There are a lot of very positive reviews for this film and it was apparently director Fritz Lang's favorite film. Despite this, I really had a hard time sticking with this fantasy film. Fortunately, it did get better in the latter portion, but overall I just didn't enjoy this. I think the biggest reason is that the central character, Liliom, is basically an unlikable jerk. When things turn disastrous for him late in the film, I just didn't care--a serious problem with any film.
The film begins with Charles Boyer playing Liliom--a hard-living sociopath who lies, beats women, loves fighting and is completely lazy. He lives off of unsuspecting women and, oddly, he's completely irresistible to women (at least the stupid ones) despite being a complete scumbag. It's a decent character study of an Antisocial personality but he's completely unpleasant and totally superficial.
Throughout the film, he lives off and uses women. Eventually, though, reality catches up to him when he discovers he's about to become a father. So, his solution is to get money for his new life by stealing the payroll from a local company. But, in the process, he dies and the rest of the film is highly reminiscent of "Faust". He goes to Heaven, they send him to Pergatory and, oddly, they let him go back to Earth to see his wife and daughter (who was born after his death). This part is much more interesting, but the special effects for Heaven (even by 1930s standards) are pretty poor.
The entire film just left me flat. If the film were remade (other than as the musical CAROUSEL), better special effects AND making Liliom somewhat likable and helping the audience to understand more about what a woman might like about him would help immensely. I wanted to like this film (as I love French films AND the films of Fritz Lang), but just couldn't. It is an interesting curio, but nothing else...at least to me.
The film begins with Charles Boyer playing Liliom--a hard-living sociopath who lies, beats women, loves fighting and is completely lazy. He lives off of unsuspecting women and, oddly, he's completely irresistible to women (at least the stupid ones) despite being a complete scumbag. It's a decent character study of an Antisocial personality but he's completely unpleasant and totally superficial.
Throughout the film, he lives off and uses women. Eventually, though, reality catches up to him when he discovers he's about to become a father. So, his solution is to get money for his new life by stealing the payroll from a local company. But, in the process, he dies and the rest of the film is highly reminiscent of "Faust". He goes to Heaven, they send him to Pergatory and, oddly, they let him go back to Earth to see his wife and daughter (who was born after his death). This part is much more interesting, but the special effects for Heaven (even by 1930s standards) are pretty poor.
The entire film just left me flat. If the film were remade (other than as the musical CAROUSEL), better special effects AND making Liliom somewhat likable and helping the audience to understand more about what a woman might like about him would help immensely. I wanted to like this film (as I love French films AND the films of Fritz Lang), but just couldn't. It is an interesting curio, but nothing else...at least to me.