released as it should be, better to avoid this one.
Rating:
Summary: The sin of Martine Carol
Review: Andrew Sarris once drew the ire of fellow cinephiles when he called LOLA MONTES the greatest movie ever made. He eventually recanted, but, as with so many of his prouncements, he was pretty damn close to the truth. If it isn't the greatest, it must rank somewhere in the top ten or fifteen. Most critics were judging a harshly butchered version of the film with about half an hour or so missing. A few years later that footage was restored, and the film began getting its critical due.One of the criticisms directed at the movie was Ophuls's casting of Martine Carol in the title role. She is a beautiful woman but does lack some of the magnetism one would think it would take to win the affections of the likes of Franz Liszt and the king of Bavaria. Still Martine has her moments of fiery display, and she's not totally unconvincing. But any lapse in her performance is more than compensated for by Ophuls's luscious baroque treatment of the story, the glorious settings, color, costumes, music, and his trademark moving camerawork. Has there ever been a more deliciously vertiginous movie than this one, with the camera limning the ups and downs of Lola's turbulent, triumphant, sad life? Probably not. Ultimately LOLA is a sad movie but thrilling nonetheless. Once you've seen it you will be compelled to watch it a least a dozen more times to catch all the magic the director is working onscreen. (If you can, be sure to see this in widescreen, which preserves the integrity of Ophuls's expansive vision.) And my choice of the greatest movie ever made (as if anyone cared)? Not LOLA MONTES but another Ophuls masterwork - the ravishing EARRINGS OF MADAME DE....
Rating:
Summary: The sin of Martine Carol
Review: Andrew Sarris once drew the ire of fellow cinephiles when he called LOLA MONTES the greatest movie ever made. He eventually recanted, but, as with so many of his prouncements, he was pretty damn close to the truth. If it isn't the greatest, it must rank somewhere in the top ten or fifteen. Most critics were judging a harshly butchered version of the film with about half an hour or so missing. A few years later that footage was restored, and the film began getting its critical due. One of the criticisms directed at the movie was Ophuls's casting of Martine Carol in the title role. She is a beautiful woman but does lack some of the magnetism one would think it would take to win the affections of the likes of Franz Liszt and the king of Bavaria. Still Martine has her moments of fiery display, and she's not totally unconvincing. But any lapse in her performance is more than compensated for by Ophuls's luscious baroque treatment of the story, the glorious settings, color, costumes, music, and his trademark moving camerawork. Has there ever been a more deliciously vertiginous movie than this one, with the camera limning the ups and downs of Lola's turbulent, triumphant, sad life? Probably not. Ultimately LOLA is a sad movie but thrilling nonetheless. Once you've seen it you will be compelled to watch it a least a dozen more times to catch all the magic the director is working onscreen. (If you can, be sure to see this in widescreen, which preserves the integrity of Ophuls's expansive vision.) And my choice of the greatest movie ever made (as if anyone cared)? Not LOLA MONTES but another Ophuls masterwork - the ravishing EARRINGS OF MADAME DE....
Rating:
Summary: Terrible Print
Review: I can hardly believe how bad the quality of the Fox-Lorber DVD version of this film is. I have the privilege of access to a local University library with an extensive laserdisc and DVD collection, so I was able to see both this DVD version and the criterion collection's out of print laserdisc edition of this film. The difference between the quality of the dated laserdisc and this DVD was like night and day - the laserdisc was incomporably better. Why Fox-Lorber does not simply pay for the Criterion print is beyond me. For Fox-Lorber to buy the DVD rights to this film and then release a version of such shamefully low quality is ridiculous - it seems to me alogical, as if though it would have made more sense for Fox-Lorber never to aquire the rights at all. In truth, because I enjoy this film so much, I feel that this DVD is an act of wanton cruelty on Fox Lorber's part. I would advise discriminating viewers to avoid this DVD; I despair because I can now not own a copy of the film for myself in the forseeable future.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible Print
Review: I can hardly believe how bad the quality of the Fox-Lorber DVD version of this film is. I have the privilege of access to a local University library with an extensive laserdisc and DVD collection, so I was able to see both this DVD version and the criterion collection's out of print laserdisc edition of this film. The difference between the quality of the dated laserdisc and this DVD was like night and day - the laserdisc was incomporably better. Why Fox-Lorber does not simply pay for the Criterion print is beyond me. For Fox-Lorber to buy the DVD rights to this film and then release a version of such shamefully low quality is ridiculous - it seems to me alogical, as if though it would have made more sense for Fox-Lorber never to aquire the rights at all. In truth, because I enjoy this film so much, I feel that this DVD is an act of wanton cruelty on Fox Lorber's part. I would advise discriminating viewers to avoid this DVD; I despair because I can now not own a copy of the film for myself in the forseeable future.
Rating:
Summary: BAD TRANSFER, BAD TRACK
Review: I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw "Lola Montes", had made its way to DVD. I was so thrilled I couldn't get my money out fast enough. Of course, I took for granted that the negative had been restored and the telecine transfer had been made from a new 35mm interpositive on the Philips "Spirit". I also took for granted that the best audio facility would have been employed re-record the track of a film this important cinema history. Well, I was wrong on both counts and badly wrong at that. It's almost as though someone found a 16mm print that had been left outside in a garbage dump for twenty years and mastered it rather than go through the expense of restoring this masterpiece. It is simply the worst looking print and worst sounding track I have ever experienced on VHS or DVD. If you're hoping to see one of the world's great films beautifully restored and re-recorded, look somewhere else.
Rating:
Summary: Swan Song: Max Ophuls Final Movie
Review: 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.
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