earlytalkie This is a gorgeous Technicolor film which tells the tale of Tolouse Lautrec, admirably portrayed by Jose Ferrar. The atmosphere is perfectly drawn by director John Houston, who recreates the Paris of the late nineteenth-century to a T. Zsa Zsa Gabor, who was quite young and beautiful here does fine in a rather flashy part. The theme song was quite the hit when it charted over here. Special mention must be made of the fine use of Technicolor, which was used in a manner mindful of Lautrec's paintings. The colors are warm and vivid, and everything has a kind-of look as if you just stepped out of a time machine. The beautiful hues aside, this is a film which will entertain by virtue of it's fascinating story alone, and to me, is a far better film than the 2001 feature of the same name. It's not really fair to compare the two, though, as the two films are quite different in story, sharing only the title. A one-of-a-kind film and a rewarding one.

Wuchak A drama/biography/musical from 1952? My wife just wasn't interested. But I insisted that there's no film like the original (i.e. the REAL) "Moulin Rouge." It's a biography of the renown French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec from the 1890s who had very short legs and grew to stand only about 4'11" due to an accident and bone disease. Although he was from an aristocratic family he chose to live alone in Paris to pursue his art career. He would spend time at a local cabaret, Moulin Rouge, where he'd find inspiration for his art, as well as fuel for his increasing alcoholism.Although Henri (José Ferrer) was brilliant artistically & intellectually, he understandably had a poor self-image due to his dwarfism, which was constantly reinforced by various mean-spirited people. Yet, he discovers love for the first time when he meets a spirited woman bred in the cobblestone jungles of Paris (Colette Marchand). Will this love enhance his life or ultimately poison him? I'll leave that for you to discover.INTERESTING ITEMS: The opening dance hall sequences are highlighted by Katherine Kath (the redhead) and a young Zsa Zsa Gabor.José Ferrer is great as the protagonist with his commanding voice and interesting dialogues. His commentaries on life are brilliant and brutally honest, but also cynical.The viewer REALLY wants to see Henri find true love, happiness and victory, despite his deformity, but his cynicalism and alcoholism sadly enshroud him.The story is both entertaining AND thought-provoking. My wife & I had some good discussions after the film. For instance, real-life people & couples that the story brought to mind, the nature of existence as "unattractive" and unloved, missed opportunities thrown in our laps due to poor self-image and addictions, being a "has-been" and a "continue-to-be", etc.There's another significant female character who shows up in the third act, but I'm not sure of her name (in the movie or real life). In any event, the viewer will notice that she's NOT embarrassed to appear with Henri in public like the pathetic Marie Charlet. This is an important part; take note.Since the film is a biography it could only end one way, but I won't spoil it for you if you're not familiar with the true story.The film was shot in Paris and England and runs 2 hours.FINAL WORD: Make no mistake, "Moulin Rouge" is a masterpiece. There's really nothing else like it. It's the perfect antidote to modern 'blockbuster' drek. Disregard the fact that it was released in 1952, particularly if you have a distaste for old movies, as "Moulin Rouge" is a timeless film both hugely entertaining and thought-provoking, not to mention REAL. After watching my wife expressed how much she liked the film and thanked me because she would have never chosen it on her own.GRADE: A+

bobsgrock I have seen many biopics, but very few if any have the sympathy and heart for the main character as much as this John Huston-directed film about famous French painter Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. A childhood accident left his legs to stop growing at the same rate as the rest of his body, which in his mind and many around him left him an ugly monstrous creature too short to be minded. Born into aristocracy, the accident left him feeling below his father's expectations so he found his niche in painting and soon moved to Paris to further explore this output.Despite being a fictional account of this great painter's life, Huston is able to derive a certain amount of realism thanks to the marvelous art and costume direction. Set in the late 1800's of Paris, the opening scene is a wild and rambunctious evening at the famous dancing café Moulin Rouge, a favorite hangout of Lautrec and other artists. The film focuses mostly on his trauma from his deformity, which in turn affects any relationship he has with women as well as his feelings for himself. Being very cynical, he views the world simply as a drawing which he can never be a part of. Jose Ferrer perfectly captures his tortured soul in each scene and it is a great performance. The supporting cast is good including Zsa Zsa Gabor as a woman with whom perhaps he has the best kind of relationship; purely platonic. The film does tend to head into some melodramatic material in the final quarter, but that is a small quibble for an otherwise magnificent production that is gorgeous to look at as well as truly loving of this incredible painter who didn't let his shortcomings affect the one thing he could give to this world.

bobkurtz-1 I can't believe a director as talented as John Huston, following up "African Queen" and other successes, would pick such an inexperienced, untested, untrained actress(?) as Zsa Zsa Gabor for this major role. Zsa Zsa through out her career, was just an interesting character, popular more for her accent then her acting ability.Others have stated that Huston was unkind, if not abusive to her on the set, so why didn't he just replace her?Zsa Zsa has no other film credit of any note before or since. She could have gone on "What's My Line" before 1952 with a not blindfolded panel and no one would dare guess what her line was, because the word couldn't be mentioned on the air. What a stupid way to say I think she was a prostitute before she was an actress or in other words, Huston hired a prostitute, to play a prostitute.I do give her credit, she made more out of a sexy voice, etc., than almost anyone in Hollywood.Jose Ferrer received an Oscar nomination for literally stumbling thru his role as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Not unlike George Clooney's nomination for his uneven performance this past year (2007) for "Michael Clayton".I loved "Moulin Rouge when I was 12 and it first came out in 1952. I can't stand it now. I agree with most of the other comments, especially that the costume and set decorations (both received Oscars) still give you the feeling of a bawdy Paris nightclub at the turn of the century. The dance sequences are excellent on every levelThe filming and technical accomplishments (camera angles) and the hazed look to the nightclub, show Huston at his best, and in some respects, this is a break thru for the film industry for 1952. I would guess that Huston rushed this film to completion and release on Dec 23, 1952 so that it would qualify for Oscar nominations that year. There can be almost no other excuse for the horrible lip sync problems especially with Zsa Zsa. You might think they were trying to sync her up saying her lines in Hungarian, with the English equivalents. Its sad that several other Hollywood films have fallen victim to this rush to release and terrible dubbing.Like so many movies that must draw you into the film, this one does not translate well to the small screen.Still haunting to listen too after all these years is the title song performed by Felicia Sanders with the Percy Faith orchestra, which is not in the movie.I hope I can post this without assigning a value, because at some times in my life and at some points of this uneven film its a "10" while at others its a "2"The above are just my opinions, that I know no one will agree with, however that's the only reason I write on IMDb, to be disagreeable.You have to realize I am a split personality, one crazy, the other just rude and insensitive. Why else would I see both Michael Clayton (theatre) and later Moulin Rouge (TV) on the same day and feel the need to comment on both.It is 1/26/09 and I am aware of Zsa Zsa loses at the hands of Bernard Madoff, which I find truly tragic and unfair to her. Since my opinions above maybe also viewed as unfair, unkind and untrue, I withdrawn them, but I'm not going to erase them. If I erase them no one will know "I'm Still Crazy After All These Years"