The Love of Seven Dolls
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''Lili'' is a 1953 American film released by
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
. It stars
Leslie Caron Leslie Claire Margaret Caron (; born 1 July 1931) is a French-American actress and dancer. She is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award, two BAFTA Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards. She is one ...
as a touchingly naïve French girl whose emotional relationship with a carnival puppeteer is conducted through the medium of four puppets. The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, and was also entered in the
1953 Cannes Film Festival The 6th Cannes Film Festival was held from 15 to 29 April 1953. The Grand Prix of the Festival went to ''The Wages of Fear'' by Henri-Georges Clouzot. The festival opened with '' Horizons sans fin'' by Jean Dréville. During the opening ceremony ...
. It was later adapted for the stage under the title '' Carnival!'' (1961). ''Lili's'' screenplay, written by
Helen Deutsch Helen Deutsch (21 March 1906 – 15 March 1992) was an American screenwriter, journalist, and songwriter. Biography Deutsch was born in New York City and graduated from Barnard College. She began her career by managing the Provincetown Player ...
, was based on a short story and treatment titled "The Seven Souls of Clement O'Reilly" written by
Paul Gallico Paul William Gallico (July 26, 1897 – July 15, 1976) was an American novelist and short story and sports writer.Ivins, Molly,, ''The New York Times'', July 17, 1976. Retrieved Oct. 25, 2020. Many of his works were adapted for motion pictu ...
, which in turn was based upon "The Man Who Hated People," a short story by Gallico that appeared in the October 28, 1950 issue of ''The Saturday Evening Post''. After the film's success, Gallico expanded his story into a 1954 novella entitled ''Love of Seven Dolls''.


Plot

Naive country girl Lili (
Leslie Caron Leslie Claire Margaret Caron (; born 1 July 1931) is a French-American actress and dancer. She is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award, two BAFTA Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards. She is one ...
) arrives in a provincial town in hopes of locating an old friend of her late father, only to find that he has died. A local shopkeeper offers her employment, then tries to take advantage of her. She is rescued by a handsome, smooth-talking, womanizing carnival magician, Marc, whose stage name is Marcus the Magnificent (
Jean-Pierre Aumont Jean-Pierre Aumont (born Jean-Pierre Philippe Salomons; 5 January 1911 – 30 January 2001) was a French actor, and holder of the Légion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre for his World War II military service. Early life Aumont was born Jea ...
). Lili is infatuated with him and follows him to the carnival, where on learning that she is 16, he helps her get a job as waitress. Lili is fired on her first night when she spends her time watching the magic act instead of waiting tables. When Lili consults the magician for advice, he tells her to go back to where she came from. Homeless and heartbroken, she contemplates suicide, unaware that she is being watched by the carnival's puppeteer Paul (
Mel Ferrer Melchor Gastón Ferrer (August 25, 1917 – June 2, 2008) was an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He achieved prominence on Broadway before scoring notable film hits with ''Scaramouche'', '' Lili'' and ''Knights of the Roun ...
). He strikes up a conversation with her through his puppets—a brash red-haired boy named Carrot Top, a sly fox, Reynardo, a vain ballerina, Marguerite, and a cowardly giant, Golo. Soon, a large group of carnival workers is enthralled watching Lili's interaction with the puppets, as she is seemingly unaware that there is a puppeteer behind the curtain. Afterwards, Paul and his partner Jacquot (
Kurt Kasznar Kurt Kasznar (born Kurt Servischer; August 13, 1913 – August 6, 1979) was an Austrian-American stage, film and television actor who played roles on Broadway, appearing in the original Broadway productions of '' Waiting for Godot'', ''The ...
) offer Lili a job in the act, talking with the puppets. She accepts, and her natural manner of interacting with the puppets becomes the most valuable part of the act. Paul was once a well-known dancer, but suffered a leg injury in World War II. He regards the puppet show as far inferior to his old career, which embitters him. Lili refers to him as "the Angry Man". Although he falls in love with Lili, he can only express his feelings through the puppets. Fearing rejection due to his physical impairment, he keeps his distance by being unpleasant to her. Lili continues to dream about the handsome magician, wishing to replace his assistant Rosalie (
Zsa Zsa Gabor Zsa Zsa Gabor (, ; born Sári Gábor ; February 6, 1917 – December 18, 2016) was a Hungarian-American socialite and actress. Her sisters were actresses Eva and Magda Gabor. Gabor competed in the 1933 Miss Hungary pageant, where she ...
). Soon, Marcus receives an offer to perform at the local casino and decides to leave the carnival, to the joy of Rosalie, who announces to everyone that she is his wife. Lili is heartbroken and innocently invites Marc to her trailer. His lecherous plans are interrupted by Paul, and he leaves. When Lili finds Marc's wedding ring in the seat cushions and tries to chase him, Paul stops her, calls her a fool, and slaps her. Two impresarios from Paris who have been scouting the show come to see Paul and Jacquot. They recognize Paul as the former dancer and tell him that his act with Lili and the puppets is ingenious. Paul is ecstatic about this and the offer, but Jacquot tells the agents that they will have to let them know. He then tells Paul that Lili is leaving. Lili takes the wedding ring to Marc and tells him that every little girl has to wake up from her girlish dreams. She has decided to leave the carnival. On her way out, she is stopped by the voices of Carrot Top and Reynardo, who ask her to take them with her. As they embrace her, she finds they are shaking. She remembers somebody is behind the curtain and pulls it away to see Paul. Instead of telling her how he feels, he tells her of the agents' offer. She confronts him about the difference between his real self, seemingly incapable of love, and his puppets. He tells her he is the puppets, a creature of many facets and many flaws. He concludes by telling her, "This is business." "Not any more," retorts Lili, who walks away. Walking out of town, she imagines that the puppets, now life-sized, have joined her. As she dances with each puppet in turn, they all turn into Paul. Coming back to reality, Lili runs back to the carnival and into Paul's arms. They kiss passionately as the puppets applaud.


