Sadly Over-hyped

Dreadfully Boring

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Pros: Watching the film, you get an appreciation for Henri Toulouse-Latrec, the man behind the art. He was of noble birth, but only grew to 4'8", with an adult-sized torso but child-sized legs, because of a childhood accident in combination with a genetic disorder (which was in turn due to his parents being first cousins). In a decision which estranged him from his father, he went to Paris to become a painter, and while he had a circle of acquaintances from frequenting the Moulin Rouge, was desperately lonely, and an alcoholic. Director John Huston does a great job in flashing back to tell the back story.The film is a nice homage to his art as well. We see him creating sketches, paintings, and prints in various settings which give quite a taste of his style, and along the way Huston flashes through two sets of images of Toulouse-Latrec's actual artwork, sequences I enjoyed.José Ferrer turns in a fine performance as Toulouse-Latrec, impressive both physically (since he was 5'10") and also in his artistic intensity, which spilled over into the inevitable emotions coming from being ridiculed, mocked, or pitied as a 'freak'. While a wee bit cloying, I thought the ending was a very nice touch, with the dying Toulouse-Latrec visited by ghostly versions of his bohemian friends from the Moulin Rouge, who say good-bye to him. It seems to fit with the 'world gone by' reminiscence of the Montmartre circa 1890, and offsets the artist's sad death.Cons: Historical accuracy. The artist's life is sanitized and watered down here. In the film, Toulouse-Latrec takes up with a prostitute and has a stormy relationship with her, but always maintains noble feelings and a sense of class. The real Toulouse-Latrec led a much more dissolute lifestyle, spending days at a time in expensive brothels. He had a protracted case of syphilis, which, along with complications from alcoholism, killed him at 37, and the STD is not even alluded to here. Have a look at the used-up, wasted, and dejected look of the women in his work "The Sofa" (1894-96); there is real pathos and a sense of squalor in art such as that, but we don't see that sort of thing in the film.Similarly, the environment of the Moulin Rouge dance hall, as well as the musical numbers performed there, feel 'rated PG', and a far cry from the outrageous, wild, and dangerous place we not only read about, but see in Toulouse-Latrec's work. Huston spent a lot of time on colors and filters and the like, but seems to have missed (or not been able to show because of the production code) the real nature of the place.Zsa Zsa Gabor is awful as a showgirl. She lip synchs a couple of songs and is obviously off more than once. In fact, with the exception of Colette Marchand, none of the other actors comes close to matching Ferrer's performance, and oddly, few attempt a French accent as he does. Bottom line: Many Hollywood depictions (and other historical accounts) are romanticized, so it's not shocking to see that here, especially as the movie is from 1952. I like the attempt to honor the man and his art, but it's particularly unfortunate to romanticize someone like him, and the Moulin Rouge. Worse seeing, but with a grain of salt.

MOULIN ROUGE is an engaging and well-realised biopic of the French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, directed by John Huston with skill and panache. It's a somewhat slow-moving mood piece that aims to depict a slice of life at tail of the 19th century in vivid and vibrant Paris, and it does that in spades.Tall actor Jose Ferrer plays the main role. Toulouse-Lautrec was a short guy in real life, so special effects are called into play to make Ferrer seem short. Sometimes he's doubled, sometimes he walks on his knees. It's a physical transformation worthy of the great Lon Chaney and Ferrer shines in the part, bringing the tortured artist soul to life in a believable way.The rest of the film can be slow in paces but there's always something visually interesting taking place to keep it moving. The cast is full of larger than life figures, none more so than Zsa Zsa Gabor as a flamboyant dancer. The scenes at the Moulin Rouge are particularly well-staged aside from the guy with the distracting fake nose and chin, but then he's used to tie in to the artist's famous silhouette. A regular run of familiar faces including Eric Pohlmann, Michael Balfour, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee helps to retain the interest, and the ending is suitably sombre.

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"

My wife and I were able to tolerate about 45 minutes of this terrible movie. I just don't see how anyone could possibly think Jose Ferrer did a great acting job in this. I've seen better acting from Charlie McCarthy -- to say Ferrer was wooden in this is an understatement. The out-of-synch-lipping scene with Zsa Zsa was hilarious. Not as bad as a dubbed Japanese 1950's sci-fi film, but it came close. Suzanne Flon's performance was in sharp contrast to Ferrer's dull, disengaged portrayal. Her scenery-chewing portrayal of Myriamme was positively painful to watch. Take a pass on this Huston effort and do something rewarding with the time you save -- play with your kids, take a walk, or read a book about Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Remember, you can't unwatch this. I wish I could.