Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Motompa Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

gavin6942 The film tells the tragic story of Lola Montès, a great adventurer who becomes the main attraction of a circus after being the lover of various important European men.This would be 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.I cannot imagine this film in chronological order. What does that mean -- putting the circus at the end? What a terrible idea. Thank you, Criterion, for fixing this mess... it is so much better seeing her as the center of fascination and then having her life -- the source of the fascination -- revealed.

blanche-2 Max Ophuls' last film is the opulent "Lola Montes," starring Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook, and Oskar Werner. Ophuls sets the background for Lola's story as a circus, where she is the star. Ustinov, as the ringleader, tells the audience her story, acted out by circus performers and also seen in Lola's flashbacks: her early bad marriage, debut as a dancer, various scandals, her affairs with Franz Liszt and King Ludwig of Bavaria (Anton Walbrook), and her escape from Bavaria as revolutionaries close in, after which she arrives at the circus.In "Lola Monte," Lola's story ends at the circus. In real life, after leaving Bavaria, Lola worked in both Australia and America, re-married, and had a home in Grass Valley, California, which is now a historic landmark. Her last years were spent in the New York City area where she acted and lectured before suffering a stroke.Carol is a beautiful Lola, a woman who in love affairs is one of repressed and detached emotions, but prone to wild antics and flares of temper. The song "Whatever Lola Wants" is inspired on Lola Montes, and in the film, it's clear that when she wanted something, she went after it, no matter the consequences.The color, the costumes, the sets of this film are all gorgeous - this apparently was the only time that Ophuls used color. The camera work is flawless.While one does not become fully emotionally invested in the character of Lola, this beautiful film is definitely worth seeing, from a great master.

utku_x i saw this movie very late, i am shameful for this, that i happen to watch so many rubbish movies but forget to watch some real treasures.OK, i accept the fact that there are better movies elsewhere. but for romantic people, this movie have a special importance i guess. or i hope? yes, title character is not rene zellweger or meg ryan type of a super lovely , always smiling person. but this is not a movie for superficial romantics.Carol is lovely throughout the movie..and ustinov is at his best.21. century is the time of visial arts. and this 1955 made movie is a visual artpiece can never get old or outdated. must see

pushnlacs Lola Montes- Essentially the true story of a women who kept more lovers than is generally accepted as proper, the fact that she lived during the 19th century only made this an even bigger ordeal.Her dream was to be a dancer but this never really worked out and in the end her life story, due to people of the time being attracted to such scandal, is used as a circus attraction. It is through this circus performance and flash backs that we see her life story and what lead to her being a circus performer.Honestly when all was said and done I was much less bored with the film than I would have expected. The film goes by at a decent pace though nothing of much excitement happens.Ophuls direction is rather elegant. He creates some simple yet beautiful shots. Martine Carol in the role of Lola isn't what I'd usually call beautiful in a traditional sense but she does have a captivating quality to her.