- The film was shot in three language versions: German, French and English. There was a fourth version, silent, used as a working copy; this was eventually found at the Luxembourg Cinematheque.
- The German language version was considered the director's cut by himself, as all actors were speaking their mother language, or spoke French with German subtitles, or spoke the language well and were not dubbed - as was the case with Martine Carol. This version premiere was in Munich 12 January 1956, and ran at 115 min, but was subsequently cut for general release (9 February 1956) to 113 min and for re-release (1957) to 102 min.
- The English version was intended for international release and ran at 140 min. The public reaction after the world premiere in Paris was riotous, and led to police intervention and production cuts of four scenes in the German and French versions, and that the English version was never shown.
- The French version was 113 min long. It had the world premiere in Paris (22 December 1955) and was cut for the French general release version (20 January 1956) to 110 min, and for the French re-release version (Monte Carlo, 22 February 1957) to 91 min. This edited version separates Lola's biographical scenes and the Circus scenes in two parts, plus an Epilogue read off screen by Martine Carol, and was distributed in the international market.
- In 1968, the producer Pierre Braunberger bought the movie rights and produced a version which was close to the original. In 2008, thanks to digital technology, the Cinémathèque français is able to release a completely restored version, faithful to Max Ophuls' wishes, with the colors, the stereo sound and the format originally intended.
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