Cast

*
Leslie Caron Leslie Claire Margaret Caron (; born 1 July 1931) is a French-American actress and dancer. She is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award, two BAFTA Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards. She is one ...
– Lili Daurier *
Mel Ferrer Melchor Gastón Ferrer (August 25, 1917 – June 2, 2008) was an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He achieved prominence on Broadway before scoring notable film hits with ''Scaramouche'', '' Lili'' and ''Knights of the Roun ...
– Paul Berthalet *
Jean-Pierre Aumont Jean-Pierre Aumont (born Jean-Pierre Philippe Salomons; 5 January 1911 – 30 January 2001) was a French actor, and holder of the Légion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre for his World War II military service. Early life Aumont was born Jea ...
– Marc *
Zsa Zsa Gabor Zsa Zsa Gabor (, ; born Sári Gábor ; February 6, 1917 – December 18, 2016) was a Hungarian-American socialite and actress. Her sisters were actresses Eva and Magda Gabor. Gabor competed in the 1933 Miss Hungary pageant, where she ...
– Rosalie *
Kurt Kasznar Kurt Kasznar (born Kurt Servischer; August 13, 1913 – August 6, 1979) was an Austrian-American stage, film and television actor who played roles on Broadway, appearing in the original Broadway productions of '' Waiting for Godot'', ''The ...
– Jacquot * Amanda Blake – Peach Lips * Alex Gerry – Proprietor *
Ralph Dumke Ralph Ernest Dumke (July 25, 1899 – January 4, 1964) was an American comedian and actor who had an active career from the early 1920s up until his death in 1964. He rose to fame as part of a comedy duo with Ed East, performing nationally in ...
– Mr. Corvier *
Wilton Graff Wilton Graff (born Wilton Calvert Ratcliffe; August 13, 1903 – January 13, 1969) was an American actor. Early years The son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Graff, he was born Wilton Calvert Ratcliffe in St. Louis, Missouri, US. He graduated ...
– Mr. Tonit * George Baxter – Mr. Enrique


Production


Puppets

Walton and O'Rourke Walton and O'Rourke (Paul E. Walton and Michael O'Rourke) were a famous team of cabaret puppeteers who founded the Olvera Street Puppet Theatre in Hollywood in 1935. Within the puppeteering community Walton and O'Rourke were considered one of the f ...
, famous in puppeteering circles, made the puppets. They mostly worked in cabarets and did not appear on television. ''Lili'' is among the few known filmed records of their work which also includes the Walter Lantz cartoon and live action short film, ''Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: Puppet Show'' (1936). Walton and O'Rourke manipulated Marguerite and Reynardo, George Latshaw was responsible for Carrot Top, and Wolo Von Trutzschler handled Golo the Giant. Burr Tillstrom was approached to create puppets for the film, but turned it down.


