Customer Reviews

David & Lisa [VHS]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I hadn't seen this film in decades, and I wondered how well it would hold up now. I needn't have worried: it's still as lovely & touching as I remembered, with the same quiet power that moved me as a teenager. The performances are wonderful, with Keir Dullea's David struggling unsuccessfully to conceal his terror beneath a calm, self-assured, even arrogant facade; and Janet Margolin's glowing Lisa, her big dark eyes conveying fragility, yearning, loneliness & a glimmer of hope with astonishing depth. And the stark black & white photography allows us to glimpse their souls in a way color never could.

As for complaints that the story "blames the parents," please note that Dr. Swinford (a warm & compassionate Howard DaSilva) explains to David that one day he'll understand that his parents also had parents, with their own fears, doubts & unconscious drives. The film doesn't "blame the parents," it merely points out that each person bears the psychological weight & demands of many generations, often unconsciously. This remains as true today as it was then. Psychological healing isn't about "blame," but about recognizing the source of our inner wounds & coming to terms with them within ourselves. Whatever the cause of those wounds, once we're aware of them, the responsibility of facing them is ours alone.

And has psychology learned much more in the 40 years since this film was made? Of course! But that doesn't invalidate the film, both as an expression of a specific time & place, and as a metaphor for healing. No, it's not saying that love & compassion will magically overcome & solve all problems; but it is saying that they're absolutely essential for any hopes of creating a whole & meaningful life. The understanding & tentative union that David & Lisa find together is a beginning, not an end. Who knows what the future will bring? All they (and we) have is this moment, now, reaching out to one another in an often dark & frightening world. And that's a message which is never dated. Most highly recommended!

This film is absolutely beautiful in every sense. It is the story of two teenagers, David and Lisa, who are both in a home for mentally ill teens. David is obsessed with clocks and has a fear of being physically touched while Lisa can only speak in rhyme. The film covers the powerful bond that develops between David and Lisa. I think this film is wonderful. Both Keir Dullea (David) and the late Janet Margolin (Lisa) are brilliant! There is also a fine supporting cast. Overall I would say this is one of the finest films I have ever viewed.

A few nights ago, I watched the "Oprah Winfrey Presents" made-for-TV remake of David and Lisa on ABC. What a disaster.

David and Lisa has always been one of my favorite movies. I saw it originally in 1962 when I was a sophomore in high school. (I will never forget . . . The dramatic tension was too much for Billy Levin, the friend I went to see it with . . . just as they touched at the grand finale of the movie, he burst into uncontrolled uproarious laughter. I thought the other people in the theater were going to kill him).

Anyway . . .

If Oprah Winfrey wanted "to introduce David and Lisa to a new generation of viewers" (as was stated in the prologue), why didn't she just show us all the original one (without commercials)! And who needed Oprah telling us all at the outset, "This movie is about the healing power of love." Hey, if the director couldn't get that across in two hours!

Keir Dullea, Janet Margolin, and Howard da Silva's performances were impeccable in the original. Sidney Poitier's performance (he played the doctor in last night's redo) ran the gamut of emotions from A to B. (I have always been an admirer of Howard da Silva's progressive credentials -- he was a leftist blacklisted by the McCarthyites in the 1950's -- his genuine caring and sincere humanity really came across on the silver screen.)

And maybe sweat just looks better in black and white, or maybe Dullea's raw gutsy portrayal was eons better than the polished frozen robot performance of Lukas Haas, but all in all there is no comparison. Last night's Lisa did a whole lot too much long-shot bunny-hopping around the set. The original director had the good sense to zero in on close-up after close-up of Janet Margolin's beautifully bedraggled fragility.

And what's with the added dialogue of the doctor saying to the mom, "We stopped blaming parents 20 years go." Sez who? I'm all for blaming the parents. The original movie really blasted away at the uptight parents for screwing up their kid. Right on. (I think Oprah might have added that line herself -- she probably spends a lot of time on daytime teevee telling parents not to blame themselves).

The new version had a lot of stuff about medication being balanced and how important meds were to certain of the patients progress -- none of that in the original.

They cut out one of the greatest scenes of the whole movie . . . the one at the train station where an uptight citizen lashes out at the kids, calling them "a bunch of screwballs spoiling the town." A really really important scene in terms of showing the discrimination faced by people with psychiatric disabilities, and the horrible pain it causes.

