Popular Culture Review Vol. 20, No. 1, Winter 2009 | Page 111

Lili: A Cold War Parable MGM’s 1953 musical, Lili, is a parable on the Cold War. Filmed during the height of tensions between the United States and the world’s emerging Communist powers, Lili addressed the movie-going public of post World War II Europe and America, admonishing viewers to support the leaders of the nonCommunist world. Those leaders, though flawed, protected them from uncertainty, opportunistic thugs, and totalitarianism. The microcosm upon which these themes play out in Lili is a rural French carnival, which an orphaned teenage girl (Lili Daurier/Leslie Caron) joins. She falls in love first with a handsome, but married magician (Marco le Magnifique/Jean-Pierre Aumont), then with puppets manipulated by a wounded, embittered puppeteer (Paul Berthalet/Mel Ferrer). Though cruel and sometimes abusive, the puppeteer protects Lili from the wiles of the magician and the dangers of the world beyond the carnival. In the end, Lili surmises that it is better to love her protector than risk an uncertain future. Lili's story line can be credited to two authors: Screenwriter Helen Deutsch, and author Paul Gallico. Deutsch’s main contribution to Lili was the song, “Hi Lili, Hi Lo,” which provided the basis for the film’s award-winning musical score. Other than that, she made only cosmetic alterations to stories written by Gallico. The essence of the film’s narrative, and all of the characters, are Gallico’s. A thorough Cold Warrior, Gallico developed his political views during his year and a half of service in the Naval Reserve during World War I and as a war correspondent in France with the American Expeditionary Force in 1944. His writings include many Iron Curtain themes. His novel, Trial by Terror (1951), details the plight of an American journalist arrested as a spy in Communist Hungary. That book was the basis for the film, Assignment: Paris (1952), starring Dana Andrews and George Sanders. Lili is a less political, but equally accurate portrayal of Gallico’s views, and of American Cold War foreign policy. Lili was based on two works by Gallico. The first was a short story, “The Man Who Hated People,” written for the Saturday Evening Post in 1950. Another was a novelette, Love o f Seven Dolls, which existed in manuscript form when Helen Deutsch adapted the story for film. Both of Gallico’s stories and Deutsch’s screenplay target Cold War audiences. The lead character in all versions is a girl or young woman who simultaneously represents postwar Europe, especially France, and American viewing audiences, particularly women. All of the other characters revolve around her, either manipulating her for selfish reasons, or providing her with assistance (food, shelter) and economic security. She always seems unaware of the dangers around her. American policymakers viewed Europe and the American public in much the same way: