One of my all time favorites.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

There's something gently magical about "Lili."If you can stomach the antiquated gender politics of the 1950s, you will find a lovely, melancholy little film about a naive young woman (Leslie Caron) who comes to realize that she loves a grumpy puppeteer (Mel Ferrer) rather than the more conventionally handsome and charismatic magician who first enraptures her. I've never been a big fan of Caron, but I liked her quite a lot in this film. The long scenes of her interacting with Ferrer's puppets might have been a disaster had she and director Charles Walters not struck just the perfect tone, but as it is they work beautifully and add the special something that makes this movie memorable. Ditto a dream sequence that serves as the film's finale, when the puppets are replaced by adult-sized counterparts who engage in a dance with Lili as she comes to the realization of where her heart lies. Walters, who specialized in musicals, uses his knowledge of the genre to enhance non-musical material.It's probably best not to think too hard about "Lili" if you want to relax into its charms, especially during the current climate of the MeToo movement. Lili is treated pretty badly by the men around her, even the one she falls for, and we're supposed to accept that he really has a heart of gold just because we're told so, not because we ever see him treat her well. Lili has to do all of the work to find the literal man of her dreams."Lili" did pretty well at the 1953 Oscars, landing nominations for Best Director (Walters), Best Actress (Caron), Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction (Color), and Best Cinematography (Color). But the only award it actually won was for Bronislau Kaper's score, which is indeed a major contributor to the film's success.Grade: A

Sweet little story.The story of a 16-year old orphaned girl, Lili (played by Leslie Caron), who, after main trials and tribulations, gets a job in a carnival as a puppeteer's assistant. The story of misplaced love, unrequited love, innocence and innocence lost.Very moving story. Leslie Caron is wonderful as Lili and Mel Ferrer puts in a solid performance as Paul, the puppeteer. On the negative side, it is over far too quickly. Not just because it is so good and you want more, but it felt like some more detail was required. It just seems to move so fast - some time to stop, take a breath and contemplate was in order.

I saw Lili as a seven or eight year old child, when I was home sick from school. I remember well the circus scenes. The rings, the trapeze artists, the ambiance. The story of this young girl, orphaned with little hope of a future, finding hope in a traveling show. The movie starts out as a tragedy, wherein poor Lili's parents die and she is trying to find an appropriate place in her universe. The story progresses to her finding a niche and climaxes with her joyful triumph of life and song.The song,"hi lili, hi lili, hi lo" still resonates in my memory. I can still hear the chorus as I am writing this piece. Remembering the movie's song and details after forty years....now, that's a good movie!

I saw this movie when I was about 20, in one of those tatty cinemas that showed wonderful old movies week after week and I immediately recognised it as from a very favourite story of mine by Paul Gallico - Love of Seven Dolls. I had already read pretty well all of his fiction and this is surely his best. The book is deeply moving and dark as Capitaine Coq, the villain/hero is very abusive to the little waif Mouche who goes along with him because there's nowhere else for her she believes but suicide in the Seine. The movie is far lighter but there are still faint dark echoes. It was the first time I'd seen Leslie Caron, who remained afterwards one of my favourites of women actresses - remember her in Chocolat? After that one viewing, I never saw the movie again until very recently but I had never forgotten it and was astonished that a musical which had been nominated for Oscars could disappear so completely. I still vividly remembered some moments from it, notably the finale of the ballet and the male leads. On first viewing I was entranced by Aumont but now I prefer Mel Ferrer - tastes change! I had missed its one or possibly two showings on TV here that I had noticed - on the last occasion years ago my videorecorder failed to record, big disappointment. But this recent second viewing confirmed my view that this is a truly charming movie.One of my other favourite movies is La Strada and I realised it is also the same story though I don't know if the makers of La Strada took the theme from Gallico's book or it was their own original. However, the elements are the same although dark like the Gallico story - the abusive man and in this case his simple-minded wife and her passing fancy for a flashy other man. Only the endings are really different.I drop this movie by one star to 9 because I wish it had used the original story rather than dumbing it down.