Moulin Rouge (1952 film)

Moulin Rouge is an Academy Award winning 1952 British drama film directed by John Huston, produced by John and James Woolf for their Romulus Films company and released by United Artists. The film is set in Paris in the late 19th century, following artist Henri de ToulouseLautrec in the citys bohemian subculture in and around the burlesque palace, the Moulin Rouge. The screenplay is by Huston, based on the novel by Pierre La Mure. The cinematography was by Oswald Morris. This movie was screened at Venice Film Festival 1953 where it won the Silver Lion.

In 1890 Paris, as crowds pour into the Moulin Rouge nightclub, young artist Henri de ToulouseLautrec finishes a bottle of cognac and sketches the dancers as they perform. The nightclubs regulars each stop by singer Jane Avril teases Henri charmingly, dancers La Goulue and Aicha fight, and owner Maurice Joyant offers Henri free drinks for a month in exchange for painting a promotional poster. At closing time, Henri waits for the crowds to disperse before standing to reveal his fourfoot sixinch body. As he walks to his Montmartre apartment, he recalls the events that led to his disfigurement. It is learned Lautrec falls down a flight of stairs, where his legs fail to heal due to a genetic weakness resulting from his parents being first cousins. His legs stunted and pained, Henri loses himself in his art, while his father leaves his mother, the countess, to ensure they have no more children. Henri is a bright, happy child, revered by his father, the Count de ToulouseLautrec. As a young adult he proposes to the woman he loves, but when she tells him no woman will ever love him, he leaves his childhood home in despair to begin a new life as a painter in Paris.Back in the present, street walker Marie Charlet begs Henri to rescue her from police sergeant Patou. Henri wards off the policeman by pretending to be her guardian, after which she insists on following him home. There, she addresses his small stature, and although he is at first angry, he allows her to stay out of his desperate loneliness and is charmed when she claims not to care about his legs. Within days, he is buying her gifts and singing as he paints, until Marie takes his money and stays out all night. ........

Source: Wikipedia