Lilith (1964)

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MissGoddess
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Lilith (1964)

Post by MissGoddess »

Did anyone see this movie, that aired right after People Against O'Hara :shock: yesterday? TCM showed it once before but I didn't finish it the first time. I made the effort this time (stress on effort). There were moments, all too brief, where I found myself thinking this just might be the one movie in which I could tolerate Warren Beatty---but then the REST of the time I would stare at his shoe laces so there was no performance left to evaluate, just a shaggy head of hair. I don't know how director Robert Rossen allowed him to get away with that nonsense. It makes Marlon Brando's mumbling seem like Rex Harrison for clarity. Is this what they mean by "navel gazing" type of acting? Good grief!

So I'll move on to Jean Seberg, the blessedly clear and understated Kim Hunter and the story, about an occupational therapist-in-training (Beatty) who falls for one of his patients (Seberg). I think Jean was interesting, especially when she was tormenting either Beatty or acting up with that child (that scene bothered me but I admit she was frighteningly effective). I thought the relationship between Beatty and Kim Hunter, as his colleague, would develop from the merely professional into a more personal one but it didn't.

How many of these movies about mental illness were made in the sixties anyway? There seems to have been no end to them. A sign of the time? :P

Any others have any comments on the movie?
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moira finnie
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Post by moira finnie »

Miss G.,
I got home from work and turned on TCM last evening, only to see one of my least favorite actors ever, Warren Beatty mumbling his way through a scene, clearly thinking he was the hottest thing since Marlon!! ONLY Marlon Brando could have gotten through with that shambling boyish act for about 10 minutes in his career, so how in the world did a pretty boy like Warren think he could get away with that one?

My first thought: Oh great, David and Lisa meets The Fugitive Kind in Lilith! When my movie-hating sis wandered through the room, she asked who was the patient and who was the therapist. When I told her Beatty was the "health-provider", she laughed all the way up the stairs away from the tv screen as fast as possible. It seems she thinks that Beatty would have a hard time keeping a philodendron healthy, much less heal the psychic wounds of Jean Seberg.

Which reminds me. I gotta go start a thread about Otto Preminger.
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Post by MissGoddess »

lol!

"which is the therapist and which is the patient"

The patient is the one who gets better. :P
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."
-- Will Rogers
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mrsl
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Post by mrsl »

moira:

Your sister is a trip. How can you call her 'movie hating'? She seems to know actors and always has a comment, and she is right on with the ones about Lilith. I'm glad to know I'm not the only person who is not a Warren Beatty fan. All the hullaballoo about him from AFI and the Academy amazes me. With all the movies he's appeared in, I've never seen a really memorable performance, and I can't think of one he's produced that ever anything other than so-so reviews. Reds was the most popular, and that was only okay at best.

Anne
Anne


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moira finnie
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Post by moira finnie »

Hey, Miss G. & MrsL,
I'm glad that my sis can give you a few laughs. She and I both come from one of the most sarcastic family's on the planet, so we really have to be careful spouting off around others. She does hate movies and has the attention span of gnat, as I like to remind her. Once in awhile, I get her to watch some old flick with me, but for the most part, she'll stick around only long enough to make a crack about somebody.

She claims that she's only interested in PBS, but I think she seems to watch those ghastly true crime shows designed to make people paranoid quite a bit. As I often tell her when she tunes in to see some murderer glorified on those awful shows, I don't mind her watching them as long as they don't give her any ideas! :shock:

I think that Warren Beatty's movies, starting with Bonnie and Clyde received many, many salutary plaudits, and I do think that McCabe and Mrs. Miller is a good one of his, but not because of him--because of the story, the direction and Julie Christie. I guess they feted him recently 'cause most of the other good people are dead, alas, though I'd rather see an American Cinematheque tribute to the career of someone like Ernest Borgnine, who was named by Chris recently as a good person for a TCM guest programmer gig or a possible SOTM. He deserves the attention.
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ken123
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Post by ken123 »

The only Beatty film that I care for is Bugsy. :wink:
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Post by MissGoddess »

Hi Moira, your sister IS funny. Between your sister's comments and Bronxgirl's mother's at TCM, it's quite entertaining. :wink:

Anne---I've never liked Beatty in anything, ever.

And I agree, Ernie Borgnine SHOULD be a guest programmer---or even better, a "Private Screenings" guest. Has anyone checked out his autobiography yet? Is it even out yet?
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."
-- Will Rogers
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