OVP: Lili (1953)

Film: Lili (1953)
Stars: Leslie Caron, Mel Ferrer, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Kurt Kasznar
Director: Charles Walters
Oscar History: 6 nominations/1 win (Director, Actress-Leslie Caron, Cinematography, Art Direction, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score*)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars

There are days when I wonder why I'm spending hours upon hours trudging through some occasionally dull films in pursuit of seeing all of the movies ever nominated for a feature-length, narrative Oscar (I've got a daunting 2237 to go, and that's not taking into account the nominees to come), but then I get a film like Lili to remind me: it's because I love the movies.

This charming film, which I knew very little about going in, was a perfect vehicle for the lovely as a primrose Ms. Leslie Caron.  Caron has always been a favorite of mine-I love the way that her voice lilts like a piano and the fact that behind that petite face and golden voice is a dancer who had the pins to go to toe-to-toe with Fred Astaire AND Gene Kelly.  It's this determination beneath an innocent exterior that fits perfectly with the down-on-her-luck Lili in the film.  In the opening scenes, it's clear that Lili wants work, and she's perfectly willing to wait tables and help around the circus to get it.  As the scenes progress, you think for a second that she'll fall in love with Jean-Pierre Aumont's caddish magician, but then you suddenly come across the bitter, but misunderstood Mel Ferrer, who is the circus owner, and in the most charming moment of the film, a master ventriloquist.

For, by far the most enchanting and beautiful moments of the film surround the puppets that Ferrer uses to exhibit the sensitive and kind-hearted man beneath his rough veneer.  In my favorite scene, it appears that Lili is going to climb the trapeze ladder and jump in a sea of heartsickness over her unrequited love for Aumont's magician and because she has failed as a waitress.  Instead of just swooping in to save her, Ferrer puts his puppets to work, and expresses his desire for her to stay through them.  I swear, it's one of those magical film moments where several minutes have flown by and you've been grinning the whole time.  Caron's complete devotion to these puppets, and the sweetness she brings to each of her relationships with them is just stunning.  I know some would call it easy or perhaps compare her to a blank canvass, but I find it endearing-she captures that last flicker of amazement we save for when Santa and the Tooth Fairy and all childhood fancies are gone, and the only fairy tale we still believe in is love and "happily ever after."

The film also gives two rather elaborate dream sequences, in which they show that they haven't forgotten that Caron is a dancer.  As being a hoofer of her quality wouldn't befit the girl-from-nowhere she's playing, it's in her dream sequences where she gets to show off her ballet skills, first lusting after Aumont and then Ferrer.  Though, how she couldn't go for Ferrer in the first place is anyone's guess-with those blue, sympathetic eyes and his bad boy misunderstood persona, Charles Walters has taken one out of the "Make John Smitten" playbook.  And also, as a side note-I believe this is the first time I've seen Zsa Zsa in an actual film, rather than just reruns of  What's My Line? and Johnny Carson-and while of course she's va-va-voom, when it comes to her acting chops, Anna Magnani she ain't.

1953, for me, is one of those high-watermark years at the Oscars, so I can't say with complete certainty that I'll be giving Lili an Oscar when I'm done with all of the nominees, even though I adored it so.  Perhaps its best shot was the one the Academy of yesteryear gave it-the score, so rich, but also playful (the film takes place in a circus, after all), is a delight.  The Art Direction and Cinematography are both top drawer, but they're also competing with Shane and The Robe, so they may be out of luck (I haven't seen The Robe, in full disclosure, but stills of the film bode strongly for it).  And in the Best Director and Screenplay categories, well, you just don't lightly take away trophies from From Here to Eternity, Roman Holiday, and, one of my all-time favorites, Shane.

Of course, what you're most interested in is the leading lady, I'm sure.  Caron had to contend with another actress making a huge splash that year, Ms. Audrey Hepburn as Princess Anne in Roman Holiday.  Of course, Deborah Kerr was literally making a splash in the gigantic soap opera From Here to Eternity-of the three, I'm still very partial to Hepburn, and it's going to be hard to dissuade me.  Hepburn's performance lights just as well as Caron's, but her character's evolution is more difficult, and she gets the advantage of getting to play a bittersweet ending, much harder than Caron's fly-into-his-arms final kiss.  Still to come in the field is Ava Gardner's sole nomination for Mogambo and the tragic Maggie McNamara in her film debut, The Moon is Blue.  Stay tuned...

But in the meantime, share your thoughts on Lili and her marvelously charming friends Carrot Top, Marguerite, Reynardo, and Golo the Giant-what'd you think of the film?  Where does it rank amidst the classics of 1953?  What are your thoughts on Leslie Caron, Movie Star?  And between Caron, Hepburn, Kerr, McNamara, and Gardner, who most deserves that shiny gold man on their mantlepiece?