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: