John Huston, one of the all-time great movie producers, has made a remarkable film of the life of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, arguably the most exciting painter of the Belle Epoque and a member of one of the foremost aristocratic families at the time, in France. Huston managed in this film to come as close as possible to showing us what really made the artist tick. As a you boy Lautrec fell from a flight of stairs and broke both his legs. They never mended properly or grew again and the accident left him cippled for life. In spite of this, he left the save surroundings of his home and went to Paris to become a painter, where, in the eyes of his family, he lived a scandalous life. Particularly his father, the Count of Toulouse, never understood his son. Only shorly before his early death, When Henri became the first living painter ever, whose paintings were accepted by the Louvre, did he realize what a genius his son had been. Huston made this life story into a very moving film, with an excellent cast. José Ferrer played the hero, which was physically a nearly impossible achievement, showing us the insight of a tortured soul. Colette Marchand created the character of Marie, a low-life prostitute, who was possibly the only woman, Lautrec ever loved. Zaza Gabor is Jane Avril, the only ray of light in this sad story. In this film Huston made for the first time in movie history use of color, as a dramatic instrument. It was no longer "decoration", but a valuable means to give every scene its full and very special impact. In my view, the film should have been the 1952 Oscar winner, but instead, the title went to "The greatest show on Earth".
It is a pity that the technical quality of the DVD is not up to the very best present-day standards.

Nostalgic trip to a Paris gone-by..
Review date: 2001-10-09 Rating: 8 out of 10

This film can bring an enchanting feeling of nostalghia for some persons. Certainly not to the French. Moulin Rouge, the real place was always for tourists at least since the sixties. This is, in my opinion, a british vision of a certain idea of Paris, in the Edwardian times.
It speaks British English even if Zsa Zsa Gabor speaks "hungarian american". The wry humour is not gallic at all.
Even if the American critics enthuse about John Huston's "capturing the flavor of Montmartre" he does not. His french screenplayer tries, the british technicians help.
But this is more a producer/cinematographer's movie than a director's and they are both British: Jack Clayton and Oswald Morris.
The DVD is not state of the art and could not be, given the fact that it was made by a small company, probably without access to the master negatives. But older Technicolor movies transfer better to DVD than not so old Eastmancolor, and visually this is quite very good, even if a bit soft.
The sound is Dolby 2 channel and the original mono is well respected in the musical numbers.
Now, that a new "Moulin Rouge" is being released worldwide perhaps is better to go for the closest approach to the original....

John Huston's Greatest!
Review date: 2001-09-10 Rating: 8 out of 10

This most beautiful and moving of films still haunts me seeing it again after several years. Jose Ferrers' finest performance (on screen anyway) and brilliant use of colour from a true artist Cinematographer, Oswald Morris, who was robbed at the Academy Awards in 1952 by not winning! A truly great film in every respect and although a fictional account of the dwarfish artist Toulouse Lautrec, which biopic isn't? In my view this is John Hustons' most underrated work and should stand alongside The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The African Queen as his greatest. Heaven knows what Buz Luhmann is going to churn out with his planned remake!

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