Lilith (film)

Lilith is a 1964 American neo noir drama film written and directed by Robert Rossen. It is based on a novel by J.R. Salamanca and stars Warren Beatty and Jean Seberg.

Lilith
original film poster
Directed byRobert Rossen
Produced byRobert Rossen
Written byRobert Rossen
Based onLilith by J.R. Salamanca
StarringWarren Beatty
Jean Seberg
Music byKenyon Hopkins
CinematographyEugen Schüfftan
Edited byAram Avakian
Color processBlack and white
Production
company
Centur Productions
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • October 1, 1964 (1964-10-01) (New York City)
Running time
114 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,100,000[1]

Plot

Set in a private mental institution, Chestnut Lodge in Rockville, Maryland, the film tells of a trainee occupational therapist, a troubled ex-soldier named Vincent Bruce (Beatty), who becomes dangerously obsessed with seductive, artistic, schizophrenic patient Lilith Arthur (Seberg). Bruce makes progress helping Lilith emerge from seclusion and leave the institutional grounds for a day in the country and accompanies her on other excursions in which she is alone with him. She attempts to seduce him, and eventually Bruce tells Lilith he is in love with her. Lilith also seduces an older female patient and enchants a couple of young boys on one of her outings. Bruce triggers the suicide of another patient (Fonda) out of jealousy over the patient's crush on Lilith. This brings up memories in Lilith of her brother's suicide, which she implies was due to an incestuous relationship that she initiated, and she goes on a destructive rampage in her room and winds up in a catatonic state. Bruce presents himself to his superiors for psychiatric help.

Production

Chestnut Lodge would not permit filming on location so those scenes were done in a vacant mansion rented by the production company, Centur Productions, on the North Shore of Long Island (Locust Valley). Location shooting in Maryland was done in a private home in Rockville as well as in the downtown area, plus scenes at Great Falls on both the Maryland and Virginia sides of the Potomac River, as well as a staged carnival scene at Barnesville, Maryland. This was Rossen's last film.

Preservation

The Academy Film Archive preserved Lilith in 2000.[2]

Cast

Reputation

In The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, David Thomson describes Lilith as "an oddity, the only one of [Rossen's] films that seems passionate, mysterious and truly personal. The other films will look increasingly dated and self-contained, but Lilith may grow."[3]

Accolades

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

See also

References
  1. Anticipated rentals accruing distributors in North America. See "Top Grossers of 1965", Variety, January 5, 1966 p 36
  2. "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.
  3. David Thomson The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, 2002, London: Little, Brown, p. 760.
  4. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-19.
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