Members of a circus troupe "adopt" Lili Daurier when she finds herself stranded in a strange town. The magician who first comes to her rescue already has romantic entanglements and thinks of her as a little girl. Who can she turn to but the puppets, singing to them her troubles, forgetting that there are puppeteers? A crowd gathers around Lili as she sings. The circus has a new act. She now has a job. Will she get her heart's desire?
Acting
Caron's fragility masks steel — watch her eyes.
Cinematography
MGM dreamscape meets carnival grit.
Score
Bronislau Kaper's 'Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo' will haunt you.
Director
Charles Walters
Leslie Caron
Lili Daurier
Mel Ferrer
Paul Berthalet
Jean-Pierre Aumont
Marc
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Rosalie
Kurt Kasznar
Jacquot
Amanda Blake
Peach Lips
Alex Gerry
Proprietor
Ralph Dumke
M. Corvier
Wilton Graff
M. Tonit
George Baxter
M. Enrique
Eda Reiss Merin
Fruit peddler (uncredited)
Reginald Simpson
Workman (uncredited)
George Davis
Workman (uncredited)
Mitchell Lewis
Concessionaire (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The puppeteers' voices were dubbed by Mel Ferrer himself, making his character literally speak through them.
This musical briefly outgrossed 'From Here to Eternity' — America's brief obsession with vulnerable French waifs in Technicolor.
US