The new version also cut out the sensitively-drawn portrayal of a gay male character (David's chess partner), an overweight therapist, as well as a very strong hispanic character, turning him into just another disturbed anglo. Leaving us with whitebread. (Guess they didn't want to take any chances with the network that axed Ellen.)

When the mother is come on to by that particular character, David's "delusions of grandeur" speech (about the character's sexuality) is replaced by some ridiculous savage sexual assault going on on top of one of picnic tables in the background. That sure helps make viewers feel sympathetic to adolescents with psychiatric disabilities.

The new version had the female therapist crying in distress when Lisa ran away near the end of the movie. Give me a break! Kids are always running away from residential facilities.

There was something so real about the original version, and something so "Hollywood" about the new one -- no dramatic tension, no nothing.

The music in the original really added to the drama; not so the new version.

The original film was really a very beautiful fairytale about how messed up people can help each other out of their respective pits. Unfortunately, mythic metaphor though it be, it has never been true in my experience. Anytime I've met someone as screwed up as myself and thought Hey, this is it, we can just love each other and David and Lisa each other into better human beings and happier lives, it's never quite worked out that way, to say the least.

At least the original gave me the feeling that I could still dream. I still do love that myth.

The original 1962 version is fresh in my mind because I had just rented the video about a month ago. At the time, I couldn't help thinking that it was 35 years ahead of it's time. Maybe we should make that 45 . . .

As to the content and quality of this film, the other reviews here cover it really well. The thing I like about this film is that it was done well on an incredibly low budget. What I heard at the time is that the film was made for $50,000. An absurdly low figure, even in 1962. The crew had only one old Mitchell 35mm camera, so for every change of view, they literally had to pick up the camera and move it. This accounts also for the fade out to black at the end of each scene. The film is so artfully assembled that when you watch it, you are totally unaware of the limitations the crew had to deal with. I believe David and Lisa should be mandatory study for all the wannabe indie directors hitting the scene today.

I just saw "David and Lisa" and am buying the video for keeps. Never having heard of it I rented this film on an impulse. It was a most rewarding impulse. The brilliance of this film caught me completely off guard. This film now sits on my list of favorite films. The cinematography during certain scenes has a breathtaking ability to communicate the story through the lens alone. The screenplay is brilliant in every way conceivable. If you are a mental health professional you must see this film. David and Lisa is directed with restraint and brevity. Scenes end precisely when their message is communicated,and no longer. The acting is a gift to the viewer. The art design for the movie is poetic and powerful. This is one of the most seductive movies I have ever seen. This film moves the viewer along effortlessly. Am I raving about this film? Yes! I concur with the previous reviews that say that this film was ahead of its time. It is still relevant today, unlike many "issue" movies that become cliches and are painful to watch.

"David and Lisa" is a touching portrayal of adolescent psychosis and love for the first time. Kudos To Frank and Eleanor Perry for not exploiting mental illness by the restraint in which they tell this story and not resorting to the histrionics that lesser hands would have resorted to. Keir Dullea is fine as David, the youth with OCD, though I thought him a little mature for the role and a little Brooks Brothers. Janet Margolin is a revelation as Lisa, the child-like teenage schizophrenic. Howard DaSilva delivers solid work as their sensitive psychiatrist. Unlike alot of social dramas of this period it holds up remarkably well.

David and Lisa, the film they used to show on the late late show in the '70s, at least on New York TV, remains a moving timeless classic and features outstanding performances by Keir Dullea as David, Janet Margolin as Lisa, and Howard Da Silva as Dr. Alan Swinford. Based on a novel by Psychologist Theodore Isaac Rubin it follows David as he enters a school for disturbed teens.
The filmaking is done in the European new wave black-and-white cinematic style of the time (though it's American).
Dr. Swinford uses a humanistic approach, really the opposite of what mainstream psychiatry has become. For him the solution is to open up one's feelings as opposed to making one oblivious with psychotropic drugs as is the norm today.
Anyway we find that David is very intelligent though he has some severe phobias: touch, death, etc. He meets Lisa, someone with multiple personality disorder her alter-ego called Muriel. The film turns into a love story between the two as they in effect end up curing each other. Through it all the sixties feel shines through as well as the acting, directing, writing (Eleanor Perry), and cinematography talents. Da Silva does a great job, and a great comeback role from the blacklisting period (due to the fascistic Robert Taylor). But again a rare excellence is attained by Dullea who went on to 2001 fame, and Janet Margolin. Shot in Philadelphia the final scene was done at the Art Museum. If I ever visit there it would be as a tribute to this film (not Rocky).
So if you're into great '60s cinema check this (one of my faves) out...but by any means necessary avoid the worthless Oprah version.

