Good concept, poorly executed.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

"Lilith" is a strange film, not a bad film, but definitely strange. Vincent Bruce, played by a handsome youthful Warren Beatty, seemingly drifts into a job at an expensive rest home for the mentally disturbed, who are wealthy enough to reside there. Although credentials are not discussed, the young man is hired to attend patients. The supposedly elite home is as equally lax about patient care as it is about professional qualifications, and Beatty is soon involved in a relationship with an attractive young patient, Lilith Arthur, played by Jean Seberg. Beatty and Seberg go bike riding in the country, climb rocky waterfalls, and roll around in the grass, not to mention spending time alone together in Seberg's room, all unsupervised by those supposedly in charge.The film squanders a number of talented performers in undemanding roles: Kim Hunter, Peter Fonda, Gene Hackman, and Jessica Walter. The talented and Oscar winning Hunter seems to sleepwalk through her part as the home's head of staff, and Fonda tries with a thankless portrayal of unrequited love. While Beatty is passable, but undistinguished, as the troubled young Vincent, the film's key role, Lilith, is beyond the grasp of Jean Seberg. The film may have come alive in the hands of a Joanne Woodward or a Kim Stanley, but Seberg fails to suggest the inner demons Lilith is supposed to possess. Her admittedly beautiful face glows, but suggests nothing more than superficial emotions. Among the other cast members, only Gene Hackman reveals the nascent talent that would carry him on to more demanding parts and two Oscars in far better movies.Robert Rossen, director of "All the King's Men" and "The Hustler," takes a self-consciously arty approach in both his direction and his script, adapted from a novel by J. R. Salamanca. Rossen's dreamlike sequences and obsession with water are visually appealing, but often confuse, and he fails to ignite any chemistry between the icy Seberg and the moody Beatty. However, lensed by Eugen Schufftan, who won an Oscar for his cinematography on "The Hustler," "Lilith"'s bleak black-and-white images capture the sterile rest home interior and the variable cloudiness and rain of the surrounding landscape. However, neither Hackman nor Schufftan can save "Lilith." Lacking an actress with the depth to portray Lilith's complexity, the plodding film comes off as merely...strange.

This movie was made back when there was real acting and complex dialogues involved between characters. I use "An incomplete man" as my title, because it is really a movie, not just about mental patients, but the turmoiled Vincent Bruce that the young Warren Beatty plays. I went through three emotions - love, hatred, and pity (from the last two words of the film - "Help me!"). Back in the primitive days of mental health care (1964), it is completely believable that a mere man who had been in the army, was a local boy, and had a very charming and investigative personality would somehow commit trained psychiatrists to fully trusting him. Even in today's heavily regulated world, it is not unbelievable that a man could charm his way into the position of the fragile doctor - patient relationship.At the beginning of the film, the audience is charmed by a man who is very good at asking questions, gaining the trust and esteem of his patients, and also appearing to care. However, at some point in the film, this turns into a facade. We know nothing about Bruce. He is an immature man, who allows himself to be seduced by his patient Lilith (Jean Seberg). He is a shallow man, who flakily believes that he is helping his patient, while really just giving into his lusts for her beauty.Complicating the plot is a wonderfully charming and vulnerable patient named Stephen (Peter Fonda). He is believing that there is the slightest possibility that he can win over the love of Lilith, not realizing that the mental health care worker he so endures and trusts is having sexual relations with her. The results can only be tragic.Lilith is extraordinarily brilliant. She is a musician and extremely intelligent. At the same time, she has her quirks. Her love for children in the town borders on pedophilia. She gets into a lesbian relationship with another female patient to get Vincent Bruce to commit to her.In the end, it is revealed that the charming Vincent has no real compassion, nor concern for his patients. He is a drifter, who probably wasn't happy in the army, and now is just passing time. He has a certain level of brilliance in knowing how to manipulate himself into the graces of both the patients and staff. However, he is too self-absorbed and arrogant to truly be a responsible and mature caretaker. He destroys everyone and everything in his path. In this sense, the movie is really about a weak human being who cons himself and others that he is able to take up the challenges of caring for the mentally ill.This movie is quite good. The acting is top notch. Hackmann has a great cameo as the oafish and overbearing husband of Vincent's former high school lover (Jessica Walter). Beatty real shines as a person who is really disturbed, but masquerades as a great guy. Kim Hunter is interesting as the on-site doctor. I was thinking that maybe when she finally discovered that Vincent Bruce was having a relationship with Lilith that she doesn't say anything or confront him in the bar about it. I think this is realistic, because she was too ashamed to admit she made a real mistake in hiring judgment.

