Max Ophüls Movies
Abandoning journalism for the theater, Max Oppenheim changed his name to Max Ophüls so as not to embarrass his father, a German-Jewish garment manufacturer, if he failed. An actor from 1919, Ophüls turned to directing in 1924. Two years later he took creative charge of Vienna's Burgtheater, offering an exhaustive repertory of Austrian, German, Russian, French and English classics. Ophuls had 200 plays to his credit at the time he entered films, in 1929, as dialogue director for UFA's Anatole Litvak. He made his own movie directorial debut with 1930's Dans schon lieber Lebertran. The best of his early films was Liebelei (1932) which included several elements that would distinguish his later work, including lavish settings, a pro-feminist viewpoint, and a climactic duel between an older and younger man. Ever keeping his ear to the ground, Ophüls left Germany after the 1932 Reichstag fire, accurately predicting that the now-inevitable Nazi takeover would be disastrous to him both personally and artistically. From 1933 through 1940, Ophüls directed a steady stream of profitable but forgettable films in France, Italy, Holland and Russia. He became a French citizen in 1938, only to be forced out of his adopted country by (again) the Nazis in 1940. He relocated to Hollywood in 1941, languishing there without work until he was rescued by his longtime admirer, director Preston Sturges. Through Sturges' intervention, Ophüls (billed as Opuls on his American productions) was one of several directors hired to make sense of the benighted Howard Hughes production Vendetta (begun in 1946, but not released until 1949). It was in his subsequent Hollywood films--The Exile (1947), Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948), Caught (1949) and The Reckless Moment (1949)--that Ophüls truly hit his stride. Unlike some European expatriates, Ophüls loved the efficiency of the Hollywood studio system, and was especially impressed by that system's highly skilled technical and production staffs. He also admired the vulgar, abrasive self-made moguls who created the film industry, sensing that they, like he, truly loved the movies. One stylistic element that became most pronounced during Ophüls' Hollywood years was his fascination with fluid camera movement, specifically horizontal tracking and in-and-out dollying. Some of the directors' associates found this preoccupation endearingly amusing: James Mason, star of Caught and The Reckless Moment, penned a bit of doggerel that read in part "A shot that does not call for tracks/ Is agony for dear old Max/ Who, separated from his dolly, / Is wrapped in deepest melancholy." Those unsympathetic to Ophüls dismissed his trademarked tracking as mere empty virtuosity. But Ophüls' stylistic choices always had thematic purpose. Often he utilized sweeping tracking shots recording the hustle and bustle of extras to point out the contrast between a world where life rolls on unmolested and the serious, life-challenging problems of the protagonists. Just as often, he would place objects between his camera and his actors to emphasize the emotional schisms between the characters on screen. He was particularly fond of camera compositions incorporating sparkling mirrors and glass and/or backgrounds of breathtaking opulence, the better to underline the unhappiness of his characters despite the luxuriousness of their surroundings. Beyond his patented camera dexterity, Ophüls was renowned for his sharply delineated female characters. "The Ophulsian woman," wrote critic Andrew Sarris, "triumphs over reality only through a supreme act of will"--often a figurative or literal suicide. After four happy, creative years in Hollywood, Ophuls sensed that the studio system he so adored was beginning to crumble in 1949. He returned to France, where he made the quartet of films that many consider his masterpieces: La Ronde (1950), Le Plaisir (1951) Earrings of Madame De... (1953) and Lola Montes (1955). The last-named film proved beyond doubt that Ophüls was one of the very few directors to fully grasp the creative possibilities of CinemaScope (seeing this film on a "flat" screen is a lost cause). Lola Montes also contained what was arguably Ophüls' finest set piece: the show-stopping 360-degree pan around the once-dazzling Lola (Martine Carol), entrapping her in the depravity to which she has sunk. During his last decade, Ophüls also directed adaptations of the classics for German radio, displaying as much virtuosity aurally as he had visually. Just after the successful opening of a play he'd directed, the 54-year-old Ophüls died in Hamburg of a rheumatic heart. His memoirs, Spiel im Dasein, were published posthumously in 1959. Married to actress Hilde Wall, Max Ophüls was the father of documentary filmmaker Marcel Ophüls (The Sorrow and the Pity, Hearts and Minds etc.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1958
