Moulin Rouge

Moulin Rouge (1952) - Review
Where the more recent Moulin Rouge! is a shamelessly treacly romance set around the eponymous turn-of-the-century Paris club and infused with modern pop music video sensibilities, this Moulin Rouge is a gorgeously filmed character study based on the life of one of the era's superstars, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Once again I was richly rewarded by my lowered expectations. We all know how I feel about the modern version. I got this one thinking it would make my sweetie happy and I'd probably find it to at least be interesting. As the opening credits came up, I saw John Huston was the director. That upped the ante a bit. The first half hour or so was set in the Moulin Rouge... presumably a typical evening. Lot's of cancanning, drinking, catfighting, horrible Zsa Zsa Gabor lipsynching. Several of the scenes were obviously (and delightfully) set up to resemble Toulouse-Latrec's paintings.

Then things get interesting as we follow José Ferrer (as Toulouse-Latrec) around. He falls in love in a fashion that can only end painfully, and it does. He drinks. He exhibits an endearing non-judgmental attitude and humanity. Someone actually loves him for real and he rejects her. He drinks. He dies.

The story, my flip accounting aside, is engaging. Part of the reason it's so engaging is the almost unbelievable beauty of the filming and setting. I've never seen a print of a film this old that looked so clean. Not surprisingly it won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Color) and Best Costume Design (Color), along with a fistful of nominations for the acting.

This is maybe the best film I've ever seen that I had pretty much never heard of until I saw it.

Here's a delightful twist: There is a story thread throughout the first and second acts wherein the artist develops and prints his first promotional poster for the Moulin Rouge.



Thanks to my sweetie and her longtime fascination with all things fin-de-siècle Paris, a print of that poster is hanging on our wall. Sweet.

(out of 5)