Lilith | | Cast : | Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg | | Director : | Robert Rossen | | Studio : | Columbia Tristar Hom | | Format : | Black & White, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | September 27, 1964 | | DVD Released Date : | August 24, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Japanese (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 30, 2004 | | Summary | For Fans of 60 Icons Beatty, Seberg, and Fonda | Content
 | LILITH was made by the American director Robert Rossen after a period of having been blacklisted, or graylisted at any rate, and a tremendous comeback with THE HUSTLER starring Jackie Gleason. I remember thinking, well, LILITH might not be the ticket for a permanent comeback for Rossen and indeed this turned out to be the case. It's a failure, but an ambitious one and the kind of movie that makes you long for it to be just a little bit better.
Its stars are incandescent. In LILITH Warren Beatty shows for the first time that he's more than just a pretty face. He plays a troubled vet who takes a job as a "counsellor" at a swanky sanitarium, He's almost as messed up as his patients. I wonder if they called him "Vincent Bruce" to sound like "Vincent Price" because he exhibits all the signs of erotic obsession we associate with Price's AIP Poe films, though Beatty isn't as over the top. And playing the "Barbara Steele part" is Lilith herself, Jean Seberg, looking utterly beautiful and enchanting and evil. Peter Fonda is also in it, almost too young to believe, looking good and acting his ass off as another mental patient who falls for Lilith's wicked ways. And then, for fans of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT on TV, you can spot Jessica Walter, the mother of the clan, here playing Laura, the former girlfriend of Vincent Bruce. He goes back to visit her, even though she married Gene Hackman, in a scene that seems very reminiscent of the end of SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS, where Beatty also had to confront the fact that his girlfriend is hitched up with someone else.
And KIM HUNTER is in the movie too, like Rossen also a victim of HUAC and blacklisting. Here she is a kindly older psychiatrist with a little bit of a thing for Beatty. Well, who wouldn't! Kim Hunter played one of the apes in Planet of the Apes and a memorable "final girl" part in THE SEVENTH VICTIM by Val Lewton and Mark Robson. She's wonderful to watch. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 18, 2002 | | Summary | crime and passion | Content
| This is a slow, delicate film. There are no car crashes, and no muscle bound hero to save the earth from some impending doom. What you will see is a brilliant study in how the weakness of one man, Warren Beatty, can cause so much harm. His misdirected passion causes the mental collapse of one, Jean Seberg, and the death of another, Peter Fonda. All cast members give excellent performances. This is a haunting film that has stayed in my memory for many, many years. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 21, 2001 | | Summary | A Faithful Adaptation; Beatty Stiff As A Board | Content
| Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Salamanca's novel of the same name, I had very little hope that the film would catch the unsettling nature of the novel. I was wrong. Rossen captures Lilith's spirit even in the opening credits, as an abstract drawing reveals what appears to be a spider breaking away from its web. Is this symbolic of Lilith leaving the mental home? Or of Vince, the main character, leaving his ideals of himself? Whatever it might mean, the "dreamy" music and the stark black and white film convey the mood of the book quite well, and borders on what one might perceive as a "horror" film. And viewed in this light, the grounds of the mental home (where most of the story takes place) are both comforting and disturbing. Lilith, played with absolute conviction by the wonderful and beautiful (sans god-awful wig) Jean Seberg, really made the film enjoyable for me. Just witnessing Seberg's performance was inspiring. Hackman has a small character role (in what was his first) as a "hack" husband to Vincent's teen-romance girlfriend. And Peter Fonda is here too, in an almost unrecognizable role as an overly sensitive man at the hospital, competing with Vincent for Lilith's love. Let's say all is good, almost great, with this film, excepting Beatty's cardboard performance. I can't imagine why Beatty, given a very defined and complex character like Vincent to portray, couldn't be less stiff than he is here! He didn't ruin the picture for me, but his inability to convey ANY emotion, and just stare numbly out into nothing in most of his scenes, simply frustrates. His performance makes you want to kick him in the pants and say, "C'mon, man! Get it together!" through most of what is otherwise, as I've cited earlier, a successful film. Kudos to Rossen for not shying away from the somewhat controversial subject matter found in the book, and for capturing the elusive quality of Salamanca's story. Congratulations to Seberg for an amazing performance, and a visibly furrowed brow to Beatty for his sleepwalking. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 28, 2001 | | Summary | Very risque of its time! | Content
| Warren Beatty's first flick is a disturbing little bugger! Beatty begins working for an "mental asylum" but falls for the wrong girl patient (Seberg). Scary & devilish! You can see where "Pretty Poison" came from! A must for the collector! |
| Rating | | | Date | April 28, 1999 | | Summary | Beatty in Prime? | Content
| " Lillith" is the type of film Warren Beatty used to tackle decades ago. This is a very probing and well acted film about a novice counsellor falling for a very disturbed and lovely young girl. It was in this film that Beatty met actor Gene Hackman in a small role. ( later cast as his brother in Bonnie a Clyde) Peter Fonda plays a very 'disconnected" young man who is also in love with " Lillith" in his own twisted way. An interesting film experience! |
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