Montparnasse 19 is better known as Modigliani, which is also the name of its protagonist. In broad, melodramatic strokes, screenwriter Max Ophuls and director Jacques Becker offer their spin on the tragic, troubled life of Italian abstract painter Amedeo Modigliani. As played by Gerard Philipe, Modigliani is first seen as the derelict he became during his days as a resident of rundown Montparnasse in 1919. His one chance for redemption through the love of the beautiful Jeanne (Anouk Aimee) is thwarted by his hateful family. Another contributing factor to Modigliani's downfall is debauched English novelist Beatrice Hastings (Lili Palmer). The Modigliani depicted in Montparnasse 19 makes Vincent Van Gogh look like Pat Boone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gérard Philipe, Anouk Aimée, (more)
Max Ophuls' final film (and his only movie in color) is a cinematic tour-de-force masquerading as a biography, in this case a dazzling fictionalized life of the notorious 19th century dancer, actress, and courtesan. A still beautiful, but weary and disillusioned (and, as we later discover, ailing) Lola Montes (Martine Carol) is first seen as the featured attraction at a seedy American circus, appearing at the center of a series of various tableaux depicting the scandalous events for which she is known. With a strangely sincere yet sinister and manipulative ringmaster (Peter Ustinov) providing color commentary, some of it very ironic on two or more levels, the movie flows between these staged recreations in the circus and the events as recalled by the subject. In a series of dissolves, the film takes us through her girlhood with her mother, interrupted when her mother's lover (Ivan Desni) becomes attached to the daughter; her unhappy marriage and its aftermath; romances with composer Franz Liszt (Will Quadflieg), abduction by a Russian general (in the arms of Cossacks, no less); her affairs across the landscape of Europe with men great and notable; her thwarted aspirations as a dancer; and her romance with King Ludwig I (Anton Walbrook) of Bavaria, which led to her being made Countess of Landsfeld, and, later, to his abdication. The gracefulness of Ophuls' cyclical narrative, and the transitions between the recalled elegance of the locales, and the people with whom her romances and affairs took place, and the seediness of the circus -- where she is also compelled, in the course of performing, to perform as an aerialist -- were lost on viewers in 1955. And for many years the movie only existed in a version re-cut without the director's approval, in which the story was presented in linear fashion. It was only in the 1960's, long after Ophuls' death, that efforts were made to restore the original structure, and in 2008 the movie's original Technicolor luster was restored to its full depth and richness. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, (more)
Max Ophüls' masterpiece stars Danielle Darrieux as the titular Madame Louise de..., who in the film's opening scenes is forced to discreetly sell a pair of earrings, a gift from her military officer husband Andre (Charles Boyer), in order to make good on her debts. After she claims the earrings to be lost, the story of their possible theft hits the newspapers, prompting the jeweler who bought them (Jean Debucourt) to secretly sell them back to Andre, who then gives him to his mistress Lola (Lia Di Leo) as she prepares to leave for a holiday in Constantinople. There, the earrings again change hands as Lola pawns them to cover her gambling losses. They are then purchased by Donati, an Italian diplomat (Vittorio de Sica) on his way to France to meet with Andre. Of course, the earrings soon find their way back to Louise. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, (more)
- 1952
The works of Guy de Maupassant have likely been adapted by more French filmmakers than those of any other author (with the possible exception of Georges Simenon). Max Ophuls harnesses three Maupassant short stories to suit his artistic purposes in Le Plaisir (House of Pleasure). In "The Mask," an aging lothario (Jean Galland) learns more about himself than he cares to when he dons a mask to cover his wrinkles. In "The House of Madame Tellier," the proprietress of a brothel (Madeline Renaud) closes up shop one day for an unusual (for her) personal mission. And in "The Model," both the title character (Simone Simon) and her artist-lover (Daniel Gelin) pay the price for her romantic impulsiveness. Each of the playlets in Le Plaisir explore conflicting sides of human nature -- a theme common to both the works of Maupassant and the films of Ophuls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Dauphin, Jean Galland, (more)
- 1950
Vendetta began as a pet project of producer/director/writer Preston Sturges. Producer Howard R. Hughes was at first enthusiastic about the project, but lost interest after a bitter argument with Sturges. Director Max Ophuls was originally slated to direct, but Hughes lost interest in him and hired Mel Ferrer instead. Eventually, Hughes decided to make the film anyway, primarily to introduce his latest protégé, Faith Domergue. The film sat on the shelf for four years before Hughes finally released it through RKO. The story begins in old New Orleans, where hot-blooded Corsican maiden Colomba (Faith Domergue) coerces her brother Orso (George Dolenz) into avenging their father's murder. There follows a series of labyrinthine plot twists, leading to a corpse-strewn denouement. Hillary Brooke co-stars as British gentlewoman Lydia Nevil, with whom Orso has a brief romance before sacrificing love for honor. The screenplay, which was credited to W.R. Burnett after several other writers had a crack at it, was based on Colomba, a novel by Prosper Merimee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faith Domergue, Hillary Brooke, (more)
