In David and Lisa we’re introduced to two young, attractive and deeply troubled patients living at a mental health clinic. David (Keir Dullea) suffers from an extreme phobia similar to what many would refer to as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) today, which makes him go berserk anytime another person touches him. Lisa (Janet Margolin) has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and insists on speaking only in rhymes. Somehow these two mentally damaged individuals manage to overcome their personal difficulties and form an uneasy friendship.
When David and Lisa was originally released in 1962 it caused quite a stir. Film critics applauded the movie and audiences embraced it. The film was nominated for many awards, including an Oscar for Best Director. Now that some 45 year have passed since it’s original release, it might be hard for modern audiences to fully appreciate what all the fuss was about. But when David and Lisa is compared to other films about mental illness made prior to it, I think it’s easier to understand the film’s importance. Today many are embracing pharmaceuticals over psychotherapy, but David and Lisa offers an intelligent and sensitive study of mental illness that dares to look at several possible explanations and cures. Parental culpability, childhood trauma, as well as an individual’s sensitivity to their environment, are just a few of the factors that can exacerbate mental illness and I was impressed with the way the film subtly explored them. In the end David and Lisa encourages individuals to take charge of their own lives as well as their mental health and its message should still resonate with many viewers. —cinebeats
Frank J. Perry, Jr. (August 21, 1930 – August 29, 1995) was an American stage and film director, producer and screenwriter. Frank was married to author and screenwriter Eleanor Perry (1960–1971), Barbara Goldsmith and Virginia Brush Ford.
Perry was born in New York City, of Portuguese and German ancestry, the son of Pauline (née Schwab), who worked at Alcoholics Anonymous, and Frank J. Perry, a stockbroker. His mother was a niece of Charles M. Schwab, who founded the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. As a teenager, Perry began pursuing his interest in the theater with a job as a parking lot attendant for the Westport Country Playhouse in nearby Westport, Connecticut. He attended the University of Miami. He produced several plays at Westport and then turned for a time to producing television documentaries.
A veteran of the Korean War, he returned to the entertainment industry after being discharged and made his directorial debut in 1962 with the low-budget drama film David and… read more
