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The Extraordinary Lola Montes at the Belcourt Theatre Here in Nashville

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lola montes 3 The Extraordinary Lola Montes at the Belcourt Theatre Here in Nashville

Extraordinary!  Magnificent!  Spectacular!

Some of the thoughts that came to mind as I watched Lola Montes yesterday.  A legendary ‘lost film’ now restored.

If you’re in Nashville and love movies – go see it, it’s at the Belcourt Theatre from January 16th to the 19th, I implore you.

lola montes 4 The Extraordinary Lola Montes at the Belcourt Theatre Here in Nashville

It’s clear that the young Baz Luhrmann must have seen this – and it seared itself into his creative being, if it didn’t provide the actual spark for it.  It’s lavish / beyond lavish – a folly of colour and light – and what a folly – has there ever been anything like this in cinema before or since?

lola montes 1 The Extraordinary Lola Montes at the Belcourt Theatre Here in Nashville

Faults?  Yes.  Lola is played by Martine Carol – is the actress not up to the task? Perhaps not all she should be?  Yes, but that doesn’t matter; in this film Martine Carol is the ‘blank heroine’ as Nashville film critic Jim Ridley remarked afterward – she is that which we project our desires onto.

And so we relax into it – into the spectacle, into the marvel of the ages:  Lola Montes!  See Peter Ustinov as the Circus Master cracking his whip – parading the scandalous woman for our amusement!  See Anton Walbrook – one of the stars in that finest of all films as King Ludwig of Bavaria slowly fading in the arms of his mistress!  See inside the extraordinary coach of Franz Liszt!

And See – the greatest closing shot in cinema.  See Lola Montes.

lola montes 2 The Extraordinary Lola Montes at the Belcourt Theatre Here in Nashville

(Images sourced at Cinema is Dope)

This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 8:42 pm. It is filed under Blog, Character Actors, Directors, Drama, Jett Loe, Jett Loe Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

3 Responses to “The Extraordinary Lola Montes at the Belcourt Theatre Here in Nashville”

  1. TimHeaney says:
    January 10, 2009 at 4:38 am

    That's spooky – Having never seen a Max Ophuls film I watched “Madame De” this week and had wanted to seek out more of his work. Unfortunately the Belcourt is too far and Lola Montez is not out on DVD over here so I shall have to settle for “Letter from an Unknown Woman” or “Le Plaisir”.

    Reply
  2. TimHeaney says:
    January 10, 2009 at 11:38 am

    That's spooky – Having never seen a Max Ophuls film I watched “Madame De” this week and had wanted to seek out more of his work. Unfortunately the Belcourt is too far and Lola Montez is not out on DVD over here so I shall have to settle for “Letter from an Unknown Woman” or “Le Plaisir”.

    Reply
  3. The Film Talk » Lola Montes - Starting Today at the Belcourt says:
    January 16, 2009 at 12:07 am

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