Lisa Lieberman's Blog, page 8

The Witness

Telling the truth could land you in jail if you were an Eastern European artist in the 1950s. Many compromised with the regime, betraying their ideals, along with their friends and associates. But in Péter Bacsó’s brilliant satire, “The Witness,” released in 1969 but banned in Hungary for ten years, the truth surfaces through black humor...
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Gypsy

A birthday present to myself... Read my review
here.

Rebecca

You can’t blame Hitchcock for the kinky sexual subtext in “Rebecca” because it was in the novel. Stuff like the sinister Mrs. Danvers showing the new Mrs. de Winter (Joan Fontaine) the old Mrs. de Winter’s underwear: “They were made specially for her in a convent in St. Clair.”

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Jezebel

Bette Davis claimed than an affair between a star and her director produces electricity that the audience feels. She was thinking about “Jezebel,” the film she made with William Wyler... More

Kind Hearts and Coronets

One thing the Brits used to do VERY well was black humor, dry with a twist.
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The French Lieutenant's Woman

A good film adaptation of a novel translates its characters, story, and setting into cinematic language while remaining true to the author’s intention. How does it do this? I’ll give you an illustration: Karel Reisz’s adaptation of The French Lieutenant’s Woman with a screenplay by Harold Pinter. Yes, I’m stacking the deck.

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North By Northwest

I consider this one comfort food...

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Nights of Cabiria

My favorite Fellini film, hands down. Read more here

Jaws

Seventies people on the beach. I’ll admit it, I was too scared to see this movie when it came out...

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Suspicion

Even a die-hard fan of Cary Grant will find him hard to admire here. I blame the screenwriters...
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