A poignant and revealing picture of two very troubled teenagers. This film is certainly not made for entertainment purposes; its made to educate us by showing an environment too few of us are aware of where an appallingly-large number exist and struggle. David's dream sequences depicted here are very imaginative and frightening. Great acting performances by Keir Dullea (did he make any other films besides this one and "2001-A Space Odyssey"?) and the late Janet Margolin and Howard DaSilva.

I had to laugh at one reviewer who noted the characters were stiff. Yes, in fact, at the beginning of the film, Keir Dullea, who plays an emotionally rigid and phobic man (detached, deeply angry and invested in his own brilliance) is quite stiff. That's the point. He's terrified of encountering feelings he cannot manage and, worse yet, of really expressing how angry he is at his controlling mother. Like "Rebel Without A Cause," young David feels tremendous angst in his family: He can't quite work out why his father allows himself to be belittled by his wife. Slowly, the relationship David develops with his therapist becomes the healthy, appropriate relationship he should have had with his father. It is this relationship that grows concurrently with and indeed, informs, his affection toward a very disturbed young woman, Lisa.

Now, I did not give the film 5 Stars because I felt Lisa's character, who speaks almost totally in rhyme, is rather unevolved. What the heck is this increasingly annoying "Tell me who do you see?" shtick all about? I wanted to know more about why this poor girl became the poster child for some hodge-podge, garden variety, mental illness. Is she struggling with some unresolved electral complex? Has her burgeoning sexuality sent her over the edge? Or has her internal turntable hit one heck of a glitch?

Ultimately, perhaps it doesn't really matter how she got this way only that she is able to forge a connection with David, whose patience for her comes from someone having patience with him. A nice nod in the direction of shrinks who really can make a difference.

It may feel a little dated, but `David and Lisa' has enough going for it to make it a welcomed cinematic experience. Sure, some of the acting can appear over-the-top, some of the plot points can seem redundant and some of the films logic can seem out of date, but overall, for the time in which the film was made (early 60's) this is a genuinely good film that can still be enjoyed and should still be admired for what it accomplished.

Before the likes of `One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest' became a cultural sensation, there was `David and Lisa', a small film about two mentally ill teenagers who form a strange yet pure bond, helping one another to break their mental barriers. David Clemens comes to live at a boarding school of sorts for the mentally ill thanks to his fear of being touched. His attitude puts off many around him, especially his fellow class-mates, but one girl in particular softens his character. Lisa, a schizophrenic student (her other personality being Muriel), only talks in teasing rhyme, yet David connects with her and longs to help her. When David's parents try and intervene (deeming his living arrangements unsatisfactory) David must take matters into his own hands to ensure his own recovery.

The film is very nicely crafted and directed. Frank Perry almost lends a Hitchcock feel to the film, glossing over each scene with a genuine feeling of fear and or eeriness. I liked this aspect of the film, for to me it really embellished the truth behind mental illness.

It's scary.

The acting for me is actually pretty solid, with one major exception. I did not care for Keir Dullea's performance, and quite frankly he was the most important player. I felt that he was far too over the top in most of his scenes, which was only accentuated by Perry's attention to the dramatic. Perry's style of directing would have benefited from a more subdued performance, a more lived in as apposed to lived out performance. Dullea tried too hard to delivery showy, when he should have been working on delivering controlled and tense. Janet Morgolin was astonishing as Lisa, truly understanding her characters duel personalities and the importance of never playing things too extreme. Howard Da Silva was warm and effective, reminding me a lot of Robin Williams in `Good Will Hunting', and Neva Patterson was outstanding in her few short scenes. She grasped the importance of acting even when you are not the focal point of a scene. Her facial expressions never stopped working the camera and so she drew us to her. I even thought that Richard McMurray worked magic with his one scene, completely compelling.

The script was aces and deserving of the Oscar nomination is pulled in, and I'm tempted to say that Perry was deserving of that directing nomination, if only his lead actor had contributed to his directorial efforts. Still, Dullea aside, this is a film one should see. It's views on mental instability may be outdated and may turn some off, but when you take into consideration that this is a time capsule of sorts then you can appreciate the film for what it is.