Lola Montès (Film 1955 - ENG & RUS SUB)

Lola Montès is a 1955 historical romance film and the last completed film of German-born director Max Ophüls. Audio in French & German with English and Russian subtitles (Click on CC).

Based on the novel La vie extraordinaire de Lola Montès by Cécil Saint-Laurent, the film depicts the life of Irish dancer and courtesan Lola Montez (1821–1861), portrayed by Martine Carol, and tells the story of the most famous of her many notorious affairs, those with Franz Liszt and Ludwig I of Bavaria.

A co-production between France and West Germany, the dialogue is mostly in French and German, with a few English-language sequences. This was the last film directed by Ophüls before his death of a heart attack in March 1957. As originally shown in France in 1955, the audience sees the events of Lola Montès' life through the use of flashbacks. Use of the technique was criticized upon its release, and the movie did poorly at the box office. In response, the producers re-cut the film and shortened it in favor of a more chronological storyline, against the director's wishes.

Heavily re-edited (multiple times) and shortened after its initial release for commercial reasons, it has been twice restored (1968, 2008). It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in North America by The Criterion Collection in February 2010.

Cast & Characters:
Martine Carol as Lola Montez
Peter Ustinov as Circus Master
Will Quadflieg as Franz Liszt
Anton Walbrook as Ludwig I, King of Bavaria
Oskar Werner as Student
Henri Guisol as Horseman Maurice
Lise Delamare as Mrs. Craigie, Lola's mother
Paulette Dubost as Josephine, Lola's maid
Jacqueline Cantrelle as friend of conductor