A well-composed cast helps build the web of mystery and misery that is the cornerstone of this unusual story. Beatty is a rather aimless young man, a flunky at practically everything he's ever attempted, who is hired at Hunter's mental asylum and begins training as an occupational therapist. Once there, he meets various wealthy, but mentally disturbed, inhabitants such as insecure, fixated Fonda and austere, suspicious Meacham. His primary interest, however, is in Seberg, the title character, who stays locked away in her upstairs room, rarely venturing out, but who not only is very attractive, but often seems completely normal. She isn't though. She has her own world in which "people" speak to her and she has even created a language of her own. She also has a fascination with water and a fondness for pre-teen boys. As Beatty struggles to help her come out of her shell, he finds himself deeply attracted to her, something that isn't helped by her seductive gestures and remarks. Before it's all over, there is some doubt as to who is more in need of mental help, Seberg or Beatty! Beatty, in his physical prime, gives a halting, stifled sort of performance. Sometimes it works, but other times it is frustrating to endure. Fans of his will surely be more tolerant of his work in the film. Seberg is beguiling and captivating despite an awkwardly arranged fall that sometimes looks like a mullet. It's a brave, committed, varied performance, which ought to have garnered her more acclaim than it did. She is, at certain points, mesmerizing to behold. Fonda is bookish and vulnerable; a far cry from the rebel persona he would eventually cultivate as the decade ended. Hunter is a stable, knowing presence. Meacham is intriguing and mysterious. She would later go on to have a memorable run on "Another World" as the quirky maid to The Cory Family. Making her film debut, and turning in a memorably tense and dejected performance, is Walter as one of Beatty's former girlfriends. Her crass, doughy, obtuse husband is played to perfection by Hackman in an early role, which is basically his feature film debut as well save one previous bit as a cop. (It paid off when Beatty later remembered him and used him in "Bonnie and Clyde.") There's plenty of symbolism on hand from the start. Seberg seems encased in a spider web thanks to the chain link fencing on her windows. Notice, also, when Beatty takes her to a jousting tournament (!) in which he has to take a lance and guide it into increasingly smaller rings. The mood of the film is helped immeasurably by the musical score and by the striking black & white photography. Also, filming the story on location in Maryland provided an ambiance and atmosphere that couldn't have been achieved the same way on a studio set. Those familiar with Great Falls (and even those not) will enjoy seeing the footage of them during one of the patient picnics. The film makes a point of not giving the viewer all the information he or she needs in order to follow the story easily, though many baffling questions and situations are soon cleared up. However, there are still many moments left so ambiguous or confusing that one wishes for just a little more exposition here and there to help fill in the gaps. It might not be a wholly satisfying film, but it is nevertheless a captivating one. Busy character actor Auberjonois appears briefly as a horse wrangler who hands over the steed to Beatty.

This is a film I have never seen and I enjoyed the great acting by Warren Beatty, (Vincent Bruce) and Jean Seberg, (Lilth Arthur). Vincent Bruce is a Korean War Veteran and has returned to his home town and is trying to find a job and eventually he finds work in a mental institution. Vincent is assigned to a help a very attractive blonde girl named Lilth who never goes outside and once she set her eyes on Vincent things change and there becomes a great improvement with her mental state of mind. Lilth really spins a web all around Vincent and even teases him with a lesbian relationship with another female inmate. This is a very different and interesting film with young stars just starting out like, Gene Hackman and Peter Fonda.