- 1950
An exercise in style, La Ronde was one of the few films of the 1950s to contain overtly sexual themes. The story is a series of character vignettes, set in Vienna in the early 1900s and held together by a narrator (Anton Walbrook). As the title implies, both the story and the film's visual motifs are circular. Director Max Ophuls uses an old-fashioned merry-go-round to foreshadow the film's events, in which each segment introduces a new character, who has an affair with a character from the previous scene. The film demands that the audience pay attention to the structure, to the interplay among the characters, and to the opulent visual elements; and the effect is synergistic delight, in which the viewer is engaged both visually and intellectually. Because it was filmed in black-and-white, La Ronde does not have the garish look of some of Ophuls' other films, notably Lola Montès. La Ronde is among the few foreign language films to receive multiple Oscar nominations, for Black & White Art Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anton Walbrook, Simone Signoret, (more)
- 1949
It doesn't take a nuclear scientist to figure out that Smith Ohrig, the character played by Robert Ryan in Caught, is a thinly disguised takeoff of Howard Hughes. But whereas Howard Hughes was merely paranoid and eccentric, Smith Ohrig is an all-out psycho. Impulsively marrying ambitious model Leonora Eames (Barbara Bel Geddes), Ohrig keeps the poor girl a virtual prisoner in his palatial mansion, tormenting her with twisted mind games while he continues his premarital playboy activities. Coming to the realization that wealth and creature comforts are no substitute for stability, Leonora takes a "normal" job in the offices of society doctor Larry Quinada (James Mason). Falling in love with her boss, Leonora nonetheless returns to Ohrig when he turns on his patented charm. Only an act of God (accelerated by Ohrig's hedonistic lifestyle) rescues Leonora from a life of lavish bondage. Billed as Max Opuls on the credits of Caught, director Max Ophuls manages to implant his own distinctive style upon what is essentially a slick Hollywood studio product. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes, (more)
- 1949
A blend of melodrama and film noir, The Reckless Moment stars Joan Bennett as Lucia Harper, a suburban housewife whose husband is away on business. Her daughter, Bea (Geraldine Brooks), an aspiring artist, has fallen for Ted Darby (Shepperd Strudwick), a shady older man from Los Angeles who claims to be an ex-art dealer. One night, after a secret rendezvous in the Harpers' boathouse that turns into an argument, Bea accidentally kills Darby. When Lucia discovers his body in the morning, she panics and dumps it in the lagoon instead of contacting the police, who would surely charge her daughter with murder. Her problems only increase when a suave Irish gangster named Donnelly (James Mason) shows up with a package of love letters from Bea to Darby, and blackmail on his mind. With her husband out of town, Lucia has no choice but to give in to his demands, and brings him along on a desperate quest to raise the money that takes them from bank to loan office to pawn shop. Along the way, Donnelly seems to develop sympathy -- even affection -- for her. When his boss shows up to pressure him into finishing the job, Donnelly's surprising decision sets up the film's startling climax. The Reckless Moment was remade in 2001 by Scott McGehee and David Seigel as The Deep End. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Mason, Joan Bennett, (more)
Perhaps the finest American film from the famed European director Max Ophüls, the film stars Joan Fontaine as a young woman who falls in love with a concert pianist. Set in Vienna in 1900, the story is told in a complex flashback structure as the pianist, Stefan Brand (Louis Jourdan), comes upon a letter written to him by Lisa Berndl (Fontaine), a girl who has been in love with him for years. Stefan is in the process of fleeing Vienna on the eve of fighting a duel. As he prepares himself for the nocturnal journey, the letter arrives. It begins, "By the time you read this letter, I may be dead." As Stefan sits back in his study to read this letter, it turns out to be a confession of unrequited love from Lisa. The story flashes backs to when Lisa was 14 years old and Stefan was her neighbor. After following Stefan with a girlish obsession, the romance gets much more serious, and they have a brief encounter. Stefan promises to come back to her after a concert tour, but he never does. Meanwhile, Lisa marries another man when she discovers that she is pregnant with Stefan's child. When she runs into Stefan years later, he doesn't remember her and tries to seduce her. After Stefan reads the letter, he wants to rush to her side, but now poor Lisa is dying from typhus. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan, (more)
