Liliom - Film Adaptations

Film Adaptations

Liliom has been filmed several times, beginning in the silent era:

• The first film version, directed by Michael Curtiz in 1919, was aborted in mid-production because of Curtiz's flight from Hungary, and never finished.

• The second, a somewhat disguised and heavily altered version reset in Coney Island, was made in 1921 and was titled A Trip to Paradise. It starred Bert Lytell.

• In 1930 came the first talkie version, a mostly faithful adaptation made in English by Fox Film written by S.N. Behrman and Sonya Levien, although Ficsúr (played by Lee Tracy) was called "The Buzzard" in this version. The character Hollinger, who is alluded to in the stage version but never actually appears, was one of the supporting characters in this film, and Mother Hollunder, the boarding house keeper, was re-christened Aunt Hulda. Directed by Frank Borzage, the film starred Charles Farrell and Rose Hobart, and was not a success. It is rarely shown today, but has recently been issued on DVD in an enormous multi-disc set entitled Murnau, Borzage, and Fox. The package contains many of the best known silent and early talkie films that F. W. Murnau and Frank Borzage made for Fox Film. The 1930 Liliom is, as yet, not available as a single disc.

• In 1934 came what is considered to be the most notable film version of Molnar's original play - the French film version directed by Fritz Lang, starring Charles Boyer and Madeleine Ozeray. This version, released by Fox Europa, was also extremely rarely seen, until it was made available on DVD in 2004. On the whole, it was a very faithful adaptation. Lang, however, omitted the characters of Wolf Beifeld and the Carpenter. Mother Hollunder was renamed Mrs. Menoux. In Lang's version, Hollinger again appears onscreen. He is a jealous barker who tries to undermine Liliom at the amusement park. It is Mrs. Menoux's assistant, a meek young man, who serves as substitute for the Carpenter and is infatuated with Julie. The criminal Ficsúr, who leads Liliom into committing a holdup, was renamed Alfred. In this version, Liliom slaps Julie onscreen; in the original stage versions of both Liliom and Carousel he is never shown doing this.

These first two talking film versions of Molnar's original play also alter the ending to make it more hopeful, though not as drastically as Carousel does. (A Trip to Paradise also featured a happy ending.) In the 1934 French film, Liliom finally does gain entry into Heaven, not because he has successfully done something good for his daughter, but because of Julie's forgiveness and love for him. Likewise, in the 1930 American film version, Liliom feels that he has failed, but the Heavenly Magistrate (H. B. Warner) reassures him that he has not, because Julie clearly still loves him. But it is never revealed in this version whether or not Liliom actually enters Heaven.

By contrast, in the original stage play, Liliom is ominously and sternly led offstage after he fails in his heavenly mission and is never seen or heard from again, although Julie still remembers him fondly.

• The play has also been adapted for both Austrian and German television, respectively, and twice for Spanish television.

• Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical adaptation, Carousel, was made into a CinemaScope 55 color film by 20th-Century Fox in 1956, starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones. The movie version of the hit musical failed to attract wide public attention at the time, although its soundtrack album was a best-seller and remains so to this day, but the motion picture has since taken its place as one of the Rodgers and Hammerstein film classics. In 2006, this film and the 1934 film of Liliom were packaged together on a 2-Disc DVD. (See the article on the film, Carousel.)

• A television adaptation of Carousel, starring Robert Goulet and an unknown singer-actress named Mary Grover, aired in 1967 on the ABC network.