Music

The score was composed by
Bronisław Kaper Bronisław Kaper (; February 5, 1902 – April 26, 1983) was a Polish film composer who scored films and musical theater in Germany, France, and the USA. The American immigration authorities misspelled his name as Bronislau Kaper. He was also va ...
and conducted by
Hans Sommer Hans Sommer may refer to: *Hans Sommer (composer) (1837–1922), opera composer * (1904–2000), film music composer for ''Der Mann, der Sherlock Holmes war'' and other films * Hans Sommer (cyclist) (1924–2004), Swiss cyclist *Hans Sommer (SS off ...
, with orchestrations by
Robert Franklyn The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, hono ...
and
Skip Martin Lloyd Vernon "Skip" Martin (May 14, 1916, in Robinson, Illinois – February 12, 1976, in Los Angeles, California) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and music arranger. Background Martin was active principally as an arranger for some ...
. Kaper's music received the Oscar for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture." Lyrics for the song "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" were written by Helen Deutsch for her previously published short story "Song of Love". Kaper's setting of the song was performed by Caron and Mel Ferrer in the film; the performance was released on record and reached number 30 in the American charts. Four excerpts from the score were first issued by MGM Records at the time of the film's release. The complete score was issued on CD in 2005, on ''
Film Score Monthly ''Film Score Monthly'' is an online magazine (and former print magazine) founded by editor-in-chief and executive producer Lukas Kendall in June 1990 in music, 1990 as ''The Soundtrack Correspondence List''. It is dedicated to the art of Film sco ...
'' records.


Responses and box-office

''The New York Times'' included it in its 2004 ''Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made,'' as did Angie Errigo and Jo Berry in a 2005 compilation of ''Chick Flicks: Movies Women Love.''
Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
, reviewing the film at its opening, had nothing but praise for the movie, rejoicing that "at last Leslie Caron's simplicity and freshness...have been captured again in the film." He showered other encomia on Caron, calling her "elfin", "winsome", the "focus of warmth and appeal", praising her "charm, grace, beauty, and vitality." He said screenwriter Helen Deutsch had "put together a frankly fanciful romance with clarity, humor, and lack of guile," and admires the choreographer, sets, music, and title song. The film was not universally liked, though;
Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...
called it a "sickly whimsy" and referred to Mel Ferrer's "narcissistic, masochistic smiles." According to MGM records, the film earned $2,210,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $3,183,000 overseas, resulting in a profit of $1,878,000, making it MGM's most popular musical of the year.


Awards and nominations


Source text and sequel


''The Man Who Hated People'' (short story)