- 1947
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is the title character, a young king exiled by evil conspirators. Forced to live far from his homeland, Fairbanks is harassed by the wicked Henry Daniell, who has been appointed to keep the young monarch from reclaiming his throne. After falling in love with commoner Paula Croset (later billed as Mara Corday), Fairbanks decides to take on the corrupt elements that have ousted him, and he dispatches Daniell in an exciting sword duel stage in an old windmill. Many of Fairbanks' more dangerous stunts were handled by David Sharpe, who received credit as second-unit director. Filmed in black and white, The Exile was originally released to theatres in "Sepiatone", a process which enhanced the film stock with a light brown tint. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nigel Bruce, Fred Cavens, (more)
- 1940
Director Max Ophuls managed to get three productions before the cameras in 1940, the best of which was De Mayerling a Sarajevo. In his characteristic pageant-like fashion, Ophuls traces the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire by spiritually linking the tragic 19th century romance of Crown Duke Rudolph and Baroness Maria Veretsa to the 1914 assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and the subsequent outbreak of WW1. According to the film, Ferninand (played by American actor John Lodge) was no slouch in the romantic department himself; but unlike his predecessor Rudolph, the Archduke is permitted to marry his mistress (Edwige Feuilliere), who thereby becomes the Duchess of Hohenberg. Mistrusted by his aristocratic peers because of his progressively democratic notions, Ferdinand seems destined to be martyred at the hands of his enemies, in much the same way that Rudolph's non-royal impulses brought about his demise. One of Ophuls' favorite cinematic devices, the "court dance", is cunningly utilized in De Mayerling a Sarajevo when the lovers are prevented from attending a palace ball, symbolizing the irreparable schism between the modernistic Ferdinand and the hidebound Hapsburgs-and also presaging the deaths of the Archduke and his Duchess. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Lodge, Aimé Clariond, (more)
- 1939
This "feature film" was actually comprised of eight musical short subjects, helmed by three of France's top filmmakers. Artists spotlighted herein include pianist Alfred Corto, performing Debussy's Children's Corner; cellist Gregory Piatigorsky, playing Andante et Rondo; and contralto Elizabeth Schumann, singing Schubert's Ave Maria. The individual sequences vary wildly in quality, adding to the patchwork ambience of the film. Many consider Max Ophuls' Valse Brilliante and the aforementioned Ave Maria as the highlights of the show, though these are more impressive visually than musically. The film's final offering, featuring a performance by Serge Lifar and the French Opera Ballet, was radically cut down from its original three-reel length. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregor Piatigorsky
- 1939
Sans Lendeman (Without Tomorrow) was Max Ophuls' first directorial endeavor since 1938's Werther. Edwige Feuillere stars as a night club hostess with a shady past, whose sole reason for living is her adopted baby. But she is denied even this balm when ex-lover Georges Rigaud comes back into her life. Complicating matters is the presence of slimy blackmailer Georges Lannes, who intends to capitalize on Feuillere's misery. Fatalistic in the extreme, Sans Lendeman is given life by the eye-popping camera trickery of Max Ophuls, whose love affair with tracking shots reaches orgasmic dimensions. The unexpectedly moralistic ending may have been added merely to appease American audiences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edwige Feuillère, Pauline Carton, (more)
- 1937
This bit of elegant esoterica was Max Ophuls' only directorial effort for 1937. Japanese matinee idol Sessue Hayakawa made a long-overdue return to films as Yaamo, a humble Chinese coolie in love with the beautiful and aristocratic Kohana (Michiko Tanaka). Following her father's suicide, Kohana is reduced to working as a Geisha girl, and it is in this capacity that she meets Russian naval officer Serge Polinoff (Pierre-Richard Willm), who marries the girl and takes her back to his homeland. Now regarding Kohana as a traitor, Yaamo swears vengeance on both the girl and her Russian husband. At film's end, only Kohana is left alive, which in context is surprising indeed. The Japanese government issued a formal complaint about the content of Yoshiwara, but French moviegoers were not yet conditioned to take such things seriously, and the film was a hit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Richard-Willm
