Lola Montès (1955)

Title: Lola Montès (1955)
Director/Writers: Max Ophüls/Cécil Saint-Laurent, Annette Wademant, Max Ophüls, etc.
Cast: Martine Carol,Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook, Henri Guisol, Lise Delamare, Paulette Dubost, Oskar Werner, etc.
Genre: Drama
Duration: 110 minutes.
Languages: French and English, with hard-coded English subtitles.
Description: Max Ophüls explores the scandalous life of dancer and courtesan Lola Montès with a bittersweet empathy that turns melodrama into a tragic melancholy masterpiece. Using the theatrical re-creation of Lola's life in a big-top pageant as a framing device, Ophüls contrasts the outrageous sensationalism of her reputation with poignant, poetic flashbacks that explore her many affairs, most notably with Franz Liszt and King Ludwig of Bavaria. Lola's greatest tragedy is that she loved well, if not too wisely. If Martine Carol's central performance is lacking passion, as many critics have argued, her quiet, at times seemingly passive demeanor makes her a veritable prisoner of her society and her reputation. Swept along by Ophüls's sweeping camerawork, which glides through the film in a balance of intimacy and contemplative remove as if on the wings of angels, her life becomes like a cinematic ballet with Ophüls the choreographer and conductor. Peter Ustinov costars as the jaded circus ringmaster, who nightly narrates her exploits to a throng of scandal-hungry spectators, while she performs with a face hardened in indifference, resigned to her empty role as a figure of spectacle in a garish gilded cage. Shot in delicate color and impeccably composed widescreen compositions throughout by Ophüls's regular cinematographer Christian Matras, Lola Montès is his most beautiful and restrained film, a fitting swan song for one of the cinema's most sensitive directors.

Source: DVDRip. Pulled from a public torrent.
File size: 1.02GB | Resolution: 720 x 384 (15:8 or 1.875)
*[Provided info: Actual resolution, ignoring subtitle bars ~ 2.55:1.]*
Video: 1194kbps XviD 25fps
Audio: 48kHz 128kbps 2-channel Joint stereo mp3

Screenshot

http://rapidshare.com/files/279192870/lola.montes.1955.avi.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/279196524/lola.montes.1955.avi.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/279200039/lola.montes.1955.avi.003
http://rapidshare.com/files/279202517/lola.montes.1955.avi.004
http://rapidshare.com/files/279204941/lola.montes.1955.avi.005
http://rapidshare.com/files/279205632/lola.montes.1955.avi.006

Extra: A 349 MB, 70-minute making of featurette called Working With Max Ophuls - Lola Montès Revisited that was included as well. From a glance, it seems like it's mostly production information. In French, with hard-coded English subtitles. Links:

http://rapidshare.com/files/279208912/lola.montes.featurette.avi.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/279211211/lola.montes.featurette.avi.002