Claude Nollier, Colette Marchand, José Ferrer

It was one of the top 10 grossing films of 1952 and garnered seven Oscar nominations, but Moulin Rouge is neglected today. Not to be confused with the Baz Luhrmann-Nicole Kidman extravaganza, t...( read more  read more... )his is a color-soaked tale of Toulouse-Lautrec (Jose Ferrer), based on a romanticized novel about the artist's life. Director John Huston explores the discrepancy between the creation of exquisite art and the messy business of living--especially messy for the growth-stunted, alcoholic painter, whose affairs revolve around prostitutes. The soap-opera aspects of the storyline limit the picture (as does the distracting fact of Ferrer walking on his knees), but it has some gorgeous things in it. The experiments in color photography (which horrified the Technicolor people) are spectacularly successful, and the movie won Oscars for set decoration and costumes. George Auric's haunting melody became a standard, so lovely even the dubbed performance of Zsa Zsa Gabor couldn't hurt it. --Robert Horton

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86% liked it

25,891 ratings

Critics

71% liked it

7 critics

Unrated, 119 min.

Directed by: John Huston

Release Date: December 23, 1952

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DVD Release Date: June 15, 2004

Stats: 4,511 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (4,511)


  • August 13, 2008
    A wonderful companion piece to the more recent version and completely opposite in terms of tone. Ferrer is fantastic as Lautrec and the effects used to give the impression of him being short are faultless over 50 years on. The art direction and costume design were both worthy of ...( read more)their Oscar wins. The plot and pacing however are often uneven and repetitive as Lautrec meets new women who essentially treat him the same way. The first relationship became annoying with how every scene was simply arguing. For the most part though it is a haunting anti-romance with enough discussion points for any artist.
  • January 6, 2008
    Excellent biopic of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, the turn of the century painter whose legs were deformed by a childhood accident, leaving him essentially a dwarf. Jose Ferrer does a great job in conveying the frustration and pain -- both physical and emotional -- of someone in his co...( read more)ndition. The scenes in the Moulin Rouge club is visually exciting, making you understand why he wanted to spend so much time there. Anyone with any knowledge of Lautrec and his art will recognize the inspirations of his paintings. But you don't have to know anything about him at all. It's interesting on its own. Keep an eye out -- not too difficult -- for Zsa Zsa Gabor in an early role as a performer at the club. This film is completely different and MUCH better than that musical tripe starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan MacGregor.
  • August 13, 2007
    This was interesting! poor short guy tho!
  • January 16, 2007
    good movie, better than the remake.
  • November 5, 2006
    Eye candy. Otherwise singing people freak me out.
  • November 1, 2009
    it had a nice story and i hate musicals
  • September 21, 2009
    Vooral de zang van Ewan McGregor is de moeite waard
  • September 19, 2009
    Only seen the new one
  • September 14, 2009
    gd songs and some funny scenes but weird in other scenes!
  • September 7, 2009
    Original isn't as good as the Nicole Kidman one but still an ok film.

Critic Reviews


Comments


  • cinnamontree
    January 3, 2008
    PEOPLE, do NOT mistake to think this is the Moulin Rouge with Kidman and McGregor! This is not even the older version of it!

    The story we have here is based on the novel Moulin Rouge by Pierre la Mure. It tells the story of one of the greatest artists in history, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He had a short life because he was an alcoholic and was constantly depressed because of love gone wrong.

    So please, do everyone a favour and check the movie description before you rate and review!

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Moulin Rouge Trivia


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