Lola Montès

Lola Montès (1955)

Timing: 1:56 (116 min)

6.744/10
116

6.804/10
644

7.2/10
6600

All about film

Video 1

Photo 10

Actors and characters

Release date

1955-12-23

Country

France, Germany

Production

Florida Films, Gamma Film, Union-Film GmbH

Genre

Drama, History, Romance

Budget

$0

Revenue

$280 314

Website

Director

Max Ophüls

Actors

Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Adolf Wohlbrück, Henri Guisol, Lise Delamare, Paulette Dubost, Oskar Werner, Jean Galland, Will Quadflieg, Héléna Manson
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Max Ophüls, Annette Wademant

Producer

Anton Schelkopf, André Haguet, Albert Caraco

Operator

Christian Matras

Composer

Georges Auric

Artist

Audition

Editing

Madeleine Gug, Adolf Schlyssleder, Jacqueline Sadoul
All team (63)

• The film is based on the unpublished novel "The Extraordinary Life of Lola Montès" (French: "La Vie Extraordinaire de Lola Montès") by Cécile Saint-Laurent, which is based on the scandalous life of Eliza Gilbert, also known as Countess Landsfeld.
• The full version of the film has a runtime of 142 minutes.
• At the time of its premiere, it was the highest-budget project in the history of French cinema.
• The innovative narrative structure through a series of selective flashbacks was too bold for its time. Despite the director's protests, the producers re-edited the film to present Lola's story in chronological order. This made the plot even less understandable for an unprepared audience. Max Ophüls' battles with the producers over the editing were cut short by the director's death in 1957. Ten years later, the film was restored, but its original form could not be recovered due to the loss of 20 minutes of material cut during re-editing.
• In the early 21st century, the supposedly lost footage was discovered, allowing the French Cinémathèque, in collaboration with Max Ophüls' son Marcel, to restore the film for its world premiere in the "Cannes Classics" program (2008). It was then that "Lola Montès" was shown to audiences for the first time as the director had envisioned it.
• The film is based on the unpublished novel "The Extraordinary Life of Lola Montès" (French: "La Vie Extraordinaire de Lola Montès") by Cecile Saint-Laurent, which is based on the scandalous life of Eliza Gilbert, also known as Countess Landsfeld.
• At the beginning of the 21st century, footage considered lost was discovered, allowing the French Cinematheque, in collaboration with Max Ophüls' son Marcel, to restore the film for its world premiere in the “Cannes Classics” program (2008). It was then that “Lola Montès” was presented to audiences as the director had envisioned it.