Lili

Not really a musical, Lili is best described as a romantic fable or sophisticated fairy tale. It tells the story of a naive 16-year-old orphan who joins a carnival. There she brings success to a lame puppeteer (Mel Ferrer) by interacting with his four puppets. Her ingenuousness leads her to regard the puppets as real persons. Ferrer, though outwardly bitter about the war injury that ruined his career as an acclaimed dancer, shows flashes of inner kindness and humanity: he uses his puppets at one point to infuse joy into a despondent Lili, and he smiles when she isn't looking. Soon he falls in love with Lili. But she can't recognize as Ferrer's the tenderness that is revealed only in the puppets. Repelled by the overt rudeness of "the angry man," Lili becomes infatuated with the carnival's magician, a ladies' man. When she eventually learns the magician is married, Lili's eyes open. But the puppeteer's jealousy still clouds her vision. She decides to leave the carnival. Her departure precipitates the dream sequence. Here, dancing with the four puppets she has grown to love, she slowly realizes that each character represents a facet of the puppeteer's personality. Gola the giant, for example, is frightened by girls, so he tries to frighten them; but he is actually cowardly, clumsy, longing to be loved. Lili's belated recognition that Gola and the others are really Ferrer brings the story to its heartwarming conclusion.

This imaginative movie is more than a classic. It is pure enchantment. Make it your top priority.

It was a sort of take on the wonderful "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" program, but there was never a romance betewwn Burr Tillstrom and Fran Allison. In fact, the book, "Love for 7 Dolls" is dedicated to Burr Tillstrom (the puppeteer for Kukla) and Fran Allison. So it is obvious Mr. Gallico is acknowledging the inspiration for the stores to the TV show.

I fall in love with the character Lili. And I relate so much to this puppeteer who is bitter because he wants something better. He wants to fall in love with this sweet girl, dance again and just be happy. You're damn right if you think I got emotional while watching it. I miss working with genuinely nice and sincere people. Last week I had a shouting match with the "new guy" at my work. This guy is an arrogant you-know-what. I'm like the puppeteer and do a few things very well that nobody else at my work can do (it's why I still have a job there). This guy is a jack of all trades who compensates by doing a little of everything. He's of the mind that "we can do without you". Funny, he's been there for months and me 8 years but he still thinks he's going to swing getting rid of me. Cuttthroats? Yep. But watching Lili was exactly what I needed to do this morning. I'm like that puppeteer. I want the girl and to be happy. I hope others find this movie so warm like I did this morning. Oh, I am looking elsewhere for work...heh heh...but still Lili has me feeling much happier that I did last week.

If this film was done in widescreen (the early 1950s was when that started...to counteract Lucy and etc on the TV) let's have a good DVD treatment. In addition to being pure magic, this movie is therapy!