robert-temple-1 This unusual and compelling drama was scripted, produced and directed by Robert Rossen (1908-1966), from a novel by J. R. Salamanca. Rossen was a superb director who had made his name with the famous ALL THE KING'S MEN (1949) and THE HUSTLER (1961) with Paul Newman. Unfortunately, this was the last film which Rossen ever made, as he died aged only 58 two years later. Eight actors directed by him won Oscars for their performances, and in this film he got one of the best performances ever out of Warren Beatty. The film is particularly notable for being the first feature film in which Gene Hackman and Jessica Walter appeared. Both of them give stunning performances as a married couple who are minor characters in the story. Walter's performance was so strong that it probably explains why Sidney Lumet cast her in THE GROUP (1966) two years later, the film that made her reputation. The female star in this film is Jean Seberg, who brilliantly plays the character Lilith who compulsively needs to make everyone fall in love with her, but is mentally disturbed. The film is set at a mental asylum for very rich patients. The main thrust of the film, however, is Warren Beatty's story. He is an ex-solider returned from 'the War' (in this case presumably the Korean War) who lives in a sombre fashion with his grandmother, is single and at a loose end. We slowly come to realize that the real reason why he feels compelled to go to the insane asylum and ask for a job, where he is accepted and trains as an occupational therapist, is because his own mother had been interned there years before, and had died there. He is haunted by this memory and keeps her signed photo by his bed and looks at her all the time. His mother when young resembled Jean Seberg, so he develops an obsessive need to try to help Seberg recover, as a proxy for his mother whom he was unable to help. Beatty's performance is really outstanding and so sensitive and nuanced that it was really worthy of an Oscar. The film is brilliantly directed, lit, scripted, acted, and produced. It is a model example of how to make an excellent film based on difficult material, in an unlikely location, and concerning a subject most people would rather avoid and prefer not to know about. Rossen was very bold in carrying off this risky venture with such complete success, and it was a perfect swan song for his fine career. As for Beatty, it is one of the performances he can be most proud of. And it launched Gene Hackman, though the character he plays here is so unlike the Gene Hackman we are used to, that it will shock and surprise everyone who sees this. In fact, it proves just what a talented and versatile actor Hackman was from the very beginning, before he started to become type-cast as a lead player in roles where he is meant to play the familiar Gene Hackman that everybody pays to see.

bkoganbing Lilith has Jean Seberg in the title role and she's quite beautiful and fetching. She also comes from rich parents who have put her in a country club of an asylum with a lot of other rich dingbats. And this is where newly hired therapist Warren Beatty is drawn into an infatuation with her that by rights should get him terminated from the establishment.Lilith is a beautifully photographed film with Jean Seberg never looking more lovely and seductive on screen. This was Robert Rossen's last film and he wanted it to be a good one. Unfortunately I think the viewer will leave asking what was the point of all this.What was daring at the time was the fact that Seberg was bisexual and the reaction of Beatty catching Seberg enjoying a romp in the hay with Jessica Walter was typical for 1964. Her essential amorality both repels and attracts him at once, Beatty does a good job in showing those opposite emotions registering at once.A couple of Oscar winners in the future Gene Hackman and Olympe Dukakis have small roles in Lilith. Kim Hunter plays the asylum director and Peter Fonda plays a most insecure patient whom Seberg toys with.But I have to confess I didn't get a whole lot of what Lilith was all about. What I came away with it's lucky the rich have such an expensive facility to pamper their neuroses.

wes-connors Handsome Warren Beatty (as Vincent Bruce) returns to his smallish Maryland town, fresh from military service. At home, he watches war movies and drinks beer. His grandmother encourages Mr. Beatty to accept a job at the local mental institution (or "insane asylum"), to give his life purpose and make his mother proud. Beatty faces his first workplace crisis by saving likable, but nutty Peter Fonda (as Stephen Evshevsky) from killing himself over beautiful, but schizophrenic Jean Seberg (as Lilith Arthur).Soon, Beatty reports, to superiors, of an inappropriate attraction between himself and Ms. Seberg. He feels Seberg is attempting to seduce him; and, he has considered accepting. In a world quite unlike this one, Beatty would be immediately removed from the case - but, herein, he is urged to continue as seductive Seberg's one-on-one companion. You wouldn't suspect Warren Beatty and Jean Seberg of anything untoward while hiking, biking, or horseback riding all alone, would you? When schizophrenia is described, it's obvious Seberg is the "mad spider" who will catch Beatty in her web. And, so, the therapist and patient fall in love. But, Beatty gets mad when he catches Seberg romping in the hay with her Lesbian lover Anne Meacham (as Yvonne Meaghan). Beatty calls Seberg a "dirty bitch" and makes passionate love to her, while girlfriend Meaghan presumably listens at the barn door. As you can imagine, this scene ends too soon… It all sounds silly… well, it IS SILLY, but "Lilith" is shot beautifully, by acclaimed director Robert Rossen (his last film) with accomplished cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan. Beatty and Seberg do well in the often obvious, sometimes complex leading roles. You can enjoy Jessica Walter and Gene Hackman, in early roles, as Beatty's ex-girlfriend and her colon-troubled husband. And, Mr. Fonda's truly fine characterization might have attracted a "Best Supporting Actor" nomination, if "Lilith" had been more critically acclaimed. The film really should have been a more subtle allegory.****** Lilith (9/20/64) Robert Rossen ~ Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, Peter Fonda

brefane Lilith was the last film of director Robert Rossen, and some consider it his neglected masterpiece. Best known for realistic films such as All the King's Men(49) and The Hustler (61), Lilith is certainly the most beautiful and provocative film Rossen ever made, and Eugen Shufftan's stunning b&w cinematography, Kenyon Hopkin's seductive score, Aram Avakian's astute editing, and Richard Sylbert's superb production design all contribute to the film's strange allure. Rossen was apparently influenced by the European art house films of the early sixties, and the grounds of the elegant asylum recall the hotel in Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad(61), and like Resnais' film, Lilith is a high-toned, poetic enigma. Released by Columbia Pictures in 1964, Lilith was a critical and box office failure, that is still largely unknown. Beatty plays a therapist who finds Lilith's madness seductive, and his growing love for her ends in death, and results in his own madness. Though Beatty 's performing is hesitant, uncertain, and awkward, Jean Seberg as Lilith, and Peter Fonda as a patient who loves her are excellent. The interesting supporting cast includes Gene Hackman and Jessica Walter. While not a film for everyone, Lilith is an unusual film that stays in one's mind. Lilith's depiction of mental illness is more subdued and realistic than most Hollywood films on the subject. It lacks the feeling of exploitation present in films such as The Snake Pit, Suddenly, Last Summer, The Caretakers, Cuckoo's Nest, and Girl Interrupted. Recommended.