- 1936
An early esoteric exercise from director Max Ophuls, La Tendre Ennemie (Tender Enemy) was adapted from a play by A. P. Antoine. Years ago, Annette Dupont (Simone Berriau) married a man she didn't love for financial security. Now, Annette's grown daughter (Jacqueline Daix) is about to make the same mistake. Hoping to prevent this are the ghosts of Annette's deceased lovers, who return to earth to guide the daughter onto the right path in life. As a bonus, the three spirits produce the "right man" for the girl, as if by magic. Ophuls' fascination with camera tricks and elaborate crane shots reaches dizzying heights in this otherwise modest comedy-fantasy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Georges Vitray
- 1934
Max Ophuls' La Signora di Tutti can be regarded today as a dress rehearsal for his 1955 masterpiece Lola Montes, though it comes nowhere near the brilliance of that later classic. Isa Miranda stars as a famous actress who, in the opening scenes, attempts suicide. A series of lavish flashbacks details the events leading up to her cataclysmic decision. In her heyday, the actress' haunting beauty was enough to drive men mad--and some to the point of killing themselves. Modern audiences may have trouble keeping a straight face during some of the more heated passages, but Ophuls' basic premise--that fame and celebrity are ultimately hollow entities--is not to be taken lightly. The director's fabled camera techniques help smooth over some of the rougher and more ludicrous passages. La Signora di Tutti represents Max Ophuls' sole participation in the fascist-dominated Italian film industry of the 1930s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Isa Miranda, Memo Benassi, (more)
- 1933
A choice early example of esoterica from the great Max Ophuls, On a Vole un Homme (Man Stolen) is a bit more lighthearted than later Ophuls efforts. Typical of the director's best works, the film's strongest character is the heroine, a young adventuress named Annette (Lily Damita). Hired by the business rivals of young banker Jean de Fayate (Henry Gayat), Annette lures the youthful millionaire into a kidnap trap. Eventually falling in love with her victim, Annette helps Jean to escape -- and to get even with those who've been plotting against him. Gorgeously photographed on the French Riviera and other such eye-catching locations, On a Vole un Homme was the first of a brace of films produced in France by Erich Pommer on behalf of Hollywood's Fox Films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lili Damita, Charles Fallon, (more)
- 1932
Filmed in 1932, Die Verkaufte Braut is Max Ophuls' own unique spin on the Smetana opera The Bartered Bride. The film is a showcase for celebrated Czech opera diva Jarmila Novotna, whose screen appearances were unfortunately few and far between. The original libretto, involving the comic misadventures of two mismatched couples, is given a respectable amount of attention, but the film's biggest selling card is the photographic dexterity of Max Ophuls, who never met a camera crane he didn't like. Since filmed opera was seldom big box-office in 1932, Ophuls concentrates on the farcical elements of the story; especially worth noting are comic contributions by Paul Kemp and Otto Wernicke, who seldom let their German film fans down. Curiously, star Jarmila Novotna, whose "live" appearances in The Bartered Bride were much prized by contemporary critics, doesn't come off all that well in this film version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jarmila Novotna, Paul Kemp, (more)
- 1932
Max Ophuls' second film directorial effort, Die Verliebte Firma (The Firm in Love) wasn't quite as lavishly esoteric as his later works, but on its own pleased the crowd. While on a location shoot in the mountains, film actress Anny Ahlers quarrels with her husband and walks out of the production. Luckily, Lien Dyers, a beautiful young skier with an even more beautiful singing voice appears out of nowhere. Before long, every male member of the production company has fallen in love with the girl, and it would seem that she is a shoo-in to replace the recalcitrant Ahlers. Alas, Dyers proves to be an inept actress, but she still enjoys a happy ending in the arms of the film unit's production manager. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gustav Fröhlich, Ernst Verebes, (more)
- 1932
Liebelei is one of the earliest of the cinematic banquets directed by German filmmaker Max Ophuls. The film, set in imperial Vienna, concerns the romance between a young girl and a lieutenant. A powerful baron misreads the lieutenant's ardor, assuming that it is being directed towards his own wife. A duel follows which, no matter how it turns out, will spell tragedy for at least one of the characters we care about. The central character is portrayed by Magda Schneider, the mother of 1960s film star Romy Schneider. Liebelei was filmed in two different languages, German and French; the latter version was titled Une Histoire D'Amour. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Magda Schneider, Wolfgang Liebeneiner, (more)