''The Man Who Hated People'' appeared in the October 28, 1950 issue of ''The Saturday Evening Post''. It is lighter in tone than other versions of the story. In particular, the abuse heaped by the puppeteer on the innocent "girl" is emotional and verbal. Unlike the novel ''The Love of Seven Dolls,'' the short story does not even hint at physical or sexual abuse. The story opens in a New York City television studio where Milly, a "sweet-faced girl with slightly harassed expression," is about to make her farewell appearance on the ''Peter and Panda'' show. Peter and Panda are part of an ensemble of puppets; they are a leprechaun and a panda respectively; other puppets include Arthur, a "raffish crocodile;" Mme Robineau, a French lady "of indeterminate age with dyed hair;" Doctor Henderson, a penguin; and Mr Tootenheimer, a toymaker. They are all operated by a single puppeteer, named Crake Villeridge. Despite being a puppet show, it has, like the real-life ''Kukla, Fran and Ollie'' TV show, a huge audience of all ages. Also like ''Kukla, Fran and Ollie'', there is no script: "it's all
ad-libbed In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; from Latin for 'at one's pleasure' or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation. The ...
". (In fact, the illustration included with the story features the actual stage used for ''Kukla, Fran and Ollie''.) At the end of the show, "millions watching felt a sense of loss as though a family close to them were breaking up." Milly has been with the show two years, and, as in other versions of the story, she interacts in a spontaneous and endearing way directly with the personae of the puppets. In a flashback, during her audition, she had met and talked to the puppets before meeting any human being. Not realizing that this encounter was her audition, she is surprised when a station representative meets her and tells her "Your performance this afternoon came closest to what
r Villeridge R, or r, is the eighteenth Letter (alphabet), letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabe ...
wants." She says "But it actually wasn't a performance", and is told "Exactly. The first time you start giving a performance, you're through." Villeridge, we learn, is French Canadian, and had once been headed for a serious career as a hockey player. In an accident, two men "skated over the side of his face," ending his hockey career, and seriously and permanently disfiguring him. She soon learns that Villeridge is emotionally an abuser. She loves the on-air performances, loves the puppets and their personalities, and finds Mr Tootenheimer, the wise old toymaker, particularly comforting, but she hates Villeridge and what he does to her in rehearsal and after the show. He shouts at her, demeans her, criticizes everything she has done, and humiliates her in front of the program staff. When she meets a nice man named Fred Archer and believes she is "a little in love" with him, she decides she can no longer stand Villeridge and his tyrannical ways. She announces that she is marrying Archer and gives notice. After her farewell show, she changes into her street dress. She waits for everyone else to leave the studio, afraid of encountering Villeridge, who "might be waiting for her with one last attack." As she leaves, she hears the voice of Arthur, the puppet, who says, "I stayed behind. Milly, take me with you." Soon she is talking to Arthur and the other puppets. Mr Tootenheimer, the "old philosopher", explains to her that every man is composed of many things, and that the puppets represent aspects of Villeridge's real personality: :And if a man who has been cut and scarred and is ashamed of his appearance, who loved you from the first time his eyes rested upon your face, could be a brutal fool, believing that if you could be made to love all of the things he really was, you would never again recoil from the things he seemed to be. Millie cries "Crake! Crake! come to me." They embrace, and Milly decides to say goodbye to "the outside world—reality—Fred Archer" and live with Villeridge and his created "Never-Never Land of the mind."


''Love of Seven Dolls''

