Karel Reisz

Director

About

Born

July 21, 1926

Died

November 25, 2002

Cause of Death

Died From A Blood Disorder

Biography

Filmography

Everybody Wins (1990)

Director

Sweet Dreams (1985)

Director

The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)

Director

Who'll Stop The Rain? (1978)

Photos & Videos

View All

Who'll Stop The Rain (1978) -- Original Trailer

Night Must Fall (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Girl's A Funny Creature

Family & Companions

Julia Coppard

Wife

Divorced.

Betsy Blair

Wife

Actor. Second wife; formerly married to actor-dancer Gene Kelly; divorced.

Bibliography

"The Technique of Film Editing"

Karel Reisz and Gavin Miller, Focal Press (1953)

Notes

About his period teaching: " . . .coming straight from university, the whole impact of the outside world was very, very strong. It was probably the first kind of wide community life I'd come across at all; for though I'd been happy at boarding school and university, I'd felt totally incapsulated there. Teaching was my first taste of social reality; and you can't deal daily with working-class youngsters and their parents in their own habitat and retain an archaic view of the lower classes as comic relief or criminals, the roles they traditionally filled in British films." --Karel Reisz quoted in "World Film Directors", Volume Two

Biography

Uprooted from a secure and comfortable home at the age of 12, Karel Reisz emigrated from his native Czechoslovakia one step ahead of the Nazi invasion and arrived in his adopted England knowing scarcely a word of its language. He went about becoming as English as possible, returning after a brief repatriation to a Czechoslovakia much changed by the war to study at Cambridge. Teaching grammar school brought him in contact with working-class students and their parents, broadening his teenage socialism and fascination with the disenfranchised. Writing for the influential film journals Sequence and Sight and Sound placed him in close proximity to the likes of Tony Richardson and Lindsay Anderson, with whom Reisz championed the British version of the auteur theory, believing that the best movies were those that expressed the personal vision of a single artist--the director. In 1953, he published "The Technique of Film Editing" (co-authored with Gavin Millar), a landmark study encompassing the theory, history and practice of editing. His extensive research for the project served as a great training ground for the would-be director.

In the mid-50s, Reisz and some of his Sequence colleagues translated their critical theories to the screen via a short-lived documentary movement known as Free Cinema, to which Reisz contributed "Momma Don't Allow" (1955, co-directed with Richardson) and the award-winning "We Are the Lambeth Boys" (1959), as well as co-producing (with Leon Clore) Anderson's "Every Day Except Christmas" (1957). His first feature, "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" (1960), matched him with screenwriter Alan Sillitoe adapting his own semi-autobiographical novel of the bleak provincial factory town of Nottingham. Together, exploring similar terrain as had the documentaries, they revealed the inner workings of Arthur Seaton (Albert Finney) and enjoyed critical and commercial success for their film's gritty portrayal of the frustrations of working-class life. Preceded by Richardson's "Look Back in Anger" and Jack Clayton's "Room at the Top" (1959), both featuring working-class heroes, "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" was more authentic, vigorous and quirkier than either of its precursors and remains one of the best examples of Britain's "angry young man" dramas.

After producing Anderson's "This Sporting Life" (1963), Reisz faltered momentarily with the remake of "Night Must Fall" (1964) before rebounding with "Morgan--A Suitable Case for Treatment" (1966), a decidedly offbeat gem presenting mental illness as a not-dishonorable response to the materialism, selfishness and hypocrisy of the "sane" world. Acknowledging Alain Resnais' influence, Reisz dispensed with a linear narrative to capture the inner fantasies of Morgan (David Warner), a misfit to whom many of the emerging "youth generation" responded as a kindred spirit. His last British film, "Isadora" (1968), was nearly his Waterloo, but he finally regrouped following its failure to begin his Hollywood career with 1974's "The Gambler," starring James Caan. Although none of his later work measured up to the standard set by "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" or "Morgan," "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981), adapted from the John Fowles novel by Harold Pinter, garnered the most favorable critical attention, particularly for its star turn by Meryl Streep. "Who'll Stop the Rain?" (1978) featured top-notch performances in every role, and "Sweet Dreams" (1985) offered a tour de force for Jessica Lange as country singer Patsy Cline. Only "Everybody Wins" (1990), despite a script by Arthur Miller, was an outright misfire. In recent years, Reisz has turned to staging plays, including an acclaimed revival of Terrence Rattigan's "The Deep Blue Sea" in London and Harold Pinter's "Moonlight" on Broadway.

Filmography

Life Events

1938

Moved to England

1945

Repatriated to Czechoslovakia

1947

Taught grammar school in London

1955

Film debut as co-director (with Tony Richardson), "Momma Don't Allow", a 22-minute documentary short

1957

Co-produced Lindsay Anderson's documentary "Every Day Except Christmas"

1959

First solo directing effort, the documentary "We Are the Lambeth Boys"; also produced

1960

Feature film directing debut, "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning"; scripted by Alan Sillitoe from his semiautobiographical novel; starred Albert Finney

1963

Produced Anderson's "This Sporting Life"

1964

Reteamed with Finney (who co-produced and starred in) remake of "Night Must Fall"

1966

Directed the decidedly offbeat gem, "Morgan--A Suitable Case for Treatment"; Vanessa Redgrave's feature debut for which she received a Best Actress Oscar nomination

1968

Reunited with Redgrave for "Isadora", for which she received an other Best Actress Academy Award nomination

1974

First American feature, "The Gambler", scripted by James Toback and starring James Caan

1978

Helmed "Who'll Stop the Rain?", adapted by Judith Roscoe and Robert Stone from the latter's novel "Dog Soldiers"; starred Nick Nolte

1981

Directed screen version of John Fowles' novel "The French Lieutenant's Woman", adapted by Harold Pinter and starring Meryl Streep who received a Best Actress Oscar nomination