Ferenc Mollnar's 1909 play Liliom was filmed in 1930 by Frank Borzage and was later the source for the musical Carousel. In Fritz Lang's rare film version, shot in France, the Billy Bigelow character Liliom (Charles Boyer) is an itinerant carnival barker who impregnates a simple girl named Julie (Madeleine Ozeray). His pride as "an artist" keeps him from settling down in a concierge job Julie lands him. He dies in the course of a bungled robbery and has to face divine justice. While the he–hit–me–and–it–felt–like–a–kiss theme has aged this story, one finds here Lang's usual preoccupation with the inexorability of fate-as well as the popular finale, a trip to Heaven. Special–effect cherubs flutter in the clouds; according to Lang's biographer Patrick McGilligan, the director adored Christmas ornaments. Yet the final Waiting Room is more like a typical Lang police station, where flatfoot angels keep the archives of all our deeds on film. Watch for a cameo by Antonin Artaud as the knife–grinder.