Comments on: David and Lisa (1962)

by: Alex Clarke

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:17:15 +0000

I agree - the screengrabs are very evocative. I knew ‘Bunny Lake Is Missing’, of course, but I’d never even heard of this film. That clock-axe picture is beautifully composed and lit. It is sad that by the 60s, directors and film-makers knew everything that black-and-white film could do - just as colour was sweeping it away.

by: bonnieL

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:55:02 +0000

Incredible screen grabs, and equally incredible
website. thanks!

bonnieL
richmond, va

by: cinebeats

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:09:04 +0000

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about David & Lisa, zensixties. Even though we disagree about the soundtrack and script, I appreciated reading your thoughts. And we do agree on one thing - the lucrative pharmaceutical industry is extremely corrupt. Doctors have become drug pushers.

by: zensixties

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:48:47 +0000

I liked your review, but completely disagree that the score was overbearing and the script melodramatic. For me the score was a great enhancement of the film and completely appropriate. The script was a great adaptation of the novelette and far superior to the later play version (which was just a rip-off of this script).
The psychiatrist Theodore Isaac Rubin who wrote the original definitely used an original approach to these issues. As you say the norm today is drug first and ask questions later; this is mostly due to the lucrative (and corrupt) pharmaceutical industry.
As far as “Morituri” and “Last Embrace”, they’re worth seeing, but don’t expect something on the level of “David and Lisa” which consider to be one of the best films of the era.

by: cinebeats

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:35:14 +0000

The film has problems (which I mentioned above) but I do think it's worth a look. Fuller is an interesting guy and an important filmmaker. He's influenced a lot of directors in Europe and in the states. I highly recommend checking out the 1996 documentary on Fuller called The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera. I also recommend giving Fuller's Pickup on South Street, Shock Corridor, The Big Red One and White Dog a look too.

by: Uraniumwilly

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:04:15 +0000

Looks like a fascinating study. I skimmed your blog the other day and assumed by the images this was a British film. But I am more excited to see that it is an American one. I recently picked up a couple films by Samuel Fuller. I dd not know much about except from blog passages. I really liked the two films, I think they are called The Naked Kiss and The Steel Helmet. I need to get this one soon.

by: ARBOGAST

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:47:10 +0000

Keir Dullea wasn't in The Lathe of Heaven but he did do a version of Brave New World around the same time - that may be the source of the confusion. I was deeply in love with Janet Margolin and very saddened by her untimely death from cancer. She was great in a seldom-seen TV movie, The Plutonium Incident, which was a thinly-disguised spin on the Karen Silkwood story before the Mike Nichols film. Other must-sees on the Margolin front are Annie Hall and The Last Embrace. She acted with her husband, Ted Wass, in The Triangle Shirt Factory Fire Scandal, another TV movie of that time (late 70s) that's worth seeing.

by: Vanwall

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:08:38 +0000

Marilyn - are you speaking of the 1980 version of Lathe of Heaven? Was Kier Dullea in that one?

by: cinebeats

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:42:00 +0000

I haven’t seen The Lathe of Heaven, so thanks for the suggestion Marilyn! I’ve read a little bit about the book and I suspect I’d enjoy it. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to see it in the future.

by: Marilyn

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:56:49 +0000

I always remember the moment when David says to Lisa that he can’t rhyme anymore, that’s it too hard. She reacts violently, but then comes across that bridge of understanding. It’s a very moving scene.

One of my very favorite Keir Dullea films is The Lathe of Heaven, based on the great book by Ursula Le Guin. Caught in copyright hell for a while, it’s now pretty available.

by: cinebeats

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:16:21 +0000

AR - I think you’d find the film interesting if you get the opportunity to see it. The photography is really fantastic and I suspect that you’d appreciate it a lot.

Vanwall - I’m glad to hear from another Janet Margolin fan. I always suspect good things from Keir Dullea since he’s one of my favorite American actors, but I had only previously seen Margolin in Bus Riley’s Back in Town, Nevada Smith and the two Woody Allen films she was in (Take the Money and Run and Annie Hall). She always stood out to me because she was so naturally beautiful and her performances (even in small roles) were really effortless. I haven’t seen Morituri or The Last Embrace so many thanks for the viewing suggestions. Both films are now high on my “must see” list!

by: Vanwall

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:38:52 +0000

A wonderful film - it was on TV regularly in the late sixties, early seventies. Keir Dullea always had that edgy feel in any role he played. Janet Margolin, however was amazingly real in this film, and for that matter any film she was in - I found her extremely attractive for a number of reasons, not least being her air of vulnerability. She was very god in “Morituri”, a Brando suspenser, but I’ll really always remember her for Demme’s “The Last Embrace”, with Roy Scheider, her best role IMHO - a remarkably intense and multi-leveled serial killer. She left us too early, indeed.

by: AR

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:49:54 +0000

I think I’ve heard about this movie, but I don’t know a lot about it. It sounds really interesting, like something I would enjoy, so I’ll have to add it to my queue and watch it at some point.

Sadly, I haven’t been able to watch many movies lately. My boyfriend often works nights, so we are no longer able to set aside time each week for movies like we used to, which is mostly why I haven’t posted an entry in a while.

by: cinebeats

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:25:57 +0000

I think we briefly discussed the film before and I’m happy to know you found things to enjoy about the film too. Dullea is terrific in this, but I was really surprised by Margolin since I’ve only seen her in a few films and she’s surprisingly good here. She died really young, but I don’t understand why she wasn’t a bigger star. The photography in the film is beautiful and really the best reason to see this film!

by: Jonathan Lapper

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:28:43 +0000

I first saw this years ago after having seen Dullea in only 2001: A Space Odyssey and was intrigued by how expressive an actor he could be. Then seeing him in Bunny Lake is Missing further surprised me, where he does a great job at playing crazy. I'd like to see this again now looking at your screengrabs from it. I love the sharp, focused look of B&W cinematography of the late fifties and early sixties. And I'd like to see Margolin again too, focusing more on Dullea the first time because of the 2001 connection.