"In Paris in the spring of our times, a young girl was about to throw herself into the Seine." Thus opens the novella from which the film ''Lili'' and the musical ''Carnival'' was drawn. The Paul Gallico short story from which ''Lili'' was adapted was published in expanded form in 1954 as ''Love of Seven Dolls'', a 125-page novella. ''The New York Times'' review of the book opens "Those audiences still making their way to see ''Lili'' may now read the book from which this motion picture was adapted." The original short story was clearly based on the popular television puppet show ''
Kukla, Fran and Ollie ''Kukla, Fran and Ollie'' is an early American television show using puppets. It was created for children, but soon watched by more adults than children. It did not have a script and was entirely ad-libbed. It was broadcast from Chicago between ...
'', as it takes place in a television studio (not a carnival as in the film and book), and has many characters based on the Kuklapolitans. The novella was far more mystical and magic than the short story. Brettonais from the village of Plouha..."Wretched though she was, some of the mystery of that mysterious land still clung to her...the gravity of her glance, the innocence and primitive mind...there were dark corners of Celtic brooding...a little scarecrow." Helen Deutsch's adaptation is omewhattrue to the essential core of Gallico's story, but there are many differences, and Gallico's book is far, far darker in tone. In the book, the girl's nickname is Mouche ("fly") rather than Lili. The puppeteer is named Michel Peyrot, stage name Capitaine Coq, rather than Paul Berthalet. He is not a crippled dancer; rather, "he was bred out of the gutters of Paris", yet something moves him to save the potential suicide. The puppeteer's assistant is a "primitive" Senegalese man named Golo, rather than the movie's amiable Frenchman, Jacquot. He shares with Mouche a sense of primitive magic, and with her believes in the reality of the puppets. The first four puppets she meets correspond closely to those in the film and are a youth named Carrot Top; a fox, Reynardo; a vain girl, Gigi; and a "huge, tousle-headed, hideous, yet pathetic-looking giant" Alifanfaron. The latter two are named "Marguerite" and "Golo" in the movie (i.e. the name of the puppeteer's assistant in the book becomes the name of a puppet in the movie). The book includes three additional puppets: a penguin named Dr. Duclos who wears a
pince-nez Pince-nez ( or , plural form same as singular; ) is a style of glasses, popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that are supported without earpieces, by pinching the bridge of the nose. The name comes from French ''pincer'', "to pinch" ...
and is a dignified academic; Madame Muscat, "the concierge", who constantly warns Mouche that the others are "a bad lot"; and Monsieur Nicholas, a man with steel-rimmed spectacles, stocking cap, and leather apron, who is "a maker and mender of toys." The core of both book and movie is the childlike innocence of Mouche/Lili and her simple conviction that she is interacting directly with the puppets themselves, which have some kind of existence separate from the puppeteer. This separation is perfectly explicit in the book. It says that Golo was "childlike...but in the primitive fashion backed by the dark lore of his race" and looked upon the puppets "as living, breathing creatures", but "the belief in the separate existence of these little people was even more basic with Mouche for it was a necessity to her and a refuge from the storms of life with which she had been unable to cope." In the movie, the puppeteer, Paul Berthalet, is gruff, unhappy, and emotionally distant. Although Lili refers to him as "the Angry Man", he is not very cruel or menacing. His bitterness is explained by his identity as a former ballet dancer, disabled by a leg injury and "reduced" to the role of puppeteer. Gallico's Peyrot, however, is vicious in every sense of the word. No ballet dancer, he was "bred out of the gutters" and by the age of 15 was "a little savage practiced in all the cruel arts and swindles of the street fairs and cheap carnivals." He has "the look of a satyr." "Throughout his life no one had ever been kind to him, or gentle, and he paid back the world in like. Wholly cynical, he had no regard for man, woman, child, or God ... He would, if he could, have corrupted the whole world." In both book and movie, Mouche/Lili is tempted by a superficial attraction to a handsome man—an acrobat named Balotte in the book, the magician Marc in the movie—but returns to the puppeteer. In the movie, Marc's relation with Lili is exploitative. In the book, however, Peyrot is the exploitative and abusive one, and the relationship with BalottMouche "passed in that moment over the last threshold from child to womanhood" and knew "the catalyst that could save him. It was herself." She tells Peyrot "Michel...I love you. I will never leave you." Peyrot does not respond, but he weeps; Mouche holds his "transfigured" head and, according to Gallico, "knew that they were the tears of a man...who, emerging from the long nightmare, would be made forever whole by love." If this is a happy ending, it is not the simple happy ending of the movie. Reviewing the book on its publication,
Andrea Parke Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that re ...
says that Gallico creates "magic...when he writes the sequences with Mouche and the puppets." But "when he writes the love story of Mouche as the ill-treated plaything of the puppet master, the story loses its magic. The mawkish realism of the passages has an aura of
bathos Bathos ( ;''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st ed. "bathos, ''n.'' Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1885. grc-gre, ,  "depth") is a literary term, first used in this sense in Alexander Pope's 1727 essay " Peri Bathous", to describe an ...
that is not only unreal but unmoving."


Legacy

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: * 2004: AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs: ** "
Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" is a popular song with music by Bronislau Kaper, and lyrics by Helen Deutsch. The song was published in 1952. The song was featured in the film, '' Lili'', starring Leslie Caron. Recorded versions *Dinah Shore with Frank De Vo ...
"—Nominated


References


External links

* * * * *
Various releases on LP and cd of the music from the film
{{Charles Walters 1953 films American musical films Circus films Films about orphans Films directed by Charles Walters Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1953 musical films Films that won the Best Original Score Academy Award Films adapted into plays Films based on works by Paul Gallico Films set in amusement parks Films set in France Puppet films Films scored by Bronisław Kaper 1950s English-language films 1950s American films