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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9781572523876
Format: Color, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 1572523875
Label: Fox Lorber
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageAnalogFrenchOriginal LanguageAnalogGermanOriginal LanguageAnalog
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Fox Lorber
Release Date: November 24, 1998
Running Time: 110 minutes
Studio: Fox Lorber
Theatrical Release Date: 1955
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video:
Max Ophüls explores the scandalous life of dancer and courtesan Lola Montes with a bittersweet empathy that turns melodrama into a tragic melancholy masterpiece. Using the theatrical re-creation of Lola's life in a big-top pageant as a framing device, Ophüls contrasts the outrageous sensationalism of her reputation with poignant, poetic flashbacks that explore her many affairs, most notably with Franz Liszt (Will Quadflieg) and King Ludwig of Bavaria (Anton Walbrook). Lola's greatest tragedy is that she loved well, if not too wisely. If Martine Carol's central performance is lacking passion, as many critics have argued, her quiet, at times seemingly passive demeanor makes her a veritable prisoner of her society and her reputation. Swept along by Ophüls's sweeping camerawork, which glides through the film in a balance of intimacy and contemplative remove as if on the wings of angels, her life becomes like a cinematic ballet with Ophüls the choreographer and conductor. Peter Ustinov costars as the jaded circus ringmaster, who nightly narrates her exploits to a throng of scandal-hungry spectators, while she performs with a face hardened in indifference, resigned to her empty role as a figure of spectacle in a garish gilded cage. Shot in delicate color and impeccably composed widescreen compositions throughout by Ophüls's regular cinematographer Christian Matras, Lola Montes is his most beautiful and restrained film, a fitting swan song for one of the cinema's most sensitive directors. --Sean Axmaker
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Wow! This is just a great, subtle film by a master of pathos and regret. I enjoyed every nuamced minute and was impressed by the perfectness of the product and the faithfulness of the seller in terms of shipping and propriety of the product. Kudos!
Rating: -
Lola was a wildly creative woman who kept reinventing herself to meet her ever-changing needs. Passionate, headstrong, opportunistic, shameless, amoral, she essentially flipped a not-so-ladylike finger at a repressive society and lived a fascinating life that today would garner headlines but lift few eyebrows. Her life story might even seem somewhat inspiring today -- how in the world did she have the strength? The nerve?
This gorgeous movie made in the fifties has little shock and awe factor now but back then we would have viewed it from behind our (figurative) fans. Oh my wasn't she naughty, wink wink--an attitude younger viewers probably won't understand. Today the film is definitely worth a look as a stylized piece of art. Martine Carrol, who was many times more beautiful than Lola was, did all she could do with the script, seductive and calculating early on, and later, when she became a circus act, playing the part as if she were a Ziegfeld girl, silent behind her ... Read More
Rating:  -
Okay, it's not that bad, but I've been trying to upgrade the review titles lately and couldn't resist. Anyway, LOLA MONTES might carry the high cachet of a master's masterpiece, but I could barely keep my eyes on this story of the grand courtesan of Europe, Lola Montes, who left Liszt, loved King Ludwig, and wound up in the middle of a circus with Peter Ustinov wearing the tall silk and cracking a whip, the audience shouting out indelicate questions, and her life being replayed in a series of flashbacks. The lovely Lola, played by the monotonous Martine Carol, may have led a fascinating and compelling life, but it failed to generate a spark with me.
The thing does look good though, as far as I could tell. Nice framing, editing, layers of action, that kind of stuff. When this Fox/Lorber dvd wasn't showing off its scratches and flares it was fluttering across the screen. Even with a pristine print and a perfect transfer, though, I don't think I'd care to sit through this ... Read More
Rating: -
The dvd's in the proper CinemaScope ratio, but is non-anamorphic. With that in mind, the picture quality's great.
The movie's among the most beautiful I've seen. As a painter and former animator, I've seen many and am a tough critic. It seems to me, director Max Ophuls and crew were among the few working in the '50s who really understood how to compose in widescreen; in fact, this was Max's only widescreen movie and yet he was a master at it.
Few people complain that old master paintings have yellowed or been cropped, or that the Van Gogh's have turned green, but if a movie looks like it was made ten years ago, rather than today, people complain. This movie's fifty years old, but it doesn't at all look like it, which is remarkable considering it was shot in Eastmancolor, which unlike Technicolor, an old animator I worked under once told me, is very unstable. (Apparently Technicolor release prints exist.)
The Germans recently put a lot of time and money ... Read More
Rating:  -
Being unfamiliar with the criterion laserdisc print of this film, I can't really comment on the quality of this FOX LORBER edition. I can imagine that the colors could be a little more vibrant, as this edition did seem a little "washed out". But since its the only print available right now on DVD (region 1 anyways), I find it satisfactory (otherwise I would give this film a rating of 5 stars).
For those nitwits that don't find the character played by the exquisite Martine Carol fleshed out enough...Pay closer attention.. if youre looking for history rather than fiction..ummm, go die. This truly is one of the most remarkable films of all time. The subject matter, while set in the 19th century, is handled as (post?)modern as anything out right now. This is a story of a figure whose (vulgar?) exploits and scandals could only be tamed (at the hands of men and the status quo) by being reduced to a SPECTACLE (how true of ANY revolution!!!!!! ).
Buy the fox lorber print ...its cheap enough. ... Read More
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