Lilith (1964)

Lilith
Directed by Robert Rossen
Written by Robert Rossen from a novel by J.R. Salamancca
1964/USA
Centaur/Columbia Pictures Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Stephen Evshevsky: How wonderful I feel when I’m happy. Do you think that insanity could be so simple a thing as unhappiness?[/box]

Here is a well-acted love triangle set in an insane asylum.

Vincent Bruce (Warren Beatty) is a troubled returning veteran.  He longs to “help people” and applies for a job in a private sanitarium which houses the schizophrenic relatives of the  wealthy.  He impresses director Dr. Bea Price (Kim Hunter) and she hires him on the spot.  He proves to be an able worker and soon makes friends with intellectual Stephen Evshevsky (Peter Fonda) and the beautiful and seductive Lilith (Jean Seberg).  Stephen has quite a crush on Lilith.

Poor Vincent tries to resist but cannot ignore Lilith’s charms.  They start a clandestine affair   that tests his own sanity and could prove tragic.

This was the final film of writer/director Robert Rossen (The Hustler).  It features the big screen debuts of Jessica Walters as Vincent’s pre-war sweetheart and Gene Hackman as her crass husband.

Lilith’s character seems to have been written for Seberg and she is absolutely luminous in the part.  All the other acting is very good with that of Peter Fonda standing out to me.  I enjoyed the film and would recommend it if the plot appeals.

Clip – Lilith can’t help herself even with small boys