Lisa

THE FILM: "Lisa", one of the best drama films of the early 1960s, is the American title of the 1962 British film "The Inspector", which was based on the novel of the same name by Dutch writer Jan De Hartog and is set in 1946. Post-war Europe is in turmoil and packed with refugees and Peter Jongman (Stephen Boyd), a Dutch police inspector tortured by his failure to prevent his late fiancee Rachel Gerhardt being thrown into a Nazi concentration camp, follows Thorens (Marius Goring) a Nazi white slaver, to London. Thorens specialises in luring homeless girls out of Holland with the promise of a better life, only to find that they end up in a South American brothel.Peter saves a Jewish girl, Lisa Held (Dolores Hart), who strongly resembles Rachel, from Thorens, but in a fight accidentally kills the Nazi. Lisa, a rare survivor of the medical experimentation block at Auschwitz, has one abiding aim...to get to Palestine, which was then being blockaded by the British. To try and atone for his failure to save Rachel from a Nazi death camp, Peter, knowing it will mean imprisonment for him and the end of his police career if he is caught, gives Lisa his word that he will help her get to Palestine. Then follows a chase across Europe to north Africa and the Middle East, with the police and the authorities hot on their trail..."Lisa" / "The Inspector" is a wonderful film, superbly acted; directed and photographed in CinemaScope and Color by De Luxe, with beautiful location photography (especially of the canals; barges and windmills of Holland) and with one of Malcolm Arnold's very best and most haunting scores. I have fond memories of showing it at the cinema where I worked as a projectionist in 1962 and I highly recommend it to all those who have never seen it.It's incredible to realise how long ago this film was actually made (filmed in the summer of 1961) and that all the cast and crew, with the exception of Dolores Hart, have now passed on. This was Dolores' favourite film of all those she made during her screen career. It was also her penultimate film. She made one more film after this and then went into a convent and took her vows as a nun and, now being known as Mother Dolores, is an old lady of 75, who bears no facial likeness to her 1961 self as seen in this film.THE FOX CINEMA ARCHIVES DVD-R: Fox Cinema Archives have deservedly come in for a lot of criticism lately for releasing their old CinemaScope films in the now totally obsolete pan and scan format, when they actually have the widescreen masters at hand and have already issued the films on widescreen DVDs in the UK and Europe. However, "Lisa" / "The Inspector" is an exception. It is 4 x 3 letterbox format (not 16 x 9 anamorphically enhanced) and, although the aspect ratio on this transfer is more like 2.20:1 instead of 2.35:1, in effect, cropping the sides of the image slightly, the image itself is clear and bright and the colours are vivid. The sound is also loud and clear, making Malcolm Arnold's score sound really wonderful. It will certainly do until a 16 x 9, 2.35:1 DVD is issued...if it ever is.

I first saw this film many years ago when I was a teenager and instantly fell in love with it. Over the years it could be seen on tv quite frequently but then as so often happens the powers that be stopped making it available.As the film begins we see Stephen Boyd's charactor hunting Lisa as though she were some sort of criminal, but then the unthinkable happens and he begins to see how deeply she longs to return to her homeland and begins a long and illegal journey with her to make her dream come true making himself a wanted man himself in the process.I don't want to give away what happens but suffice it to say that as the story progresses the viewer is drawn in and begins to want that happy ending we all hope each film has. In it's own way it does happen here but only with a great deal of love and sacrifice.For those who are looking for a film with integrity, a good story, good acting and a few twists and turns to keep your attention, then this is it.

I liked Delores Hart. Her & Stephen Boyd are great together in this movie.

I have become interested in Dolores Hart movies because I recently read her book, "The Ear of the Heart." I was still quite young when her movies were popular and I don't remember seeing any of them. This was a good, suspensful movie, but not as good as I thought it would be.

I really enjoyed the nostalgia attached to this movie. I am particularly interested in the career of Dolores Hart. I have followed her all the way to, "God is the Bigger Elvis." The brief life of actor Stephen Boyd was an interest to me as well. I remembered this movie from about 45 years ago, but couldn't think of who the female lead was. When I discovered on Internet it was Dolores Hart, I knew I had to own it.

I saw this movie in a small theater (called a KINO) in Vienna ,Austria back in the early 60's. I've looked for it for decades. I caught it on television on Turner Classic MovieChannel DVR'd it then accidentally deleted it. I would rate up there with Exodus. Another fine movie!

This is a film the portrays a story within a story.For anyone who enjoys deep novels.

The problem with LISA is its length!.While the Fox Archive Edition lists it as 111 minutes and Leonard Maltin's CLASSIC MOVIE GUIDE lists it as 112 minutes,it seems more like "Gone With The Wind" length to me! The film tells the story of Lisa,a young Dutch/Jewish girl, who manages to survive the Nazi death camps and who wants to emigrate to what was then Palestine.The Stephen Boyd character pledges to get her there and that's the story.It is well acted,well produced but long....long....long....! Lisa is played by Dolores Hart and I assume that is the same actress who,later,became a Nun.